What Your Christmas Cactus Needs in October – Get These 5 Things Right for Fabulous Holiday Blooms
Those festive flowers won’t appear all on their own. Give your plant the seasonal cues it needs now to help it form those all-important buds.
The Christmas cactus is an extremely popular holiday plant that seems to bloom forever, offering some of the most exotic-looking flowers in the plant kingdom. It takes second place only to the Christmas tree in terms of plants associated with the holidays. And it’s a tropical cactus that doesn’t have needles that get all over the carpet!
When it’s not playing a starring role in Santa season, this beautiful plant can keep on looking lush and lovely in spring, summer, and fall with proper Christmas cactus care. However, while it's an easy houseplant to grow, getting it to produce another spectacular holiday flower display takes a little more planning than simply keeping it alive.
October is when that preparation begins. The shorter days and cooler nights help trigger bud formation, but a few simple care tasks can make all the difference to the quality of this year's display. Here are five essential autumn care steps for Schlumbergera × buckleyi (also sold as Schlumbergera bridgesii) to encourage healthy growth and plenty of buds for December. You can also use this advice on the other main type of holiday cactus, the Thanksgiving cactus (Schlumbergera truncata).
1. Bring on the Dark
Holiday prep for your Christmas cactus starts in October. This is the single most important step if you want to enjoy the same fabulous display of blooms you had the previous year. The key is striking the right balance between daylight and complete darkness.
Starting in October, control the amount of daylight your plant receives. To trigger bud formation, a Christmas cactus needs around 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness every night. It won't mind whether that darkness comes from being placed in a spare room or closet, as long as no light reaches it.
You can also simply cover it with an opaque box or a black fabric grow bag, such as these 5-gallon black grow bags from Amazon, which are large enough to fit over most mature Christmas cacti while still allowing plenty of airflow.
After its nightly blackout, return the plant to a spot with bright, indirect light for the remaining 12 hours of the day.
2. Keep Things Cool
This cactus may look like a beautiful holiday decoration, but don't forget – it's a real plant. If you only want to enjoy it for one season, that's your choice. But if you want your Christmas cactus to bloom year after year, you need to provide the right conditions before it flowers.
In the wild, Christmas cacti spend the early months of winter in cooler conditions, and this drop in temperature helps stimulate bud formation. That means now isn't the time to display your plant in front of a crackling fire. Instead, keep it in a room where temperatures stay between 50–55°F (10–13°C). Don't let it get too warm, but don't let it get too cold either.
3. Water Can Wait
Do you hear the term "cactus" and think of the Sonoran Desert? Yes, some cacti are native to arid climates and require infrequent watering, but others, like the Christmas cactus, call the tropical rainforest home.
Even so, autumn should be a relatively dry period in the life of a Christmas cactus. In the wild, this is a season with little rainfall, so don't flood the plant now. Stop the weekly watering routine and make sure the pot isn't sitting in a saucer of water.
Instead, check the soil every week to see if it has dried out. Push your finger into the soil up to the first knuckle, and only water if it feels dry at that depth. If you'd rather take the guesswork out of watering, an inexpensive XLUX Soil Moisture Meter from Amazon is a worthwhile investment. It gives an instant reading of moisture levels below the surface, helping you avoid the overwatering that can prevent Christmas cacti from setting buds.
4. Hold the Fertilizer
Okay, we get it. There are a lot of directions to follow if you want your Christmas cactus to burst into bloom for the holidays. But many of them involve not doing things: no lights at night, no warm room, less water, and... no fertilizer.
Stop fertilizing your Christmas cactus completely in October and November. Fertilizer encourages leafy growth, and that's not what you want at this stage. Instead, the plant needs to direct its energy into setting flower buds for the holiday season.
Once flowering has finished and your plant resumes active growth in spring, you can start feeding again with a balanced houseplant fertilizer, such as this TPS Nutrients Christmas Cactus Fertilizer. Regular feeding through spring and summer will help support healthy stems and set your Christmas cactus up for another spectacular display next winter.
5. Watch for Flower Buds
After a few weeks, start checking your Christmas cactus every day for developing buds. A good time to do this is each morning when you move it from its dark location back into bright, indirect light. The buds will first appear as tiny, brightly colored points at the tips of the flattened stems.
As soon as you spot the first buds, your care routine changes. The nightly 12-hour blackout has done its job and is no longer needed. Move the plant to a bright, warm spot, where the buds can continue to develop into the spectacular flowers that make Christmas cacti such a holiday favorite.
Christmas Cactus Care Essentials
