Hello Christmas Cactus aficionados. My Christmas Cactus seems to be stalled on blooming. I can see tiny/minute little buds, so it is trying to bloom. But it has been that way for several weeks now. I am wondering if there is anything I can do jump start it?? I will say this - I had it in brutal sun all summer long and the leaves turned pink - which was actual very pretty, but I know it is a sign of stress. But at the same time, it also recovered very nicely from being dug up and torn apart by a squirrel - many new leaves even though it was in the sun. I brought it indoors and the leaves have turned green, and now I do see those tiny buds, but nothing is happening at all. Is there anything I can do to get the ball rolling again, or do I just have to wait it out?? Other than not blooming, it seems very happy and healthy.

pink leaves after being in the sun all summer

leaves have turned greener since bringing indoors in October, and are actually darker than the photo shows.

I don't see any small buds.

They are itty bitty - pin hole sized, but they are there - quite a few of them - will try to get a pic, but not sure how good my camera is.

I don't think that they are buds. I have seen buds develop into little conical shaped bumps, and then stop developing for a period of time. But if those little areas are sunken-in pin hole sized spots, those could have developed into buds but aborted due to too much light and heat and not enough water. The stress from those factors could abort the buds very easily.

OK, here are a couple of pics. Hard to tell in the photo, but they are all very red, so I know they are flowers and not new leaves. They have been just that way for about 5 weeks now.

If that is so, then what will happen to them? I have increased the water. Will the buds get reabsorbed or what?

Well I didn't see those from the other images. I don't think that they ever get absorbed, they just dry up and fall off.
They could be buds or new leaves. Buds are really round. Christie, you can really see that better then me. I just have never had buds sit for several months like that.
I still have a large, very old Christmas cactus that I got from my Nana when she passed @87 in 1997! It is pale pink with darker pink edges to the flowers. I think that she is pleased every time it blooms.

My co-worker has one like that - it is HUGE. She is trying to be my mentor, but she has never had this problem either. I have had mine for about 6 years and it got fairly large, but a darned squirrel dug it out of its pot and tore it apart. I thought it was history, but I put the pieces into a new pot, and then pretty much forgot about it all summer . But it regrew and seemed to thrive, even with very little water and blazing sun. I think it must be stalled due to all of that - surprised it even formed these tiny buds. I guess I will need to wait and see what happens. Not sure though if I should fertilize it or what. Did increase the water though.

First it"s not a Christmas Cactus but a Thanksgiving cactus , if you give it a dark treatment , that will say more than 12 hours of total darkness daily , buds will come .................

@svendhoest -- OK, what is the difference and how can one tell??
I had started a dark treatment, but then stopped. I can resume that. I wonder if that is how I got the buds in the first place? Then maybe stopping the dark has stalled it??
(sure wish I knew what I was doing )

Schlumbergera truncata is a Thanksgiving cactus , Schlumbergera bridgesii is a true grandmother Christmas Cactus , you can see it on the leaves .....................

Hi Christie-

The shape of the leaves are a bit different between the thanksgiving and Christmas cactus. I'm not aware of any other difference between the two though.
For the first time this year I did the darkness treatment with my plants and waited until I could see a bud about 1/3" in length on each stem before I stopped. The directions I read said 14 hrs of darkness which I managed by moving the plants to a bedroom and covering / uncovering them with a box in case lights happened to turned on in the room. I didn't always manage 14 hours per night but probably around 5 weeks or so into it all the stems had blooms.

Your plant looks nice and healthy. I didn't realize you could ever plant them outside in Ohio!

@Abby_B - I generally kept it here at work, then took it home for spring and summer - leaving it in its pot under my Japanese Maple tree - it bloomed every year. But then a pesky squirrel pulled it out of the pot and tore it to pieces. I really thought it was dead because it had been on the ground in pieces for about a month before I looked close enough at it to see what happened. I can easily manage 14 hours of darkness, I will try that. Will also look at the plant database to see the difference in the leaves between Christmas and Thanksgiving. For your amusement, McNut pics below:

~~ Ripped open and pulled all the stuffing out of my patio chair cushions, destroying them




~~ Is great friends with my cats. Also, stole my hidden house key and moved it to a new spot under my woodpile - which I found months later - key has been relocated to a neighbor's house.
~~ Destroyed my screen door gazing face to face with kitties

~~ McNut brought his/her mate to meet kitties too


Spreading coyote urine granules around my patio has encouraged McNut to move to a neighbor's patio.

Mr. Nutt is a rogue and a scalliwag!
Perhaps he was tired of looking at the same fabric?!
He probably brought the Mrs. over to see if she liked the place! 🐿🐿🐿🐿

I expect Mr & Mrs McNut have the coziest, warmest nest in Ohio. So happy my house key is not up in that nest - almost had my locks changed. Happier still that they are now my neighbor's problem and not mine - although I did see him on my patio the other day - but new cushions still intact. Time to put out more coyote urine granules - although someone told me that human urine works even better NOT going to go there.

Those are probably new leaf buds, not flower buds. Your plant is very healthy, but it may not flower soon. At this point, there is not much you can do other than to continue to care for it as you have. If you keep it potbound and in a window, it may bloom for you at any time despite its holiday name.

This one blooms twice per year. It has been in the same pot for 10 years and is watered lightly once per week and fertilized occasionally. Nothing else. If you look closely, you will see some new buds just starting to emerge.

I've seen exactly what Christie posted on mine from time to time. (not the squirrels) I thought the first picture was a flower bud just starting to grow. And I never really knew what the second picture was about. So new leaves,eh? Good to know. Also good to know that they like to be potbound.