Christmas Cactus

by Jo

My Christmas cactus did really well for flowering in the winter, and bloomed for a long time, and was totally covered. Now it's getting little red growths on the ends of the leaves - is this normal? or does my beautiful plant have a problem?



Drought Smart Plants reply:

Hi Jo, your plant is indeed healthy, and this red growth is simply the new leaves that emerge every year.

As your plant is covered pretty well all over with these, I would say that your plant is getting plenty of light.

Around about now (September), until the end of October your Christmas Cactus will also be setting flower buds, and will again be covered in those gorgeous blooms. The important thing to remember is not to move it while it sets the buds for the flowers as this can cause it to drop the buds, sometimes in great quantities, which of course means that your plant won't have the amount of flowers that you would like.

See more about these great plants here: Schlumbergera and for an overview of these types of plants look at the page on epiphytes.

Happy Succulent Gardening!

Jacki