How I Pruned the Christmas Cactus
by
LA Murano
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.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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