10 reasons why your Christmas cactus / Thanksgiving Cactus is not flowering 

WOW Thank you so much for sharing your story with your Cacti flowering and your late Father

Well this has me in tears! Bless your heart!

I was in tears that morning, for sure. I will never forget opening the door to the kitchen and walking in there, half lost in thought as I had awakened and felt that familiar ache that it was Daddy's birthday and I couldn't take him his favorite KFC and a strawberry pie from Shoney's and then I went into the kitchen and there were all those cacti in full bloom. They've never all bloomed on the same day before and never all in full bloom, but that morning.....it was just enchanting. I remember bursting into tears and saying, "Oh Daddy.....thank you!" I miss that man more than anyone I've ever lost.

That's awesome that they bloomed on his birthday!

@@dechintaas a child instead of he-man and ninja turtles I played with plants. So fittingly on my 3rd birthday I received a tiny single trunk parlor palm with 3 leaves from my great aunt as a gift of coarse. Well on my next birthday when i turned 4 it had 4 leaves then my 5th had 5 leaves. It kept track of my birthday never missed a year it got as tall as me pot and all, beautiful palm. Well I moved out of my parents a month after my 20th bday of coarse it was right on the number of leaves. Well mom cared for it as she always did after I was gone why she didn't notice the spidermites I'll never know. Sadly it died I'd say 3 months after I moved out. It killed me and her lol I cried like a baby. I'm sorry for your loss I understand completely I lost mom 2 years ago. Another weird plant story as a child i saved my allowance and got her a kwanzan cherry tree for mother's day. It took I'd say 7 or 8 years to start flowering which was few and far between. Well the 5 or so springs before she died it got frost bit each year and had no flowers. Well she passed in December and come late April following her passing it put on a flower show like never before covered completely in its pink carnation like flowers. I'm sure she was telling me she loved me cuz she loved that tree over all the others in the jungle that I planted there. I have an autism spectrum disorder and I love plants more like obsessed with plants lol and figured I'd share my special plant stories since you shared yours. Plants are amazing things! God bless

So happy you enjoyed the video and I hope it works well for your future blooming, thanks so much Jenny for your wonderful comment and support and for watching, sending you lots of love and happiness and PLANT POWER for a fantastic Friday XXXX

Thanks so much for your wonderful comments and for watching :-D sending lots of love and happiness and PLANT POWER your way for a fantastic day XXXX

+Bob Lt (BobMel's Gardening) Thanks so much Bob for your fantastic comment and for watching :-) Sending you loads of love and heaps of happy growing from right across the Emerald Isle and HAPPY NEW YEAR to you :-) XXXXXX

Thanks so much for your wonderful comment :-) I bet your Thanksgiving cactus is an absolute beauty and you are so lucky to be living in Florida and being able to grow your beauty outside :-) thanks a million for watching and sending you an abundance of love and happiness from right across the Emerald Isle to Florida for a fantastic Thursday ahead today XXXXX

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you too Marie :-D so happy you love my videos and thank you for watching them

So happy you loved the video :-D and thanks so much for your wonderful comment and support and for watching, and sending you lots of love and happiness and PLANT POWER for a wonderful Wednesday XXXX

Thanks so much for your wonderful comment and for watching and sending you an abundance of love and happiness from right across the Emerald Isle for a fantastic day XXXXX

+Denise Mosley Thanks so much Denise for your wonderful comment and for watching :-) Sending you tons of love and happiness for a fantastic day ahead and HAPPY NEW YEAR XXXXX

+Charles Zabala Thank you so much Charles for your wonderful comment and for watching :-) Sending you much love and happiness from Ireland for a FANTASTIC day XXXXXX

thanks so much for subscribing and for your wonderful comment and for watching and sending you an abundance of love and happiness and PLANT POWER from right across the Emerald Isle for a wonderful weekend XXXX

+Orchids & a Dutchy Thanks a million Andrea for your wonderful comment :-) thats so true so many people think of these cacti as all being the Christmas cacti as they all look so similar :-) thanks so much for watching and I am sending you and cutiepie Hugo loads of love and heaps of happiness for a wonderful evening ahead XXXXXXX

