How to Propagate a Christmas Cactus In 5 Easy Steps
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Many of us will receive a Christmas cactus as a gift during the holidays or want to give one as a gift. It’s easy (and free) to grow new plants from this gorgeous blooming plant by learning how to propagate a Christmas cactus. It’s easier than you think!
Christmas cacti look beautiful nestled atop your coffee table, and they’re a ton of fun to decorate during the holiday season.
Christmas cacti have other benefits too!
You can turn one Christmas cactus into many plants by propagating your own. Then, you can grow them for your enjoyment and that of your friends and family.
(They make perfect gifts! And – you won’t believe how long they last.)
How to Propagate a Christmas Cactus
Turning one Christmas cactus into many is not difficult because they are easy to propagate. You can plant a Christmas cactus from cuttings! Here are the basic steps as to how to propagate a Christmas cactus cutting. We’ll go into detail below!
- Take a healthy, small cutting with clean, sharp pruners or scissors. Cut at the intersection between leaves. Aim to have at least 3 such intersections per cutting.
- Prepare a small pot (a 4″ pot is perfect) with well-draining soil, or soil designed for cacti and succulents.
- Make a small hole in the soil, and plant the cutting about 1″ deep. You can also lay the cutting on top of the potting soil, or root it in water first.
- Look after your cutting by watering it appropriately and selecting a good position – we’ll include the full details below!
Either method will allow you to reproduce new plants! In my experience – starting them during the spring season yields the best results.
I think the warm temperature of the spring gives your cuttings plenty of stress-free time to mature. But – they’re easy to grow, regardless, and you can begin any time of year.
Here are the five steps for propagating – and cloning your Christmas cactus.
Propagating a Christmas Cactus Step-by-Step
1. Start With a Healthy Christmas Cactus Cutting
You can’t make a successful Christmas cacti clone from an unhealthy parent. So, the health of the parent is everything.
The healthier the cutting you use to propagate a new plant, the better!
Observe your Christmas cacti plant before cutting. Pay attention to the stem segments.
Notice the flat stem segments of the plant. Make sure that each cutting contains at least three stem segments!
Also – try taking at least a few cacti cuttings per season. That way – you have better chances of successful growth!
When you remove the cutting from the parent plant – the cutting may go into shock. You just separated the baby from their parent! Who wouldn’t go into shock?!
But, if it’s healthy, it’s more likely to grow and flourish if you take care of it.
A healthy Christmas cactus cutting will be shiny green and free of blemishes.
You can easily remove a two to three-inch cacti section by gently twisting the lowest pad.
The tree section should snap away freely from the parent plant and leave no torn edges. (You can also use a sharp pair of scissors.)
Now, what are you going to do next? You need to let your baby Christmas cactus heal!
2. Let Your Christmas Cactus Cuttings Heal
Here’s a step that’s easy to forget when making Christmas cactus from cuttings – especially if you don’t have much experience with cacti!
Once you have your cuttings, please place them in the dark for 24 to 48 hours. This measure helps the cutting callus and heal.
The healing process doesn’t take long – and in my experience, it helps reduce rotting, shock, stress, and the decay of your cacti.
After 24 to 48 hours, it’s time to transplant your cuttings.
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3. Transplant Your Rooting Christmas Cacti Cutting
Your Christmas cacti are easy to root. We recommend a mixture of peat, soil, and sand.
Whatever pot you use to grow Christmas cactus cuttings should have a drain hole and a layer of gravel in the bottom.
Also – think ahead.
After your Christmas cactus begins to root – we can move it to a more permanent spot. There, they can develop, stretch, and fill out! For now, four or five cuttings will fill a six-inch pot nicely.
Lightly water the cuttings two to three times per week. Watering multiple times per week helps them form roots in three to four weeks.
Look at the tips of the Christmas cacti for new growth!
Before long, we can transplant your baby Cacti into more permanent housing.
4. Planting Christmas Cactus Cuttings in Soil
After a few weeks – your Christmas cactus cutting will start rooting! Now that you have a cutting that’s well-rested and ready – you can plant it in a clean pot with soil for succulent cacti.
But – choose wisely! Potting soil helps to retain moisture. And, used alone is not the best medium to use for propagating or growing Christmas cactus.
A good soil mix for your Christmas cactus is:
- Two parts of potting soil.
- One part perlite.
- One-part coarse sand.
Or, buy a good quality cacti and succulent mix online.
For added measure, line the bottom of the pot with half an inch or so of coarse gravel as an added aid to drainage.
5. Ongoing Care – and Repotting
Never stop caring for your Christmas cactus! Keep an eye on the soil conditions – and don’t let it get too dry.
They love humidity – so you can spray your Christmas cactus with a spray bottle if your home doesn’t have much interior moisture. (If you have your pellet stove blasting at full strength during the winter – your air might be dryer than you think!)
One more tip that you need to know!
As the years pass by, keep an eye on your Christmas cacti’s roots if you can! It’s true that Christmas cacti don’t mind tight growing conditions – they have a reputation for loving rootbound pots.
But if you notice the roots developing beyond the pot’s boundaries – you may wish to transplant your cacti into a pot that’s a few inches larger.
