Wondering why your Christmas cactus or Thanksgiving cactus isn't blooming for you? I will give you the secrets in this blog post that will make you successful. It will work like magic! And it's so EASY that it is ridiculous!
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I will also give you tips on growing and propagating your Christmas cactus as well. The care tips apply for both Christmas Cactus and Thanksgiving Cactus.
The care is the same and I will show you what the difference is too. Most places mistakenly sell Christmas Cactus as Thanksgiving Cactus.
Occasionally, you'll just see both of these plants labeled as holiday cacti, but I show you later in this post how you can determine if your plant is a Christmas cactus vs. a Thanksgiving Cactus.
If you follow my tips in this post, you will have a beautiful, long-lived houseplant that will bloom for you every year. These are actually wonderful heirloom plants that you can pass along to future generations.
One of my Thanksgiving cacti
Before I get into the care, I have a little story about this plant.
While growing up in my parent's house, I received cuttings of a Christmas cactus from my great aunt's house and used those to make a new plant.
I took care of it for over 15 years while I still lived in that house, and it grew into the largest Christmas cactus I had ever seen. In fact, it grew so huge that part of the plant collapsed under its own weight!
The plant had trailed probably 3 feet long. I should have taken it with me 🙁 But I left it with my parents.
It hung in front of a large sliding door, facing a Northern exposure, so it received plenty of bright indirect light.
It was so huge that it remained in bloom for a solid 3-4 months! Although I can't promise you the same until your plant grows to mammoth proportions.
You'll know if they are getting a little too much sun because their leaf segments will start to turn reddish. If this occurs, your Christmas cactus is likely getting too much sun.
Table of Contents
HOW CAN YOU TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHRISTMAS CACTUS AND THANKSGIVING CACTUS?
You can easily visually tell the difference between Christmas cactus and Thanksgiving cactus by looking at the stem segments. The leaves are technical modified stems.
But we will call them leaf segments here...
The Thanksgiving cactus will have small pointy tips as you can see in the photo below. These belong to the species Schlumbergera truncata.
Christmas cactus segments will not have the tips and the segments will be rounder, and they tend to bloom a bit later than Thanksgiving cactus.
They also tend to have a more pendulous growing habit than the Thanksgiving cactus. Especially as the plant grows old.
Take a look at the rounder leaf segments with no points on the Christmas cactus below.
Now let's take a look at both plants side by side so that you can see a good comparison.
Left: Christmas Cactus Right: Thanksgiving Cactus
Christmas Cactus Care
Although they look a little different, the care is identical! Many times though, they're both labeled as Christmas Cactus when they are sold.
LIGHT
Christmas cactus (genus Schlumbergera), despite the name cactus, actually grow in tropical forests of Brazil.
They are actually epiphytes, similar to many orchids, so they'll grow on tree branches instead of in the soil. And they actually ARE cacti! Except they are the jungle version of their desert cousins.
Christmas cacti, and the very closely related Thanksgiving cacti, generally prefer bright indirect light, although some sun indoors is beneficial, especially morning sun. Sufficiently bright light is important for blooming and overall health.
A northern window will do fine (especially if it is a larger northern window) and they can grow and bloom well even if you just have indirect sunlight, as I mentioned in my case earlier in this post.
An eastern facing window would work beautifully as well.
A west or south window would work as well as long as you can protect your plant from too much direct sun by using sheer curtains or slightly closed blinds if needed.
(I live in the northern hemisphere, so northern windows will get no direct sun and southern windows are sunny. If you live in the southern hemisphere, this will be reversed.)
Remember that leaf segments will turn reddish when they are getting too much sun and sitting in full sun all day.
Below is my Thanksgiving cactus that I propagated from my grandmother's plant and that I've had for a few years now. It started as just small cuttings.
It is hanging in a south window however it doesn't get a lot of direct sun because of an outdoor wall that is blocking the sun for part of the day, but it is a nice, bright window and it is thriving.
