Some anonymous person put this plant with my plants on the roof of my building, so I've adopted it. Can someone tell me what this plant is and a brief description on how to take care of it? It needs to be repotted. Thanks.
yup, christmas cactus. should really be in cactus soil. and the container should have drainage holes. let the soil dry a bit before watering thoroughly. for it to bloom at the holidays, it needs about 6 weeks of darkness and no water starting sometime in october.
Zygocactus. I take no special pains with these and get flowers every year. No artificial darkness period, no change in watering, no reduction in temperatures (other than effect of seasonal outdoor conditions). Sometimes get two crops. Have grown them as house plants, in rooms with lights on until bedtime for over 35 years.
I am with Ron. The one plant we had (lost it three years ago from over watering) had flowered every year for years without any special attention. We just kept it in consistently in one location in the house, with the occassional watering and feeding. It seems that the natural seasonal change in daylight hours was sufficient to trigger flowering.
But doesn't Christmas Cactus like morning sun and filtered light the rest of the day? In Los Angeles, it was about 90 degrees on Easter, wasn't it? So how is the plant doing on the roof (I'm guessing without shade)? Let me know if I've got this all wrong!
My vote goes with Ron as well. They do receive less water in the native environment at the time they normally bloom. The species is Schlumbergera subgen. Zygocactus but there are many variations and subspecies. A photo of mine in bloom can be seen here: http://www.exoticrainforest.com/zygocactus.html A very neat plant during the winter. But we do nothing special with it other than our normal "rain forest" watering schedule.