+The Dancing Snail haha! its a dinky one alright, but the flowers were so wonderful :-) HAPPY NEW YEAR Carol, Have an INCREDIBLE 2016 ahead, and sending you tons of love and heaps of happiness from Ireland for a MAGICAL year XXXXXXX

Happy New Year!!! :) May it be magical for all ;)

The Dancing Snail HAPPY NEW YEAR Carol :-) Sending you heaps of love and tons of happiness from Ireland for a MAGICAL 2016 ahead XXXXX

Thats great news and I bet the blooms are amazing :-D thanks so much for your lovely comment and for watching and sending you an abundance of love and happiness and heaps of PLANT POWER from across the Emerald Isle for a wonderful Tuesday XXXXX

Happy New Year to you too

+Marie-Michelle Thanks so much Marie- Michelle for your fantastic comment :-) So happy that you found this video a real help :-) I bet you that your wonderful Christmas cactus will bless you with the most incredible of blooms in the future :-) Thanks so much for watching and Sending you loads of love and tons of happiness from Ireland and have a MAGNIFICENT Monday and week ahead XXXXXX

Desert Plants of Avalon Thanks Hon, just back from the garden centre armed with fresh orchid mix and tomato fertiliser. I am so excited about reviving my poor plant. Big hugs from London xxxx

Thanks so much for watching Daniel and sending lots of love and plant power your way for a fantastic day XXXXX :-D

Hi Eric :-D so happy you enjoy my channel and WOW at Athena your 25 year plus Thanksgiving cactus blooming two different colours of red and orange WOW so BEAUTIFUL thats so special and amazing, and WOW she is a BIG one indeed, Athena must be so STUNNING :-D thanks so much for your wonderful comment and for watching and sending you an abundance of love and happiness and PLANT POWER from the Emerald Isle for a wonderful weekend XXXXX

+Linda Penney Thanks so much Linda for your wonderful comment and for watching :-) Sending you loads of love and heaps of happiness and happy growing from Ireland and HAPPY NEW YEAR XXXXXXX

thanks so much K.D for your wonderful comment and support and for watching, sending you lots of love and happiness and PLANT POWER for a super Sunday XXXX

thanks so much for your wonderful comment and sending you lots of love and happiness and PLANT POWER from across the Emerald Isle XXXX

Thats wonderful you live in Florida with the wonderful warmer temperatures and humidity these plants love, thanks so much Carl for your wonderful comment and for watching, sending you lots of love and happiness and PLANT POWER to Florida for a wonderful weekend XXXX

WOW thanks so much for the tip Nicole :-D thanks so much for your wonderful comment and for watching and sending you an abundance of love and happiness and PLANT POWER from right across the Emerald Isle for a fantastic Sunday ahead XXXX

WOW thats amazing your Christmas cactus is over 100 years old :-D thanks so much Dave for your lovely comment and for watching and sending you an abundance of love and happiness and heaps of PLANT POWER from across the Emerald Isle for a wonderful Tuesday XXXXX

+stef hendriks XXXXX

+Peter Mc Guinness Thanks so much for your wonderful comment Peter :-) thats brilliant news that your Thanksgiving cactus is re blooming again :-) When they get older they are less likely to want to bloom, I think it must be due to the plant getting older in a way its a bit like us people haha! because flowers are their reproductive system, and as we age we lose that part of us that is able to reproduce also haha! I think my big old plant may be wanting to retire :-))))) Thanks so much for watching Peter and sending tons of love for a fantastic New years eve XXXXXX

Hi Joanna :-D I find that Eastr cacti can be a lt harder to get to re bloom, I have a few Easter cacti in my collection and sometimes they decide to bloom and at other times they dont LOL! mine have not bloomed for me this year, they are very sensitive to artificial light and temperatures the same as Schlumbergera, but I am baffled why my have not bloomed for me this year, I know they are much harder to get to re bloom though, thanks so much for your wonderful comment and for watching and sending you lots of love and PLANT POWER happiness and have a wonderful Friday XXXX

WOW :-) thats amazing how your Schlumbergera has flowered so much and yes the dry spells in between has encouraged the blooms but so wonderful to be blessed with so many blooms all through the seasons :-) thanks so much for your wonderful comment and for watching and sending you an abundance of love and happiness and heaps of plant power from right across the Emerald Isle for a fantastic Sunday XXXX

