Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Holiday Cactus General Discussion Part #5 , 1 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
JB--
Good to see you are OK! We all survived this hot summer--even if some of the plants did not.

I was, actually, going to write you tonight. WHY? Because "birder17" sent me 5 small, thin cuttings
if a real CC. I do not know the color--will D-mail her back and ask.

Today, I spent potting up all the Easter cactus cuttings that have been languishing all summer.
Not rooting...getting all dessicated. It is my own fault. This summer, after it bloomed, I took a lot
of cuttings and thought it was a great idea to pot them all up in straight Coir. NOT!!!
They were forever dry--the Coir just wicking all the moisture out. Besides being in clay pots,
they just petered out. Not dead--but many of the sections were limp thin as paper, and all wrinkled.

So, I spent half a day today un-potting them from the Coir--sorting them out--twisting off a LOT
of the dead ends, and re-potting them in pro Mix. man! That took forever!!!
Just hoping that being in something organic they may recover.
The old mama Easter cactus was also in very sad shape. Did the same thing.....hope she recovers.
They are now inside. The Holiday cactus are all still outside--except the ones that were also struggling...

With these cold nights we are now having, slowly but surely, something will be coming in now and then.

Here are my new CC babies from Birder. I hope they do well. The cuttings were in excellent condition.
I put a small bow on it just for the picture----after all--they ARE a Christmas Cactus.

Gita