Hi,

I bought some Christmas cactus cuttings about 2 weeks ago since I haven't seen one in the store(only seen Thanksgiving cacti which I already have). Does anyone know how long they normally take to start to root on average? They don't look the best at the moment. I have 6 cuttings and put 3 in soil and the other 3 in water to try to get at least some of them to root. One of the cutting in water looks like it might have started; however, I haven't seen any on the rest. Also, one of the ones in water started to rot so I removed it from the water to dry out so I can save the rest of the cutting. At the moment they don't look the healthiest.

I root them in cacus soil, Not sure of the time but 2-3 weeks they should root. They are east to root.

Thanks Herrwood! The ones in soil are in Miracle Grow Cacti and Succulent mix. I have never tried rooting before so it's new for me(other than pothos in water). Maybe I'm just impatient. lol

I've rooted holiday cactus (Thanksgiving type, technically) cuttings both in water and ON soil, but haven't had as much luck putting them actually IN the soil. Harder to control the moisture level, maybe.
When I did them with soil, I laid them on the soil first and spritzed the soil and the ends with a spray bottle until roots appeared, then planted them upright. Took 1-2 weeks, I think.

This winter I tried doing it in water. I'd heard that succulents will rot instead of root if too much of the stem is submerged, so I put the cuttings in a small jar with less than an inch of water -- about 3/4 of the bottom segment was under water and that was it. Nobody rotted and as you can see, they rooted quite well! I think it took about 2 weeks.


I potted them just after I took the pictures. I bottom water all of my cuttings for at least a month or two after getting them rooted; it keeps the top of the soil a little drier, so they don't rot, and encourages them to send the roots DOWN to where the water is.

Rose good idea with the bottom watering. Mine are starting to look better since I have posted the pictures. They definitely are not as wilted! 2 out of the 3 in water started growing roots. I was impatient so I planted one of the ones with roots in the soil and the other one's roots broke off while taking it out of the water. I ended up putting that one back in the water to try to grow more roots. Also, one of the ones that I originally put in the soil has started growing aerial roots. Definitely feeling better abut them. You are right about it being hard to control the moisture level of the soil. I've just been trying to make sure the soil is a little damp but not too wet.