Key Takeaways
Sugar water won’t help a Christmas cactus bloom and is only useful for cut flowers.It can disrupt photosynthesis and lead to issues like moldy soil and fruit flies.For better blooms, rely on proper fertilizing, pinching, and controlling light and temperature.
Plants like poinsettias and Christmas cactus are quintessential holiday blooms, and though the latter is pretty easy to care for year-round, getting it to grow its pink blooms again each winter can be challenging.
Could a simple at-home treatment like giving a Christmas cactus sugar water help bring forth those flowers? (After all, people successfully use sugar water for vibrant cut flowers!) But when it comes to watering a Christmas cactus, it’s a different story. As a master gardener, here are my Christmas cactus tips.
Should You Give Your Christmas Cactus Sugar Water?
No, it’s not a good idea to give a Christmas cactus sugar water—nor a Thanksgiving cactus or Easter cactus, for that matter. The sweet solution won’t help your plant and might even kill it.
Tip
Know what type of holiday cactus you have. Thanksgiving cactus has pointy, claw-like segments and blooms first in late fall. Christmas cactus has smoother, scalloped segments and blooms in early winter. Easter cactus has rounded segments with golden brown bristles and blooms later in spring.
Want more gardening tips? Sign up for our free gardening newsletter for our best growing tips, troubleshooting hacks, and more!
Why Sugar Water Won’t Help a Christmas Cactus
Credit:
Herman Vlad / Getty Images
Sugar water doesn’t help a Christmas cactus bloom because plants make their own food through photosynthesis: transforming sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into oxygen and glucose, a type of sugar. Adding table sugar into the mix doesn’t “feed” potted plants; it can actually disrupt this balance.
Too much sugar can cause stickiness, mold, or a fruit fly-infested mess.
Because Christmas cactus plants are sensitive to day length and temperature, you’ll need to create and maintain specific growing conditions for several weeks for peak blooms around Christmastime. Rather than sugar water, here’s how to care for your Christmas cactus and get the pink and red petals you’re after.
7 Things to Give Christmas Cacti Instead
Credit:
Rosmarie Wirz / Getty Images
Moderate temperatures: Your plant will be more likely to rebloom when kept in a space with temperatures consistently between 60 and 70° F, with nights between 50 and 60° F.Bright light: During winter, a Christmas cactus should receive bright, indirect light during the day.A dark period: Starting around October or November, for about six weeks, the Christmas cactus needs 13 to 14 hours of complete darkness to set its flower buds. Because the nights are typically long enough in winter, you can keep the plant in a room with windows but no artificial light. You can also use blackout curtains, a cardboard box, or a closet to control your lighting.Evenly moist soil: The soil in your Christmas cactus planter shouldn’t be dry or soggy. Ensure that the plant isn’t sitting in standing water in a drip tray or cache pot.Consistent conditions: Do your best to keep these conditions as consistent as possible. Exposure to even a short period of light during the night or temperatures below 50 or above 90° F can cause flower buds to drop. After buds form, you can move the plant to a brighter space with similar temperatures.Strategic pinching: Light pruning can also help a Christmas cactus flower in winter, and you don’t even need shears. With your fingers, pinch back its flat stem segments, known as phylloclades, with your fingers in early June to promote branching. In late September, pinch back any immature segments that are less than 1 inch long. This will encourage bud formation on the longer, more mature branches.Fertilizer in spring and summer: Plants benefit from monthly applications of balanced liquid houseplant fertilizer diluted to half strength starting when you see new growth in late winter or early spring. Stop fertilizing in late summer to encourage more buds to form in fall.
Comments are closed.