Prune Your Christmas Cactus in 5 Steps

Pruning a plant is a bit like trimming your explicit individual hair: Logically, you already know that it ought to all develop as soon as extra. Nonetheless the a part of you tentatively holding the scissors is feeling fairly apprehensive. Don’t panic! Pruning doesn’t ought to set off masses anxiousness; notably on a species as forgiving on account of the Christmas cactus.

Schlumbergera x buckleyi is a much-loved houseplant well-liked for its longevity and winter-flowering nature. Of their native Brazil, Christmas cacti anchor themselves to shady cliffs and tree nooks and accumulate dietary nutritional vitamins from wildlife droppings and decaying leaf litter. Potted up in a entrance room, they like well-drained, barely acidic soil. In stark distinction to their desert-dwelling cousins, these vegetation want gentle temperatures and a substantial amount of water. 

Why Prune Your Christmas Cactus?

Youthful Christmas cacti have an upright enchancment kind, nonetheless as they age, the basal stems thicken and develop to be woody. The branches will lengthen and begin to drape downward. This affords it a really elegant look, nonetheless over time, it will most definitely look leggy and a bit scraggly. Pruning can reshape and enhance the seems of those gorgeous long-lived beauties.

Pruning can even assist promote flowering. This species types flowers completely on the ends of the stems, notably the place the segments of the flattened stems meet. Further stems will lastly equal additional flowers.

One different excuse to present your houseplant a haircut? To make additional of them! This species can merely be propagated with stem cuttings. 

Step 1: Wait Till It’s Completed Blooming

Prune your Christmas cactus appropriate after it has completed blooming nonetheless ahead of it begins actively rising as quickly as further. That is usually spherical February or March. Pruning correct now will direct the upcoming vitality in route of producing new stems instead of down current stems. The tip consequence? A lush, bushy plant comparatively than longer stems.

Don’t prune earlier summer season season. The Christmas cactus begins to direct vitality in route of flower bud formation in early fall. As rapidly as buds start to kind, it’s most attention-grabbing to go away them undisturbed. As short-day vegetation, Christmas cacti require a variety of uninterrupted weeks of cool temperatures and extended (12+ hours per 24-hour day) stretches of darkness to set off flowering.

Step 2: Uncover the Acceptable Pruning Stage 

Fortunate for us, the pure kind of a Christmas cacti’s stem makes pruning fairly foolproof. The segmented stems are composed of many leaf-like buildings typically known as phylloclades. Botanically talking, these are usually not true leaves, nonetheless they do perform photosynthesis. Select a slender joint between division segments. It should in all probability naturally produce 1-2 new phylloclades the place it was lower.

Keep away from decreasing the hardened, woody enchancment down close to the crown. Woody stems are a pure a part of the rising older course of and an indication of a mature plant! Adjust to the softer, inexperienced enchancment close to the very best of the stem.

Step 3: Make the Reduce

The second you’ve been ready for: time to prune your Christmas cactus! Some gardeners merely twist the stem at one among many slender joints. I must make the most of a pair of pruners or a knife to steer clear of tearing. In case you select to make the most of pruners or a pair of snips, be sure that they’re clear ahead of utilizing them. In case you’re hoping to propagate your cuttings, be sure that every stem decreasing has on the very least 3-4 segments and is a variety of inches extended. 

Step 4: Resolve on a Fast Snip or Exhausting Reduce

In case you merely ought to tidy up or take away only a few stray stems, a variety of fast snips must do it. Older vegetation which can be extra large would possibly begin to drop branches that they’ll not help. On this example, you might wish to lower significantly extra sturdy.

In case you are making an attempt to drastically reshape the plant or take away only a few of its mass, you may prune as quite a bit as one third of the foliage. Eradicating just a few third of the leaves at any given time would possibly ship it into shock. The plant would possibly or could not flower contained in the upcoming season.

Step 5: Make Further Crops

Now, what to do with all these bits of stem? That is the right totally different to broaden your Christmas cactus assortment (or an excellent pal’s) and propagate a variety of new vegetation! Chances are high excessive chances are you’ll wish to begin a variety of stem cuttings to up your odds of worthwhile propagation.

Let the stem decreasing dry for a day. This will likely permit the wound to callous over, which, in flip, will forestall rot. Then, place the decreasing upright in moistened potting combine. Christmas cacti require very sharply drained soil that’s comparatively nutrient poor. Use a potting combine notably made for succulents and cacti, or make your explicit individual potting combine out of potting soil, perlite, and coarse gravel or sand.

Put the planted stem decreasing in a shiny, heat (65-75°F or 18-24°C) location. Preserve the potting combine persistently moist nonetheless not waterlogged. Loads of spritzes with a sprig bottle will assist amp up the humidity with out drowning the stem decreasing. You can too affix a plastic bag or dome all through the vegetation to keep up up humidity.

It will possibly in all probability take 2-3 weeks for roots to kind. Be affected explicit individual! As rapidly as new enchancment begins rising on the tip, you may re-pot the stem decreasing in a a lot larger container of your alternative. Chances are high excessive chances are you’ll wish to try planting 2-3 stem cuttings collectively to assist fill out a a lot larger container. New cuttings could also be propagated at any time of 12 months, nonetheless chances are you’ll want in all probability the best ends in late spring.