Christmas Cactus

Amy
by Amy
Can someone please tell me what is wrong with my Christmas cactus? About a month ago it started going down hill. I would really appreciate some advice, thank you!
  4 answers
  • I always ask first "was the soil too wet?" Christmas cactus do not like wet soil. now you have a piece lying there I would find a small clay pot with some fresh dirt/sand mix and stick it in water it and put in a window. maybe even take the other ones out of soil and shake them off and stick them in the pot too. Christmas cactus can stay in a pot for many many years before needing to be repotted. hope this helps.
    • See 2 previous
    • Amy Amy on Sep 19, 2014
      @The Garden Frog with C Renee The leaves on the begonia are falling off so I believe you are right on it needing rest. I live in Tennessee and the weather here is a little wacky at times, never fails that just as I've watered all my plants it rains, lol. I felt a little stupid when I wasn't finding what I needed in the books but you helped remove that feeling and I thank you!
  • Carole Carole on Sep 18, 2014
    I note your cactus is sitting in a terracotta pot. These are good for drainage as the water can soak through the pot (unlike plastic these pots are porous). The bad thing I see in your photo is that the pot is sitting in a pot saucer. Cacti do not like 'wet feet'. This means that the watering should be infrequent - say once per week, light - don't drench the pot too much, and very free draining. If water is sitting in the saucer it is not draining away from the root system and so the roots can rot. The other thing is that frost can kill this type of plant, animals may still graze on these type of plants, which are not exactly protected by spikes in the way some cacti are. Hard to tell from your photo what is going on with this plant. If you manage to salvage a couple of pieces that are not soft or rotting, then allow them to heal over (the cut should close over and not be exposed and juicy looking it should form a hard surface) before replanting in a good free draining cacti mix. Cacti mix is very loose and free draining potting mix. Not too loamy- it has sand in it for good drainage. If you cannot get cacti mix, then use potting mix but add some sand to the mix to aid drainage. Please don't put the pot back onto a saucer where water will accumulate.
    • See 2 previous
    • Carole Carole on Sep 20, 2014
      @Amy I would use one to protect your furniture but only water infrequently, no more than once per week and not too much water. If there is still water in the saucer about one hour after watering, I would pour the water away.
  • Jeanette S Jeanette S on Sep 19, 2014
    I can offer no help because I can kill a Christmas cactus just by looking at it! HA! I have never understood why anyone would bother with this plant. Please don't send me hate mail...because I know some of you make these things glorious...I just don't understand how!
  • Clarissa Fowler Clarissa Fowler on Jan 06, 2015
    Mine fell apart like that and I found there were sow bugs in the bottom eating the roots.