Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. Why? The indoor and outdoor gardening season begins! During the late spring months I like to propagate, transplant and fertilize various indoor houseplants. One of those being the Christmas Cactus. What is a Christmas Cactus? Technically it’s a succulent that is very easy to grow. During the holiday season, November through the end of December it will flower giving your home some much needed color.
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How to Easily Propagate the Christmas Cactus
1. You will need cuttings from your parent plant. ONLY take these cuttings if your plant is healthy. You want to get the cuttings during the mid to late Spring season. Use a pair of clean scissors to snip off the cuttings from the parent plant at one of the joints. Each cutting needs to contain at least 2 leaf portions. Only take 2-3 cuttings from one medium sized plant at a time. You don’t want to butcher it!
2. Rip off 2-4 sheets of a paper towel. Lay the cuttings in a single layer onto the paper towel. Lightly fold the paper towel over the cuttings. Keep them laying flat. You need to store these cuttings in a cool, dry and dark place for 48 hours to allow the cut end to “heal”. I place mine in a cupboard laying flat with the cupboard door closed. It’s important that you allow for the full 48 hours to pass before moving onto the next step.
3. There are a few different ways to root the cuttings. The method that I prefer and use is placing them into a mixture of peat and sand. I mix the 2 together and fill up little starter nursery pots with drainage holes at the bottom. You always want to use pots with drainage holes to prevent root rot. Lightly water the mixture of peat and sand. Let the water drain out. Now it’s time to place the cutting into the peat and sand mixture. You want to place the “healed end” into the soil…about 1/4 of the total length of the cutting should be buried down into it. Lightly mist the newly planted cutting with a water bottle. Don’t soak it!
4. Place the newly planted cuttings in an area that gets plenty of indirect sunlight. When it comes to watering them…water them lightly only when the soil is dry. I like to use a small indoor watering can with a long slender spout. It’s light-weight, easy to tote around and helps me to get the job done quickly. Care for them this way for the next 6-8 weeks.
5. Time to repot your new Christmas Cactus plants into a more substancial pot. You can use ceramic, terracotta, plastic, glass or whatever. Just make sure that it has sufficient drainage holes at the bottom of the pot. Fill the pot with a potting soil made for succulent plants. You can purchase it from Amazon or at offline garden centers. Transplant them so that their roots are covered, about 1″ in depth below the soil. Lightly water the plant but don’t over-saturate it.
For continued care you want to check on your houseplants on a weekly basis. If the soil is dry to the touch lightly water them. For the Christmas Cactus to thrive make sure your place your pots in an area that gets indirect sunlight. If the area has humidity, that’s even better. They love humidity and thrive in it.
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I have 2 Christmas Cactus plants and would like to try this. Interesting about laying them flat for 48 hours. I would not have known that.