HI there :-) thanks so much for your wonderful comment :-) yes here is an update video of my collection and the other plants here :-) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-q_WkPqFUxN4.html Thanks so much for watching and sending an abundance of love and happiness and heaps of PLANT POWER from right across the Emerald Isle and have a fantastic Sunday ahead XXXX

Thanks so much for your fantastic comment and for watching and sending you an abundance of love and heaps of happiness from right across the Emerald Isle for a wonderful weekend ahead XXXX

Hi James :-D thats wonderful you have the Thanksgiving cactus, sometimes these cacti can bloom later in the year and into the new year, and the night temperature drop from the day really helps to kick start the buds, but a good tip you can try is to use a small amount of Tomato fertiliser used at half of the strength that they recommended using for Tomatoes, I give my Christmas and Thanksgiving cacti a watering with tomato feed used at half the strength that they recommended for tomatoes, and use it from mid September with every 3rd watering that I give them, I stop fertilising when I see signs of buds appearing, it really does help to encourage budding due to the high Potash/Potassium in the tomato feed, if you can give your Thanksgiving cactus a drop in temperature at night compared to the day temps, this will also really help to kick start buds earlier, I hope this helps, and thanks so much for your wonderful comment and support and for watching, and sending you lots of love and happiness and PLANT POWER for a wonderful Wednesday XXXX

Thats brilliant news and I bet the flowers are spectacular :-D thanks so much for watching and have a wonderful Sunday XXXX

They grow so well in Bark, thanks so much for your wonderful comment and for watching and sending lots of love and happiness and PLANT POWER your way for a fantastic day XXXX

Thanks so much for watching Daniel and yes so true the difference in the day lengths and having no artificial lighting is the trick to getting these cacti to bloom, XXXX

@@desertplantsofavalon yeah I just stick I mine in a closet that is about 20-21 C which is the temperature of the rest of my place and it just ends ups blooming. My guess is the cooler temps below 20 C help but aren’t required for blooming

@@RCmaniac1231 XXXXX

thanks so much for your wonderful comment and for watching and sending you lots of love and happiness and PLANT POWER from across the Emerald Isle for a terrific Thursday XXXXX

+Peter Mc Guinness My favourite Aloes are Aloe variegata, Aloe jucunda, and the popular Aloe vera, these three are very easy to grow and care for :-) if you get a chance at all to go back to Dublin Botanic gardens this time of year, they usually have their Aloes all in flower, I remember last year when i went in Jan and Feb they had a wonderful display :-) Sending tons of love from Waterford and HAPPY NEW YEAR Peter XXXXXX

Thanks so much Bryan for your wonderful comment and for watching and sending you an abundance of love and heaps of happiness from right across the Emerald Isle for a brilliant new week ahead XXXX

Hi Aliza :-) thanks so much for watching :-) its important that your plants receive natural light and good natural bright light :-) the good news is you can grow these plants in windows that don't receive any direct sunshine as long as you can provide them with bright natural light, but without any natural light these plants would die. Ideally a window that does receive some sunshine is the best position but not essential :-) I would definitely re pot your plant into a pot with drainage holes too as without drainage holes the roots could rot. here is a video I made on re potting a Christmas / Easter cactus :-)ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-c8ioEXg8Hw0.html Hope this helps and good luck with growing your beautiful plants and have a fantastic week ahead XXXX

No drainage hole - that is a horror condition for nearly all plants. If water cannot flow away, the roots suffocate and the plant will die!

So very true no drainage hole is a disaster with these plants :-) XXXX

Hi Diane :-D yes these cacti like a lot more humidity than the other types of cacti do, and they like more shade too, Keep your Thanksgiving cactus in a bright position in indirect sunshine and away from direct sunshine, and water the soil every time the soil in the pot dries out but allow the soil to dry out in between watering :-D here is a link to a Blog I have wrote for my website desertplantsofavalon.com on How to care for Thanksgiving and Christmas cacti I hope it helps

@@desertplantsofavalon Thank you so much for your helpfu!l reply on the Thanksgiving Cactus...it has presented it's challenges. Happy Plant New Year! : )