We recommend a succulent potting mix for the best results!
We also wrote an epic guide that shows how to repot your cacti without stress!
Find the article below.
Read More – Cactus Re-Potting Guide – How and When to Re-Pot Your Cacti!
Christmas Cacti Propagation FAQs
Christmas cacti are one of the most beautiful succulents you can have over the holidays – and they’re tremendously easy to clone!
But – we also know that it’s easy to get overwhelmed when caring for your Schlumbergera. So, we put together a list of the most common questions about taking Christmas cactus from cuttings.
We hope these questions help you!
You sure can! The Christmas cactus will root as well in water as in soil. Many plant hobbyists have great success propagating cacti cuttings in water. The same goes with the Christmas cactus, and water as a growth medium works well.
To root the Christmas cactus in water, choose a healthy section of the plant, and slice it off. Use sharp garden scissors. Choosing the healthy part of the plant is the same process as planting your cutting in soil or water.
Start by placing it in a glass jar with a couple of inches of gravel on its bottom. Place the cuttings about two inches deep. Place the cacti jar (or container) in a location with filtered sunlight. And, be patient!
The benefit of starting your Christmas cactus in water instead of soil is that you can see the roots when they start to grow. So, there’s no guessing when this event occurs.
When you bought your Christmas cactus or received it as a gift, it was likely blooming. So, how do you get your Christmas cactus to bloom again? Why do you put it in the dark, is the question, though. Isn’t it?
If you want your Christmas cactus to bloom, place it in a dark, cool place. It can take 8 to 16 weeks before blooms begin to set on your plant.
So keep those times in mind. If you want it to bloom during the Christmas season, it needs to rest in the dark, around September 1st.
If you want it to bloom at Easter, you will need to plant it eight to sixteen weeks before Easter Sunday if you wish to bloom at that time.
Light and temperature are the two most significant factors when you put your Christmas cactus in the dark.
It can have sunshine; however, it will need 12 hours of dark per day. In addition, the temperature where you keep your plant needs to be around 55 degrees Fahrenheit to get your plant to bloom.
Yes, they are! Coffee grounds provide nitrogen and potassium, nutrients required by your Christmas cactus. But don’t use the coffee grounds immediately! It’s best to dry them before using them, as wet soggy coffee grounds can produce mold. When you apply dried coffee grounds to a plant, add a tablespoon over the top of the soil, then water it in.
That way – the coffee grounds release their nutrients every time you water them.
Yes, you can. It’s as good a method as growing in cactus soil and allows you to see the roots growing. Rooting your Christmas cactus in water is also less stressful than you think! Start by filling a small glass with water. But, you don’t need much water! The trick is to submerge the bottom in water.
The rest of the cutting doesn’t need to be underwater. You can use thick coarse sand or small rocks to help prop the cutting up if you wish.
If you place your healthy Christmas cactus cutting in a bright area of your home – then it will take about three to four weeks to grow considerably. After four to six weeks, we recommend re-potting your Christmas cactus into succulent potting soil.
Around this time (four to six weeks), we suspect that your Christmas cactus cutting root growth will be about an inch long. That’s the perfect length to transplant it into a fresh pot with succulent soil!
I always recommend watering your Christmas cactus two to three times per week. Take care not to overwater them, or they may rot. For best results, monitor the soil daily. When it feels dry – provide some water to moisten the soil.
If you’ve planted your Christmas cacti cutting in water – then make sure to replenish the water as it evaporates.
Yes! Christmas cacti are famously straightforward to propagate from a cutting. In other words – you can remove a stem cutting from a healthy Christmas cactus and clone the plant.
You can start your cactus cutting in cactus soil mix or water. For best results – begin in the early Spring!
You pick out a sprig that is bright shiny green. Look for a section about two to three inches long. You grasp it firmly but gently and twist it. You can also use sharp scissors if you wish. The cacti section should release effortlessly and be ready to plant. For best results – place in a mixture of peat and sand or water.
If you care for your Christmas cacti well enough and water it regularly – it may just become a generational gift! That’s because your Christmas cactus can live at least two decades – that’s twenty years – or more.
If your cactus has broken recently, then you should give your Christmas cactus time to heal. (They callus quickly!) Let your cactus rest in an area that’s cool and dark for a couple of days.
After your cactus heals from roughly 48 hours – you root it the as you would a healthy piece that you have removed for propagation. Stick it in or lay it down in cactus potting soil, or put it in water to get it started growing roots.
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Make no mistake! Your Christmas cactus loves moist and humid conditions. That's why having a mist sprayer around your cacti is a good idea. If you notice that the leaves of your cacti plant are too dry - offer a few sprays!
Christmas Cacti Propagation Made Easy – and Fun!
We hope that our Christmas cactus cloning guide brought you joy this holiday season!
We know that the best way to learn how to propagate a Christmas cactus is to start now!
We’re also here if you run into trouble.
Don’t hesitate to inquire!
Also – if you have experience cutting and cloning Christmas cactus or other succulents, please share your tips!
We love to hear from you – and hope to have your feedback.
We wish you luck – and Merry Christmas!
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