Water & Fertilizer Requirements
Ensure that your Christmas or Thanksgiving cactus has excellent drainage and is not sitting in excess water for long periods of time.
Drainage holes are a must so make sure your pot as at least one, otherwise your risk of root rot will increase.
Since it is an epiphyte and grows on trees in nature, they demand excellent drainage.
I can't recommend a frequency to water your plant, since it depends on your individual lighting and temperature conditions.
Allow the top inch of soil to dry out before watering again, but at the same time, you should avoid letting the entire pot dry out.
Overly dry conditions will cause your plant to shrivel and wilt so try not to allow your potting mix to stay completely dry for too long.
As far as fertilizing, you can use any balanced water-soluable fertilizer for your Christmas cactus. I'll continue to fertilize until about October or so. Then I'll refrain from fertilizing until new leaves start growing in the Spring.
My favorite all-purpose houseplant fertilizer is Dyna-Gro Grow which I purchase on Amazon.
It's an amazing, complete, premium fertilizer that contains all the micro and macro nutrients that your plants need and I've achieved wonderful success using it!
Get some Dyna-Gro Grow today!
Growing Medium
Any freely draining soil will work. My preferred soil mix is to use 2 part of an all-purpose potting mix (you can even use cactus soil) with 1 part of ¼" pumice (link to Amazon).
If you're looking for an amazing potting mix that you can use straight out of the bag for your Christmas Cactus or Thanksgiving Cactus, check out the Tropical Succulent Soil Blend from Oh Happy Plants. This is an amazing mix and you will get 10% off at checkout automatically if you use my link.
These plants grow in humid environments in nature, so naturally, it would be ideal to recreate this in the home.
If you have a small plant, you can place your plant on a tray of moist pebbles. You can also run a humidifier. Check out my detailed blog post on how you can increase humidity for your plants.
3 Secrets to Getting your Plant to Re-bloom
This is the million dollar question! There are two main tricks to get your Christmas cactus or Thanksgiving cactus to rebloom in December or November or so (as the names imply).
1. Plants Need a Certain Number of Hours of Darkness
The first is uninterrupted hours of total darkness at night. If you have your plant in an area where you have lamps or any other lights on at night, this will deter your plant from blooming!
These plants need a dark period, and even if you have lights on for short periods of time. These plants are short day plants, which means that they need evenings of complete darkness in late summer and Fall in order to set flower buds. This is probably the most important factor.
You can also place your plant in a dark closet for 13-15 hours each night. At the end of each night, place it back in front of its window. If you want your plant to bloom during the holiday season or at Christmas time, count back about 8 weeks from the time you want blooming to start, and begin the darkness treatment until flower buds form.
Once buds start to form, you can leave your plant in front of its window and resume normal care.
2. Cool Temperatures at Night
The other factor that helps the plant set buds is cooler nighttime temperatures.
Any drop in temperature at night would be helpful, with night temperatures in the 55F-65F range probably being ideal.
One way to achieve this is simply by placing your plant outdoors so that they are exposed to these lower night time temperatures for a few weeks.
Or if you have a cool room, that will work as well.
If you can have both the uninterrupted darkness and cooler temperatures, you should get quite a show from your plant.
It's always fun to have my readers get back to me when their plants suddenly start blooming after I tell them what they need! You'll be surprised how quickly plants respond to proper care!
3. Reduce the Amount of Water
In addition to the hours of darkness and cooler temperatures at night, if you don't see any flower buds yet by October, reduce the amount of water that your plant receives.
Allow the top half of the potting mix to dry out before watering again. These 3 things together should spark bud formation and your plant should come into full bloom before you know it.
Once you see flower buds forming, you can resume normal watering again and only allow the top inch of soil to dry out before watering again.
If you continue to keep the watering reduced while flower buds have started to form, the small buds will end up dropping off before they open. So keep an eye on your plant and resume normal watering as soon as you see buds forming.
