I move mine to the laundry room, small NE window and coolest room in the house. Needs larger pot this spring.

Hi Gita I agree with Tiffany that they are probably getting too dry. I move mine out doors each spring, I live in Seattle where it is very damp, even if it isn't raining the air usually feels dampish. So whenever I bring them back inside I notice they don't do as well, not because I don't water but because the air humidity inside is so much drier. I now have them where they have large pans to catch water - these are filled with pebbles, and I keep some water in this at all times, it helps a bit but still isn't quite enough. Good luck with rerooting hope that works for you, always sad to lose a plant that you've had for a while!

Greg--

I admit, to some degree, that I keep my CC's too dry in fear of them rotting getting too wet.
Advice from many, many people sometimes seems conflicting. I try to think through
all that has been said--but then end up relying on my own experience with plants
and go with that. Since I work in the Garden Dept. at my HD--many people rely on me for advice.
I DO NOT want to give them false advice. Just regular good habits re plants in general.

When these healthy, vibrant, blooming CC's arrive at the store--they look just so lush.
*(our 1st shipment just arrived today)
I have CC's that go back to 2006 and still living. Using cuttings to propagate most of them,
I have been able to continue with all the many colors I have had.

Greg
--In your opinion--is the Pro Mix not right for the CC's? It IS peat-based, but also has a lot of Perlite in it. Not sure where i could get some "grit" to mix into the soil. Whwt do you think about using "Rice Hulls"?

I will see my CC's through this bloom period and then take them out of the soil they are in and re-pot them in fresh Lambert's Pro Mix ( NOT going to fight with Tapla's soil suggestion).
I do not have the materials to do his MIX.
Should I incorporate something different in the soils as I transplant them? Your opinion, please. Thanks, Gita

Gita, if you use Pro-Mix BX, it's not the right mix. It will get bone dry and hard as a rock. One of the best way to rehydrate it is to place the potted plant in water up to the rims until it stops bubbling and then let the excess water drain from the bottom. If the peaty mix is too fine, the roots will die of starvation due to soil compaction (rapid decomposition, especially of peat), That's why it's necessary to replace that type of soil at least yearly.

I don't know about the rice hulls, but I do know that you can substitute aquarium gravel or similar sized gravel (even a little horticultural charcoal) to add bulk to your mix, in order to give the roots some air space. I've also found chunky perlite at HD during the last couple of years. The ones in the small bags are mostly useless dust. Those are some options that may be available to you. Also soil conditioner (pine fines) and leaf mold are also good for adding to your potting mix. Someone, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Gita, on those beautiful plants found at the BBS this time of year, I find that first of all, they are often planted in too large pots with too much peaty mix. Sometimes the mix covers part of the lower stem (plant potted too deep) which subsequently rots, when the soil maintains too much moisture. When customers take them home, they are already dying, especially if they are watered/overwatered while in the foil and/or plastic plastic packaging. So I remove as much excess soil mix as I can without disturbing too many of the roots growing at the surface instead of down in the mix. (They don't travel down into the mix for moisture, because it's available right at the surface of the constantly damp peaty mix) Since I don't want to disturb the roots in winter, I usually remove at least half of the soil depending on the amount of roots the plant has and replace in the same pot or a smaller one. Then I'll repot it after it's dormant period/after bloom and the plant begins it's spring growth. I hope that some of this info helps.

Good info Deborah!

Greg. I try to share what I've learned from others over the years and I enjoy learning new things, especially if it relates to gardening.

IME, it's not about the ingredients, but about the size of the particles of the ingredients, and not using stuff that roots inherently don't like, like peat. Smaller particles of any kind don't have space between them for air, so roots can't get oxygen. Roots need air (oxygen) & moisture @ the same time to function. Otherwise they rot or shrivel, with too much of one or the other.

Whenever one is buying/mixing, look for coarse texture from the beginning, not trying to add larger particles to existing smaller particles. And don't pack it tightly in pots. That forces out too much air. Then roots can be kept moist w/o rotting & plants can grow as normally as possible in a pot.

