What Your Christmas Cactus Needs in November – Ace These 4 Tasks for Fabulous Holiday Flowers
Flowerbuds should be forming by late fall but you'll need to get November Christmas cactus care right to enjoy a first-rate festive flower show.
By November, your Christmas cactus should be busy preparing to flower, and what you do with your plant now is the difference between a disappointing bud-drop or a dazzling display of festive flowers. We think of cacti as being easy plants to grow but the Christmas cactus is a rather sensitive soul. Native to the coastal rainforests of Brazil, Shlumbergera x buckleyi can struggle to flower well in the very different environment of our homes, and even jettison all its buds.
Get November Christmas cactus care right, however, and you’ll have a happy plant in full, fabulous bloom for the holidays. What's more, stick to these guidelines and those flowers will last for longer, even brightening the first few weeks of the new year.
The four principles of caring for a Christmas cactus in late fall are super-simple to achieve, and knowing exactly what your plant needs to stay focused on swelling those precious buds changes everything. Here's what to do to stop a Christmas cactus dropping its buds so you can enjoy weeks of fabulous flowers right through the holidays.
1. Check for Buds
In November, your Christmas cactus should be setting buds so check regularly for tiny pinpricks of color on the leaf tips. These nubs will be bright red, pink or purple or, if you have a white-flowering variety, a very pale green, so they’re easy to spot.
If you’ve been using light and dark to trick your Christmas cactus into flowering right on time for the holidays, you’ll very likely spot plenty of these baby flowerbuds in mid-November. If you haven’t, don’t panic, because you may still get Christmas cactus flowers this winter. Your Shlumbergera may well have set flowerbuds without any extra encouragement from you, especially if its natural seasonal cues haven't been interrupted by artificial evening light or too much warmth or water.
If you're trying the light and dark trick, carry on until you spot buds. If not, and there’s no sign of buds yet, move your cactus to a cool room that’s not often used so lights aren’t routinely switched on – a spare bedroom is ideal. Turn the radiator down and leave the blind or curtains open so the air naturally cools at night to 50-55°F – a cheap indoor thermometer such as this from Amazon makes it easy to check. Only water the cactus sparsely once the top 2-3 inches of soil feel dry, as drought conditions can trigger flowering, and keep your fingers crossed!
2. Restore Light, Warmth and Water
As soon as you spot buds, move your Christmas cactus to a spot that gets bright, indirect sunlight and the temperature stays around 65-70°F. You can give your plant a little more water now, too, irrigating when the top inch of soil feels dry or take out the guesswork with a moisture meter such as this long-probe soil meter from Amazon. Aim to keep the soil consistently just-damp.
3. Create Humidity With a Pebble Tray
The dry air of a heated home is a far cry from a Christmas cactus’ natural environment of a moist rainforest , and this is a real threat to the holiday flowers. When the heat is first turned on, the shock is a common reason why Christmas cacti drop a leaf segment. And if the too-dry conditions continue, a cactus can lose so much moisture from its stems that it goes into survival mode and, because those developing flowers are using a heap of energy, jettisons its buds.
Setting your plant on a humidity tray is a quick and easy answer. A bonsai pebble tray such as this from Lowe’s is perfect, or make your own with a plant saucer and pea gravel pebbles like this Landscape Rock from The Home Depot. Add water to the tray but sit the plant pot on the pebbles so its base is above the water level: the water will then naturally evaporate, increasing air humidity for your houseplant, rather than being drawn up into the potting soil. Keeping the tray topped up with water will also help flowers last for longer once they open.
4. Leave Your Cactus in the Same Spot
As well as being very sensitive to the level of moisture in the air, your Christmas cactus will respond negatively to any other changes in its environment. So, if you want those flowerbeds to swell right on schedule, you must leave your plant in the same spot.
In the rainforest beneath a dense tree canopy, the buds of Shlumbergera lock onto whichever direction precious sunlight comes from. So, if you move the cactus, those buds will likely twist towards the changed light source and drop off. Any change in temperature can also trigger bud drop – and your cactus is so reactive, it’ll notice being moved to another table, not just a different room.
You have until the flowerbuds start to form a teardrop shape or reach around ¼ inch long to decide where you want your cactus to sit until after it’s finished flowering, but then leave it be. Don’t even rotate it a half inch! It's even worth making a pencil mark on the pot and on the surface it sits on so you can line them back up if the pot gets knocked. If there’s not enough natural light in the spot you’d like it, then a basic dimmable LED grow light such as this from Walmart is the answer.
Now you know exactly what to do with a Christmas cactus in November to keep it happy and healthy. It takes around 4-6 weeks for buds to grow from those tiny pinpricks you first spotted into flamboyant flowers with flared petals, so there's still plenty of time to get festive blooms in time for the holidays. Just give your Shlumbergera the correct soil moisture, the humidity it craves and the stability it needs, and your plant will reward you with a phenomenal show. With each flower lasting up to 9 days and buds continuing to open over a few weeks, your plant's blooming period will last for at least a month, so you'll have plenty of time to enjoy the festive flowers.