Christmas Cactus Propagation
Early spring to late spring is an ideal time for propagation. If your plant is blooming, you can wait until the summer months.
Propagating this plant is easy. Just take a few cuttings and then place them in a jar of water. Before you place them in water, allow them to air dry for a few days.
This will allow the cuts to dry and callous over so that the segments don't rot. These plant are true cacti (although they are the jungle cousins and not from a desert!)
Roots will grow fairly quickly, and then potted them up in a good all-purpose potting soil. You can add some perlite or ¼" pumice (link to Amazon) to the soil to improve drainage. There are certain pros and cons to using perlite vs. pumice, so choose what you're comfortable with.
You could also put the cuttings directly into soil (after you let the cuttings air dry for a couple days). It is helpful to increase humidity while cuttings are rooting, and one easy method is to place a clear plastic bag over the cuttings.
FREQUENTLY ASKED CHRISTMAS CACTUS QUESTIONS
Why are my flower buds falling off?
One common complaint with these plants is bud drop. This can be caused by inconsistent conditions such as extremes in temperature or soil moisture levels.
Let's say you bought a plant at a store, and have to carry it outdoors in cold weather in order to bring it home. Just this simple act of exposing it to cold temperatures and then placing it in a new environment can cause a plant to abort its flower buds.
This similar type of bud blast also commonly occurs with moth orchids.
Another situation that can cause buds to abort include allowing your soil to go bone dry while buds are growing, or even allowing your potting mix to stay too wet for too long (perhaps your plant is sitting in water).
Why are the leaves on my christmas cactus limp?
There are a couple main reasons why your christmas cactus or thanksgiving cactus is limp:
Your potting mix went too dry. Promptly water your plant if it has. Leaves will also get wrinkly and deflated like in the photo below.
Another reason could be that your plant experienced root rot. If this is the case, try and salvage your plant by repotting into a smaller pot if necessary and be attentive to moisture needs.
Be sure to use a well draining potting mix and ensure that your light conditions are high enough.
How often do you water a christmas cactus?
You should never water by a schedule. Use a schedule to determine IF you should water, but don't blindly follow a calendar. All of our growing conditions are different, so watering frequency can vary pretty drastically.
It is best to feel the potting mix with your finger, and allow the top inch or so of the potting mix to dry out before watering again. I advise against the usage of moisture meters since many of them are notoriously defective!
What do christmas cactus buds look like?
The plant below is a Thanksgiving cactus, but Christmas cactus buds will look very similar. You can easily tell the difference between a flower bud and a new leaf because the leaves will be flat, whereas the flower bud will be round and plump.
Why is my christmas cactus dropping leaves?
This is typically caused by one of two things:
Your potting mix has gone completely dry for too long.
Your potting mix has stayed wet for too long, causing root rot and leaf drop.
Why is my christmas cactus turning purple?
There are a few reasons why your plant is turning purple. Here are some common reasons:
1. High light levels
One very common reasons for christmas cactus and thanksgiving cactus turning purple is higher light levels.
It's not necessarily a bad thing, but if your plant is getting a good amount of direct sun, the plant will start to produce compounds called anthocyanins which serve to protect itself against UV rays that are too intense.
Purple foliage on one of my Thanksgiving cacti
If you don't like this, you can reduce the amount of light and the plant will return to its normal green color. But remember, you still want enough light so that it blooms.
2. Inconsistent moisture levels
If you let your plant dry out too much, the stress may cause it to turn purple as well. Try not to allow your plant to go bone dry for too long in order to avoid this.
On the other hand, avoid letting your plant sit in water for extended periods as this quickly cause root rot and purple foliage as well.
3. Malnutrition
Purple leaves can also be commonly caused by a Phosphorus deficiency, either from a a lack of Phosphorus in the soil, or from the pH being off.
If you have not been fertilizing regularly and your plant has been in the same pot for a very long time, your plant may be deficient. You can simply correct this by starting to fertilize.
