Family emergencies killed off my Christmas cactus collection. Sniff. Blow. Wipe. I am trying again.
But to get them to bloom during the holidays requires just a tad of playing around. It is light that signals to the plant that it is time to set buds. In early October I move mine around so it does not get any light other than natural sunlight. No artificial light of any kind. Not even a street lamp. That means mine wander through the house: I feed the cats and move my Christmas cacti - am and pm.
The poor baby I rescued at the hardware store decided to cover itself with buds. It turned a dark green after being a yellowish green when it came home. I have my fingers crossed. Oh, and one last thing. My African violets also died during the debacle and I had lots of AV food left. The abused Christmas cactus seems to like it. Now I am going to have to try potting the surviving bits and pieces of my original collection. AV potting soil is left over so I am going to try that out.
Merry Christmas cactus!