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How I Pruned the Christmas Cactus
by
LA Murano
(IC: blogger)
1 Material
10 Minutes
Easy
I decided to prune my Christmas cactus to make it bushier. It didn't quite work...I made it prettier instead! Here's what I did, why it bloomed, and how to tell the difference between a Christmas cactus and a Thanksgiving cactus.
I did a lot of research before pruning this plant. Then I removed pieces that weren't thriving. I removed excess branching. I removed all the tiny pieces. I removed at least 2 segments on every branch. I did everything it said to make it grow nice and bushy and full. I moved it to the top of a cabinet, out of direct sunlight.
After a few weeks I could see tiny nubs growing out of the cut spots. I assumed it was growing larger, until I looked closer one day and noticed....those are flower buds! I moved it down to the light so we could enjoy this second blooming, but it has baffled me since! So why did it bloom instead of grow?
Well, it's been a bit more research but I think I have it figured out. I watered it right after pruning and I fed it just a little before I put it up on it's low light perch. When I was doing my original research, I did see where it said it could be forced to flower again a few months later....but I had totally skipped reading that part since that's not what I wanted to do. I should have read it so I knew what not to do! So feeding it made it flower.
Thankfully, the plant is fine. I didn't screw it up, just didn't do what I wanted. *sigh* The good part is that I got to see it bloom again and I have all those cuttings rooting nicely in with my lavender which was super simple!
I also found out it was actually a Thanksgiving cactus! If you look at the picture right above this it has soft looking leaf segments that is a Christmas cactus. In the pictures of me pruning the plant, the leaf segments have points. That one is the Thanksgiving cactus. Check out my post for more details.
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Suggested materials:
- Flowering cactus plant
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Published August 29th, 2017 11:34 AM
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