On the other hand, there may be Phosphorus present in your plant's potting mix, but if the pH of your potting mix is off, your plant will not be able to absorb a sufficient amount of Phosphorus.
I'm 74 years old and have both Xmas and Thanksgiving cacti. Mine summer on a roofed deck and get only early morning sun. I leave them out til the first of Oct (usda zone 6B -Pgh, Pa).
At this point they have covered themselves with tiny buds smaller than a bb. I move them inside and place them in the windows. I don't wait til the buds are too large or the move may cause bud drop! I have quite a show every year and I look forward to it. Of course I have lots of other plants too. I collect geraniums that were popular in the Victorian Era - late 1800's.
Are these tips the same for "easter" cactus as well? I have a Thanksgiving cactus that puts on a lot of blooms every year but the easter cactus hasn't bloomed since I brought it home. They live in the same conditions.
My Christmas cactus leaves are looking shriveled!! Do you know why that might be. It's about 15yrs old and quite big. It's was my mother in law's. I'm reporting it as it needs it but any tips for the leafs would be lovely. Thank you
I purchased my “Thanksgiving” cactus in December of 2019. Fast forward to April 2021. My “Easter” cactus has decided to bloom again for the first time since then and I am absolutely delighted. Go figure!!
I recently acquired a yellow thanksgiving cactus and was wondering what kind of soil you recommend for these? Something similar to the type of soil used for other tropical epiphytic cacti perhaps?
Do these guys care what time of year they get repotted?
I assume that their water needs might be higher then that of a desert cactus. Is that correct?
Thank you!
Love this post! I actually have a very small cutting of Christmas cactus that bloomed one beautiful flower earlier this year. Thanks much Ohio Tropics for these great tips on how we can help our plants thrive & rebloom.
I describe the watering in the blog post. Water thoroughly and then allow the surface to dry out before watering again. It's hard to say if you should repot your plant because I don't know what it looks like. They do like to be somewhat potbound.
Hi Raffaele
I do have a Thanksgiv8ng cactus that was of course marked at a Christmas cactus. The funny thing is...it thinks it is an Easter cactus if there is such a thing because thats when it blooms. Just a note that the only windows that I can put my plants is south facing but it does not get direct sun because of the tree cover outside. Seems very happy there
I was wondering though...I have heard once you get your cactus set in a happy place it does not like to be moved. Have you ever heard of that?
The uninterrupted dark at night sounds just like getting a Poinsettia to bloom.
Thank you for all of the information.
Hi Kathy! Yes, there is indeed an Easter cactus! And you are correct. They can be finicky with moving. I wouldn't move a plant when it is in bud and flowering. This also tends to happen a lot when you purchase a new plant and take it home. Often times, the buds will drop when you take it home. This is just the plant adjusting to its new environment and it will recover.
mine was outside under protection of the north of the house. I’m in north Mississippi and I usually put it out in April. This is the first year it’s been in bloom this early. (Late October) they are predicting frost in two days and I have brought them inside. Which would be better a screened in covered porch or inside the house with defused light?
Thanks
At this point with those cold temperatures, I would say leave it inside the house right in front of a window. Diffused light or even morning sun would work wonderfully.
Thanks Raffaele,
I also have cuttings from my grandmother's Christmas Cactus which I started about 45 years ago. Many plants have been started and grown so large I had to give them away. I always have a new one started. It blooms from Thanksgiving through Easter/Passover. It's so special to have this from my grandmother. I always feel it brings love.
Hi Raffaele - thanks for the great info - I bought my cactus in full bloom in Dec. at the grocery store. After your tips to identify, I do indeed have a "Thanksgiving Cactus". I already have it in a North facing window as that is where it seemed happiest and it is doing well. My question is WHEN should I start giving it total darkness at night? I live in the city in sunny AZ (so lots of bright and ambient light). To get total darkness, I plan to use a stand in a hall closet where I can set it I for nightly "rest". How many hours would be advised? 6 hrs? 8 hrs? Then daytime sun is OK? Appreciate this column and your split leaf philodendron advice as well.