@@dianecfromny3912 XXXXX

haha at being on holidays Jutta

@@desertplantsofavalon Ah Lyn, you're so good! Thank you for your advice. I'll have a look at the roots to see what's going on. I'm not putting any pressure on Schlumby to perform, she's looking healthy and glossy apart from the invisible flower show. If she wants to just sit and file her nails for another year, that's okay too. I love the shape of the plant even without her finery of blooms. Maybe next year...if that ever happens you'll be the first to know! Lots of love and good vibes to Belfast and plant-powering through the weekend! xxx : -)

Hi Barbara :-D don't you worry I am pretty sure that your Christmas cactus will be ok and no harm should come to your plant if you have loosened up the roots, as long as you have your plant in a well draining soil mix you should be perfectly ok, and good lcuk with getting your plant to re bloom for you

Hi :-D yes I still fertilise during the Spring and Summer too, and I water these plants every time the soil has dried out in the pots, I water all through the year except after they have stopped flowering, after they have stopped flowering I keep the soil dry for a 2-3 weeks usually around the Dec, Jan time, I leave the watering for a bit longer and let the soil stay drier for longer, but from late March onwards I start back up with the watering again, and water lightly every time the soil has dried out, I then start to fertilise from mid March onwards, Here is a link to a page I have wrote for my website on How to care for Christmas and Thanksgiving cactus where I share a few tips :-D desertplantsofavalon.com/uncategorized/how-to-care-for-christmas-cactus-and-thanksgiving-cactus-schlumbergera/ thanks so much for your wonderful comment and for watching, and sending you lots of love and happiness and PLANT POWER for a terrific Thursday XXXX

@@desertplantsofavalon thanks so much..may I ask why you stop watering them after they finish flowering? Thank you

@@mystiquerose620 Hi there :-D yes its because they have a little bit of a rest period after they have finished flowering, usually for about 2-4 weeks, and during this time they can look a bit limp but after about a month they perk back up again and grow new leaf segments, XXXXXX

@@desertplantsofavalon wonderful..thanks soooo much for the information..greatly appreciated!

@@mystiquerose620 XXXX

So sorry to hear about your Christmas cactus not blooming and the leaves are falling off, it could be down to the temperature being to warm but it could be down to many things and it is too difficult to say without being able to physically see your cactus, but what I would do is take a few stem segment cuttings if it is possible to be on the safe side, it sounds like it could be down to being kept too warm, or over or under watering but so difficult to say without being ale to see it, but I really hope your plant recovers, if you can move it to a cooler spot with plenty of light and keep the soil in the pot on the drier side this may help

@@desertplantsofavalon I will certainly give that a try. I will take some cuttings and keep them at work where it is cooler. Thank you for responding. ❤

@@dechinta So sorry to read you was in hospital last Winter but hopefully a year on you are on the mend and healthy

Hi Nancy :-) I would recommend keeping your Christmas cacti in a room that is in semi shade and gets some morning sun but is in shade for the rest of the day, I find that if I move my Christmas cactus into a window that gets sun all day the leaves go red and yellow, and can cause the leaves to stress and may prevent flower buds forming in the late Autumn, keeping your plant in a room that gets either morning or late afternoon sunshine is best :-) thanks so much for watching and sending you an abundance of love and happiness from Ireland for a wonderful day ahead XXXXX

Thank you so much for your advice =)

Hi Naseema

haha so true yes :-D these plants definitely seem to have a mind of their own, I even have some of mine flower in the middle of Summer instead of Christmas time too :-D thanks so much for your wonderful comment and for watching and sending you an abundance of love and happiness and PLANT POWER from across the Emerald Isle for a marvellous Monday XXXXX

Sound like they are getting stems. To branch out

Hi Lorna

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Thanks so much for watching XXXXX

+stef hendriks Thanks so much Stef for your wonderful comment :-) you are lucky with having warm temperatures where you live haha! I can send you some cool temps over from here haha! thats wonderful that you have a lovely cutting from a friend of a Christmas cactus, the warmer temperatures will actually be a bonus to help it to root much faster so you wouldn't need to put it in the cooler :-) but when it comes to flowering in the future, you may find that your cactus will adapt to warmer temperatures and will still flower for you because of the shorter day lengths, usually cooler temperatures from Sept onward helps to encourage blooming as well as the shorter days, but if you live in a wonderful warm place all the time, I am pretty sure your plant will acclimatize itself to its natural surroundings and flower from the shorter days :-) Thanks so much for watching Stef and sending you an abundance of love and heaps of happiness from Ireland for a MAGICAL New years Eve and a FANTASTIC new year ahead XXXXX

