Show and Tell - My Green-ish Thumb
Jan. 13th, 2026 08:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cmk418I've posted a picture of my Christmas cactus from the first time it surprised me with a bloom. I don't know if any of you have a plant like this but it's weird because it only blooms on one side and then it'll wait a while and blooms will appear on the other side.
This year has shown an abundance of blooms on my plant and I'm very excited to show it off. The first pic (with the natural light) was taken Sunday and the second one was taken this morning.
Our beautiful weather here will be on the way out for a week or so, but it's January and that sort of thing is to be expected.
This year has shown an abundance of blooms on my plant and I'm very excited to show it off. The first pic (with the natural light) was taken Sunday and the second one was taken this morning.
Our beautiful weather here will be on the way out for a week or so, but it's January and that sort of thing is to be expected.
Yay!
Date: 2026-01-14 03:45 am (UTC)Re: Yay!
Date: 2026-01-15 03:06 pm (UTC)Have you ever tried cutting it to grow a new plant? Mine is getting huge and I wonder if it's possible to divvy it up.
Re: Yay!
Date: 2026-01-15 07:20 pm (UTC)Christmas cactus is a sectional cactus, designed to break off at the join between leaves. It often grows aerial roots too. These are signs that it is easy to propagate from fragments.
Think about how you'd like to prune yours, how small you want it to be. Break off only a few branches at a time and allow it to recover before trimming more. While it's possible to get starts from single leaves, a strip of 3-4 leaves will usually work better.
Hold the end of the branch gently, pinch your other hand around the lower part near a join, and bend carefully until the join snaps loose. Let the loose branch dry for a few hours, then lay it over the surface of a new pot full of succulent potting soil. Keep the soil slightly damp until the plant roots itself. This time of year, they're sending out new leaves after blooming, so you'll probably see new leaves form on your starts fairly fast.
Re: Yay!
Date: 2026-01-15 07:22 pm (UTC)Re: Yay!
Date: 2026-01-15 07:47 pm (UTC)The same trick works with most succulents that break easily. As long as the broken piece is complete with a node (where the new growth comes from) it's always worth laying it in a pot to see if it'll sprout.
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Date: 2026-01-15 04:23 pm (UTC)(Thank you for letting me know though.)