Hi Debi, thanks for your comment! By total darkness, I just mean to make sure not to have any lamps or overhead lighting on in the same room. It doesn't have to be pitch dark. I would experiment and see if that works this year for you? If that doesn't work for you, or if you want to try a more active approach, maybe you can move your plant to a completely dark closet (if you want to bother with that) for a few weeks. I would maybe try the first option first because it is a lot less work. Just make sure there are no lights on in that room at night. If that's not possible, maybe move it to a room that you don't use at night.
As far as number of hours, if you want to manually place it in a dark place each night, you can try maybe 10-12 hours? You can start doing this anytime in the next month or so, for several weeks, and see what happens! Hope this helps.
Hi Raffaello, I believe you should correctly label the picture of your great aunt's cactus as a Thanksgiving cactus. You explained the difference of both Thanksgiving and Christmas cactus well. So, this label only confuses the issue more. I would also put in parenthesis 'Thanksgiving cactus' after Christmas cactus on the label of the topic, i.e. Christmas cactus (Thanksgiving cactus) Care Instructions. Great article, afterall.
Thanks for the note Maria. I had forgotten to update the caption. I actually plan on adding more detail to this post later on, but in the meantime I changed the caption. Thank you for catching that! My great aunt's cactus was actually a Christmas cactus. I don't have it pictured in the post. I unfortunately don't have any photos of it. It grew into a monster and was glorious. The photo in the article currently is the one I propagated from my grandmother's Thanksgiving cactus.
I'm 74 years old and have both Xmas and Thanksgiving cacti. Mine summer on a roofed deck and get only early morning sun. I leave them out til the first of Oct (usda zone 6B -Pgh, Pa).
At this point they have covered themselves with tiny buds smaller than a bb. I move them inside and place them in the windows. I don't wait til the buds are too large or the move may cause bud drop! I have quite a show every year and I look forward to it. Of course I have lots of other plants too. I collect geraniums that were popular in the Victorian Era - late 1800's.
Are these tips the same for "easter" cactus as well? I have a Thanksgiving cactus that puts on a lot of blooms every year but the easter cactus hasn't bloomed since I brought it home. They live in the same conditions.
My Christmas cactus leaves are looking shriveled!! Do you know why that might be. It's about 15yrs old and quite big. It's was my mother in law's. I'm reporting it as it needs it but any tips for the leafs would be lovely. Thank you
Hi Nicole! Did you feel the potting mix? That normally happens when it goes too dry or stays too wet.
I purchased my “Thanksgiving” cactus in December of 2019. Fast forward to April 2021. My “Easter” cactus has decided to bloom again for the first time since then and I am absolutely delighted. Go figure!!
I love unexpected surprises! Ha! 🙂
I recently acquired a yellow thanksgiving cactus and was wondering what kind of soil you recommend for these? Something similar to the type of soil used for other tropical epiphytic cacti perhaps?
Do these guys care what time of year they get repotted?
I assume that their water needs might be higher then that of a desert cactus. Is that correct?
Thank you!
Love this post! I actually have a very small cutting of Christmas cactus that bloomed one beautiful flower earlier this year. Thanks much Ohio Tropics for these great tips on how we can help our plants thrive & rebloom.
Thanks so much! The information is very helpful.
Can you please tell me how to water it? And should I replant it in a larger pot? Or does it like to be in tighter space?
I describe the watering in the blog post. Water thoroughly and then allow the surface to dry out before watering again. It's hard to say if you should repot your plant because I don't know what it looks like. They do like to be somewhat potbound.
thank you ohiotropics for giving me wonderful information
You are very welcome!
Thank you so much. I will have to look into finding an Easter cactus.