Hi Allison

Its strange and sometimes our plants have minds of their own haha :-D as although we do everything right they will often still refuse to flower

Hi there :-) the most important thing is the natural lighting, although too much heat can put them off wanting to flower, I noticed that this year I moved all my Christmas and Thanksgiving cacti into my heated office and they have all started to bloom well, If you can give your cactus as much natural daylight as possible and avoid placing your cactus near an artificial light source your cactus should still bloom for you because the biggest factor for encouraging blooming with these beauties is the shorter day length hours, this triggers their blooming :-) good luck with getting blooms and thanks a million for watching :-) sending you tons of love and heaps of happy growing from right across the emerald Isle for a FANTASTIC week ahead XXXXX

What should i do if i dont have enough natrual light

Ajplayer1212 articwolf Hi there :-) you could use grow lamps that would offer the same lux as natural lighting, these are special horticultural lights and can be very good if you have no windows or very little light available, I haven't used these myself though but i know many people who do and have great results from them. XXXXX

Thanks :)

Hi Corey :-) yes you can eat the fruits and they taste really nice a bit like grapes, the only time I would be careful about eating them is if the fruits had been sprayed with insect sprays etc,but otherwise they are perfectly good and very healthy to eat :-) thanks so much for watching and have a fantastic weekend XXXX :-)

Hi Michelle :-D Sometimes the leaves do take on a bit of a red colour just before the plant produces buds, but it can also be caused from too much light, This plant received a bit too much light as it was in my conservatory and got full sun but since moving it to my polytunnel that is green tinted it has really greened up and is now in full bud :-D but yes these plants often take on a bit of a red tinge when they are getting ready for budding too

Desert Plants of Avalon thank you for replying to my question. I noticed there are quite a few little red berry looking things on some of the tips and some reddish/pink leaves

Hi Rachael :-) thanks so much for your wonderful comment :-) yes i am really pleased to see this cactus full of blooms this year and here is a video I made a few weeks ago of this plant in beautiful bloom : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FnsuqxlOStc.html thanks so much for watching and have a fantastic weekend XXXX

+Zippy Shack Thanks so much for watching :-) The baby plant is about 2 and a half years old ( 30 months old) and it has grown a lot in that time :-) Sending much love and happiness from Ireland for a fantastic day XXXXX

thank you and have a good day

Hi Faith :-) so sorry to hear about your Christmas Cactus dropping leaves, there could be many number of reasons why this is happening and it would be too difficult to answer in a comment, but the most common reasons for leaf drop with Christmas and Thanksgiving cacti are due to either overwatering or underwatering, too cold of a room temperature or too warm of a room temperature, over or under fertilizing, insect pests on the plants leaves, or insect pests in the soil affecting the roots, the air humidity is too dry, change of environmental conditions, the plant being moved from outside to inside, the plant being moved from a position suddenly without being acclimatized, too much light, too little light etc, if your plant is a recent purchase it can take a while for your plant to acclimatize, unfortunately it can be down to many many things, but these would all be the main things that would be the commonest cause of leaf drop with Christmas and Thanksgiving and also the Easter cacti, Hope this helps and fingers crossed that you will be able to find the right cause of why this is happening and that your cactus will recover as soon as possible :-) sending you an abundance of love and happy growing from Ireland for a fantastic Friday XXXXX

Hi Lorri :-D I have not done an Easter Cactus video yet because I have not had that much success with the Rhipsalidopsis ( Easter Cactus ) its a difficult one to grow in my experience , thanks so much for watching and have a wonderful weekend XXXX

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thanks so much for your wonderful comment and for watching, and sending you lots of love and happiness and PLANT POWER for a fantastic Sunday XXXX

Hi Elizabeth :-D so sorry to hear about your cactus, you may be able to save it from taking cuttings, take as many of the leaves ( clades ) from the cactus with at least 2 leaf segments or more attached and set them aside for a couple of days in shade to let the bottom part of the cutting dry, then you can plant some of them up in soil, you can also root them in water too, thanks so much for watching, sending you lots of love and happiness and PLANT POWER for a wonderful new week XXXX

I find it hard to understand her.

Horrendous voice.

At least I have a voice