Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Holiday Cactus General Discussion Part #5 , 5 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
JB---

I really do not know what to tell anyone about the "root bound" thing of CC's. Lets see if anyone else can.
I know some plants like to be root-bound---AV's, Spath, Aeglonemas--Cacti, etc....

I always thought CC's liked to be a bit tight--but I cannot tell you the source of that information.
One of those long-gone memories of something I learned or heard and always passed on....

If you uproot an older CC--their root system is rather shallow and minimal. Kind of...deep surface roots.
Deep pots would not work too well for these plants. Too much soil--too much moisture....

My tiny rooted CC's from last year and this year are all still in their 1 1/2" -2" clay or plastic pots.
I am starting to think I should move them on to--perhaps--3" pots. Those poor things dry out every other day!
But--that is what clay pots DO! Prevents over watering.......
I may use my gazillion Yogurt cups I have saved for this purpose. Holes are all melted in the bottom already.
They are all about 2 1/2"-3" in size.
Space, of course, is at a premium in my house. Hopefully, after I re-pot them, they could, happily, live outside already.
Then again--when all this is done--I hope that there will be a lot of takers for all these.

What kind of pots do you use--JB? You wheel and deal in these plants. What works best for you?
After all--YOU are our resident expert on these! We all learn from you--and you from us...sometimes.....

Here are this past year's crop of CC' sections rooting.....

Gita