I will let you know how mine does this season
Hi Raffaele
I do have a Thanksgiv8ng cactus that was of course marked at a Christmas cactus. The funny thing is...it thinks it is an Easter cactus if there is such a thing because thats when it blooms. Just a note that the only windows that I can put my plants is south facing but it does not get direct sun because of the tree cover outside. Seems very happy there
I was wondering though...I have heard once you get your cactus set in a happy place it does not like to be moved. Have you ever heard of that?
The uninterrupted dark at night sounds just like getting a Poinsettia to bloom.
Thank you for all of the information.
Hi Kathy! Yes, there is indeed an Easter cactus! And you are correct. They can be finicky with moving. I wouldn't move a plant when it is in bud and flowering. This also tends to happen a lot when you purchase a new plant and take it home. Often times, the buds will drop when you take it home. This is just the plant adjusting to its new environment and it will recover.
mine was outside under protection of the north of the house. I’m in north Mississippi and I usually put it out in April. This is the first year it’s been in bloom this early. (Late October) they are predicting frost in two days and I have brought them inside. Which would be better a screened in covered porch or inside the house with defused light?
Thanks
At this point with those cold temperatures, I would say leave it inside the house right in front of a window. Diffused light or even morning sun would work wonderfully.
Thanks Raffaele,
I also have cuttings from my grandmother's Christmas Cactus which I started about 45 years ago. Many plants have been started and grown so large I had to give them away. I always have a new one started. It blooms from Thanksgiving through Easter/Passover. It's so special to have this from my grandmother. I always feel it brings love.
Thanks for sharing your story Sharon 🙂 These are wonderful heirloom plants! I think of my grandmother every time I see mine too.
Hi Raffaele - thanks for the great info - I bought my cactus in full bloom in Dec. at the grocery store. After your tips to identify, I do indeed have a "Thanksgiving Cactus". I already have it in a North facing window as that is where it seemed happiest and it is doing well. My question is WHEN should I start giving it total darkness at night? I live in the city in sunny AZ (so lots of bright and ambient light). To get total darkness, I plan to use a stand in a hall closet where I can set it I for nightly "rest". How many hours would be advised? 6 hrs? 8 hrs? Then daytime sun is OK? Appreciate this column and your split leaf philodendron advice as well.
Hi Debi, thanks for your comment! By total darkness, I just mean to make sure not to have any lamps or overhead lighting on in the same room. It doesn't have to be pitch dark. I would experiment and see if that works this year for you? If that doesn't work for you, or if you want to try a more active approach, maybe you can move your plant to a completely dark closet (if you want to bother with that) for a few weeks. I would maybe try the first option first because it is a lot less work. Just make sure there are no lights on in that room at night. If that's not possible, maybe move it to a room that you don't use at night.
As far as number of hours, if you want to manually place it in a dark place each night, you can try maybe 10-12 hours? You can start doing this anytime in the next month or so, for several weeks, and see what happens! Hope this helps.
Hi Raffaello, I believe you should correctly label the picture of your great aunt's cactus as a Thanksgiving cactus. You explained the difference of both Thanksgiving and Christmas cactus well. So, this label only confuses the issue more. I would also put in parenthesis 'Thanksgiving cactus' after Christmas cactus on the label of the topic, i.e. Christmas cactus (Thanksgiving cactus) Care Instructions. Great article, afterall.
Thanks for the note Maria. I had forgotten to update the caption. I actually plan on adding more detail to this post later on, but in the meantime I changed the caption. Thank you for catching that! My great aunt's cactus was actually a Christmas cactus. I don't have it pictured in the post. I unfortunately don't have any photos of it. It grew into a monster and was glorious. The photo in the article currently is the one I propagated from my grandmother's Thanksgiving cactus.
Thanks, I can't wait to grow my Christmas Cactus, urs is so Beautiful.
Thank you. I hope my tips help you 🙂
Thank you ????
You're welcome!