Unless a plant is a succulent or cactus, it's not normal for roots to dry out, and causing such stress purposely in order to avoid rotting the roots by doing the 1 thing necessary to keep any potted plant alive, which is adding water, is an unnecessary difficult thing to do for me. I have too many pots for each to have a diff schedule. Some have fun with trying to guess the right moment to add a sip of water or other techniques to cope with soils that can rot roots while moist & good looking plants for their efforts. If things are going well, by all means, keep up with whatever you're doing!

Thanks for all your suggestions. Are you suggesting that I not use any potting mix at all???
Just something like orchid Mix? HMMMMMMMM.....

I will try to do one thing, find something to make the soil chunkier. Aquarium grit should be
easily available. How about the grit made for birds?
I have some Hort. Charcoal--even if it is quite old.

I think that soaking the whole container in water is not a good idea. Most of the CC's
I have drop their leaves BECAUSE I have watered them too much--especially the Easter cactus.
This one is what caused me to write here for advice--as the "leaves" fall off just at the slightest touch--and, especially, when I have watered them a bit.

I am familiar with much of the other advice--been on DG forever--and hashed through
much of all the stuff you all suggested. JB is still the most knowledgeable person
on CC's--but she no longer deals with them nor sells them. We used to trade our CC's...
Because of JB--I have about 8 or more different colors of CC. Some are just beautiful.

What me thinks I need to do is put the CC's in fresh soil mix--whatever that may be.
Yes! The old soils seems compacted. Most likely--there are NO nutrients left in it.

Herre are some pictures of my CC's blooming right now. Theu are NOT in the big pots. Most of them are in 4" pots--so....from cuttings of my older ones.
Gita

I am happy to find this forum. I see some familiar names. Hope all is well for everyone.
I love it when the Christmas and Thanksgiving cacti bloom. I have added some new varieties to my collection this year.

These are what I have blooming so far this year.


This one is twilight tangerine



This one is peaches and cream
There are a couple of others, but they are on my phone and not uploaded yet.

happy Blooming season.
Ibartoo

Very nice, Linda. I only have one and it's a noid. However I can see a lot more in my future!

Ibartoo---WOW! Glad to see/hear from you!!!
Are you the one who gave the 1st starts of the true X-mas cactus?

Mine has grown well--and bloomed as well. I have, sparingly, shared some "fronds" of this one
with some people here. Hope they grow well--and soon...
Gita

My first one (to open this year) has open blooms!

Looks good! Mine are almost all finished now...it happens so fast!

@Gita, I believe we traded Brugs and not CC. I am willing to trade CC though. In the spring, I will be able to take cuttings.

I have bought 3 noids this year and they are pretty much finished. 1, a red is so top heavy that I am not sure it will wait until spring to be trimmed. The other two are pink and white.

I am losing my Easter Cactus, They seemed to have become infested with scale and I can't seem to get it cleared up, so I don't want to put them in the greenhouse with the others. I also don't know if the scale would travel to the other plants like epi's or if it would just stay confined. I don't know what to do with them.

Anyone have any ideas?
ibartoo

Scale does travel. I had a cactus years ago that apparently had it when I brought it home (unbeknownst to me), only to find scale all over it and the neighboring plants weeks later. It was the culrprit, it was the only new plant I'd gotten.

Hamwild, how did you get rid of it? Or did you just tossed the plants?

I was told the only way to try was a systemic, so the plant would suck up whatever it was that can kill them (since they're hard shelled, spraying doesn't affect them and the babies are microscopic if I remember correctly, so you can't see them). I opted to just toss everything. :/

Since most of my schlumbergera are in bloom, I figured it's time to photograph and label.

I picked up two 'yellow' at HD early this year. Of course, there was no useful info on the tags, but I didn't care... I finally had my yellow CCs!

I was wondering if someone knew what this one is called, or if it's the product of "Let's see what we get!" breeders?

Close up...


Here are the two plants that I picked up, in all of their glory!


Thanks for any assist.

I'm no help on the ID, but nice pics! I like that one.

no ID help but pretty blooms!