I have had my Christmas cactus for 10 years. It has always flowered except for the past two years. In October I put it in the basement near a window so that it is quite cool and gets some light during the day but at least 12 hours of darkness. It still has not budded while I would have expected flowers by the end of December. What should I do?

Did something change in the last two years? Same basement window?

Yes. I repotted it about two years ago. I also moved it from my cooler and darker bedroom to the living room which is warmer and gets too much artificial lighting at night. I assumed that is why it did not blossom last year. That is why this year I did some research and tried putting it in the basement. I am so sad there are still no blossoms. I also fertilized it during the summer but stopped that in September. Please help me!

Because you have been so successful in the past getting your Schlumbergera bloom, I wonder if you over-potted. They bloom best when root bound. You may have to wait until the roots fill the pot.

I do re-pot to replace old soil (rarely, sometimes its years) but I never increase pot size.

That is good advice. Do you think I might have over fertilized it? It looks very very healthy.

I am a notorious non-fertilizer - my plants get fed once a year whether they need it or not. When plants are growing out in the wild, nobody is coming by with a fertilzer can. We (plant owners) have been swept up by the hype from fertilzer companies - we have been trained to think our plants need a constant supply of food. They really don't.

If you do want to keep a regular schedule for fertilizing your plants, cut down on the strength (maybe 1/3 to 1/4 the recommended dose) of your fertilzer mix. Plants in pots just can't use all that food.

To answer your last question, if your fertilizer is high in nitrogen, it will cause lush green leaves but no flowers.

It is cactus fertilizer but I might have overdone it. Is it okay to put two or three plants in one pot?

It needs a bright window. Not a lot of sun, but bright. Your basement is probably too dark.
I have grown all types, Easter cactus, Christmas cactus and what some call Thanksgiving cactus but for me they grow and flower the same. A bright east window is best because they do not like it warm in my experience. I water them when they approach complete dryness and i water them well. Soil on the sandy side. I fertilize only twice, spring and fall.
I figured that they respond to the changing day length and set buds. I typically get more colored flowers, reds, pinks, oranges in the fall. Whites and pale pinks produce more flowers in the spring however most of mine bloom twice per year.

Thank you Bill. Do you think if I bring it up from the basement it still might bloom this season?

If you bring it up now I think that you'll see buds as the days begin to lengthen in late January. Hopefully the plant will respond to coming up from the basement and being in the window. I will suspect you'll have buds and flowers by late February or early March.
Hopefully it will grow nicely all summer and you'll get additional flowers in the fall.

Personally, I don't think its a matter of moving it to the right conditions at the right time. Its more of finding a permanent home that your plant will be in happy year 'round. It was happy.... before you repotted.

Except for the day/night thing, these plants are not that picky. In Caliornia, my Schlumbergera lived in a west facing (behind large trees) sunroom without heat. Now, they live in a north facing room that is heated. They bloom. The ONLY common denominator is length of night. If a light comes on, the counter is set back to zero.

I suspect you 1. over potted, 2. need to put it back where it was happy for 8 years, and, 3. over fertilized.

Yes, you can put more than one in a pot.

Daisy is right-on. Disturbing a flowering plant's roots by repotting commonly disrupts the flowering cycle of many plants. That is especially true with Holiday Cacti that really have to be kept quite potbound to bloom. It may take a long time for your Holiday Cactus to fill the new pot with roots before it will bloom again, regardless of how you manipulate the light and temperature.

I suggest that you focus now on getting the plant to grow vigorously by keeping it close to a sunny window and watering appropriately.

Thank you. Would putting another plant in with it help it become pot bound? Otherwise I will need to put it back in a smaller pot. This pot is quite large. How often do you recommend watering? I was giving small amounts of water twice a week in the summer and it looked very healthy.

Here is a photo. I just brought it back up from the basement and put it in it's favorite window. I appreciate everybody's advice.

Trying to squeeze another plant into the same pot is difficult to do without adding even more potting soil. It also increases the chance of further damage to the roots. The pot is bigger than it needs to be but not excessively large.

I suggest removing any loose soil you may have added to the top of the original rootball. Then allow the top half-to-one inch to dry before adding just enough water so that that it reaches that same level of dryness again within 1-2 weeks. Frequent watering is not a good approach especially since it is now in a larger pot.

Be patient as it develops new roots to fill the pot and adds more healthy leaf growth. Flowers will come later on, perhaps next year if it has a happy growing year.

Thank you Will.

What's eating my Christmas cactus?

Katherinesigns said:What's eating my Christmas cactus?

Please post a photo that shows the entire plant so we can see what you are seeing.

Christmas cactus are what is called thermo-photoperiodic--meaning that they have both temperature and light requirements that must be met in order to bloom. They need a combination of the days getting shorter and the nights getting significantly cooler in order to bloom. This can be easily achieved by putting the plant outside for the summer and not bringing it in until fall when the night temps are falling below the mid-forties. Because they are TROPICAL not desert cactus, when you put them out, put them under a tree where they'll get good dappled sun but avoid strong mid-day sun. Feed during the summer but do not feed after Labor Day as that can interfere with bud formation. When you bring them inside, in a window that gets some direct sun is good (because winter sun is so much weaker than summer sun) and light misting is also good (remember that they are tropical cactus--used to a lot of moisture in the air). i put mine out for the summer every year and when I bring them in in mid-October (here in Central Virginia) they are LOADED with buds.

That is good advice Bonnie! I will try it.