The Christmas Cactus is a beautiful plant that produces bright, delicate blooms during the holiday season. It’s not just a seasonal plant, however. Many people enjoy keeping this plant alive and healthy all year.
Keep Your Plant Alive All Season
With the right care, your cactus can live, thrive and continue to bloom year after year.
To know the basics of caring for one, it’s important to know that these cactuses come from the mountains of South America. There, they grow in cool forests under the shade of giant trees. They receive scattered sunshine, cool mountain breezes and light rain.
You don’t think of succulents as forest plants, but that just tells you how unusual these plants are.
How to Care for Your Christmas Cactus
To keep your plant healthy, follow these steps.
- Bring your plant indoors. Keep it in a cool area away from heat sources.
- Don’t rush to repot your cactus. These plants do well in tiny pots. Repotting can shock them, so don’t do it until it’s necessary.
- Keep the plant in indirect sunlight.
- If your Christmas Cactus is still in its decorative wrapping, cut holes in the bottom to allow drainage. Place the plant on a dish to catch excess water.
- Speaking of water, don’t over water your plant. Give it a little water about every three days.
- If you need to add soil, use a cactus mix.
Keep Your Cactus Blooming
The above steps will keep your plant healthy. If you want to have blooms every year, follow these steps:
- Cut back on watering in the spring and summer. This lets the blossoms rest.
- At the end of summer, feed it with bloom food diluted to one-quarter strength.
- When buds form, stop fertilizing and go back to normal watering.
Enjoy Christmas All Year
Do you ever wish it could be Christmas all year? You can’t make that happen, but you can keep one part of Christmas alive with a little loving care.
Do you have tips for keeping Christmas plants alive and blooming?
- Oreo Peppermint Crunch Cookies – the perfect cookies when you have a craving for something truly rich and self-indulgent
- Apple Cider Shortbread Cookies – these cookies melt in your mouth and are not overly sweet
- White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies – the white chocolate makes them velvety smooth while the tangy flavor of cranberries keeps them from being overly sweet
- Reindeer Chow (Muddy Buddies) – a big, generous bowl of chocolate and salty goodness
- No Bake Bourbon Balls – decadent bites of creamy chocolate
- Christmas Wreath Cookies – these sweet, crunchy cookies look like Christmas on a plate
- Holiday Persimmon Cookies – tender, buttery and delicately flavored cookies
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