My Christmas Cactus are loaded with buds!
Let me explain.
I have tried periodically over the years to grow Christmas Cactus with NO success. My Mother had one for years, and it was so pretty, I always wanted one. "Way back when" (probably 50+ years ago) she often started cuttings of it for me. They never lasted. More times than I care to count in the ensuing years I have purchased plants of it. No success with that either.
Last year, after Christmas, our local Walmart had quite a number of them on sale, for what seemed to me, to be a ridiculously low price. Their blooms were mostly gone, some of the appeared to be sitting in water, they were really REALLY sad looking. Well, old softy that I am at times, I bought several of them. Tried to pick different colors, but the blossoms were, for the most part, too faded to tell much about them. There seemed to be some differences in the leaves (pads?) though.
Well, I brought them home, drained the excess water out of those that were drowning (they were in cache pots), and plunked them down on a couple of unused chairs on my west facing patio. I did put them where they would get no artificial light after dark. Now the temperature on this patio often reaches triple digits in the summer months, even where the plants were, in the shade. So I really wasn't all that hopeful.
But! Lo and behold, they are ALL loaded with buds now! One in particular, has at least 2 and even 3 buds on every leaf end! All have at least one bud on every leaf! A few buds are starting to show some color, and the pads on 2 of the plants have turned quite red. Is this normal? I'm almost afraid to even look at them, as I'm afraid they will drop the buds. I am surely afraid to try to move them as I think this would cause bud drop. If they bloom like it looks like they are going to, I will post pictures.
In the mean time, I am holding my breath and doing the happy dance!
I am so EXCITED ! ! ! !
Congratulations! We have one of the CC's and it starts looking a LOT better at this time of year.
Steve
I am excited for you too, your Mom would be proud!!
I love it when things turn out just right. Congratulations and many more beautiful years to come. I have those and they thrive on my neglect. I have rotted a few to death in my time but over time I learned "It's a cactus", duh.
I am a sucker for Christmas cactus.
Is it "normal" for the leaves (pads?) to be this color when they are in bud? I looked at the plants Walmart has for sale now, they are in bloom, but none have this coloration. Is something wrong here? ? ? I hope not, it is really quite pretty The color is really a LOT brighter "in real" than in this cell phone picture.
Another plant has buds that appear to be for white flowers, it doesn't have this coloration.
You can tell I've never had one bloom before!
The red coloring is probably an interaction between the particular variety and the light and temp conditions. I noticed that white varieties of almost any plant don't color-up so that's probably what is making the difference in your plants. Nothing to worry about. Think about it like "fall color".
Right, with this weather, too. Looks beautiful.
lurking here and wanted to comment on the red leaf coloration. i have one that was totally green for the first few years (it's a red flowered cultivar) but last year it started developing red leaves like yours and has never stopped. remember not to water when they have buds...they'll drop like flies. mine are outside but since we are going to have a freeze tonight, i brought them into the garage. i hate when that happens. they'll probably drop half their buds......sigh.
congratulations on yours! i've found that benign neglect is the best thing for these plants. i do feed once in spring with a time release feed but that's about it.
My CC used to need cold temps to set buds, but that might be a myth because I left them out so late. Good luck with yours, everybody!
Photoperiodic. If you arent giving it long dark nights, 50*temps at night does the same thing. The color in the leaves is prob a reaction to intense lights for long periods of time.
what kind of intense lights are you talking about? mine aren't exposed to bright sun or any kind of artificial light. just wondering.
Shake head. Those are the new leaves, maybe they are just more tender to any light? I dont know what you do about your plants area, chuckl, experiment with your setup?
i just leave them set outside in their spots unless a freeze is predicted. then they come in the garage for a day or two and then right back outside. they like this cold weather...just not 32. i love the red leaves on the one plant. the others are just plain green. that's okay too.
Hi, everyone!
I am STILL so excited about my Christmas Cactus! So I thought I'd share with y'all.
The first picture here is the one that I thought was going to be white, as the buds were white until they got quite large. The flowers on this are huge, as long as my index finger.
The second picture is the pink again, obviously, but shows next to it the one that I posted before that has the red foliage. It is a smaller plant than the pink, and was the first to bloom. It is almost finished now, I think. It is a deep fuchsia color.
The third picture shows another that has the red tipped foliage. It is blooming a kind of orangey red.
Much as I would like to have them in the house, where I could enjoy them all the time, I have not moved them at all, for fear of them dropping all those gorgeous blooms. I do go out an visit them several times a day, though! And I did cover them a couple nights when freezing temperatures were predicted.
I'm just not sure what, if anything, I should do with them when they finish blooming. "Neglect" them for another year?? Put into bigger pots? ? I just don't know!
I say if it works don't mess with it, they are gorgeous!!!
If the ones at Walmart DON'T look like that and yours do, don't think that's anything to worry about. Walmart are not known for their tender care of delicate houseplants. I don't remember if their blossoms are made of blossom tissue or whether they're more like poinsettias.
Did you ever repot them, or are they still in their walmart containers--I know you drained the cachepots. They do look pretty darn fabulous!
I leave mine out on the porch for the same reason. I would not do anything different to the plants either. The easiest way to kill them is over watering. Remember they are a "cactus" and they should be fine.
if you do re-pot this summer, just step up a size. they don't need or want a lot of extra room or soil. it will cause the roots to rot if the pot is too big. if you see roots at the bottom of the pot, it's time to re-pot.
beautiful blooms! yay for your patience!
Congrats! Christmas cacti are so cool!
Thank you for your comments. I haven't done a single thing to them, other than drain the standing water when I got them. The pink one and the one next to it got several hours of direct hot sun during the hottest part of the summer, (the others, though right next to them, have been in constant shade.), and I did give them some water almost every day as long as the temps were in the 3 digit range, and nights rarely went below the mid 80's. I think I made have fed them once, I honestly don't remember for sure. I'm not real faithful about things like that.
I'll check the bottoms of the pots when they finish blooming, until then I'm not about to move them for anything! Would hate to lose even one blossom! If roots are showing, I will move them up a size. I use Miracle Gro potting soil for all my potted plants, it seems to work the best for me. Will it be okay for these plants, too?
And I must confess, I went to Walmart the weekend between Christmas & New Years, hoping to find some Christmas Cactus on sale. Their whole plant area was cleaned out and bare already! Guess they were already making room for the spring plants. Wish I had gone the day after Christmas! Can you tell I am hooked on these now? ? ? ?
Here is a picture of a single blossom of the fuchsia one. It is the only one that had a name tag, it said it was "Calypso Red".
personally, i would not use miracle gro potting soil. it stays too soggy. you would want more of a cactus mix.
Thank you, trackinsand. Yours are so pretty, obviously you know what you are doing with them. I will definitely look for a cactus type mix for them.
thank YOU.
mine only ever get morning sun (up to about noon), then they're in bright shade the rest of the day. in summer i water once a month...a really good soaking. although i have plastic trays underneath them, that is mainly to deter fire ants from making a home in the pots. i have a hole popped into the tray so they never sit in water.
in winter, i water one good soak as soon as i see very tiny buds and then nothing more until spring.
That is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY Kewl!
Congratulations on your perseverance!
Never Give up! Never, never, ever!