Christmas Cactus 1st time re-flowering

barry island

After many years of trying this is the first year that my old Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera) have flowered again at Christmas time. Usually they flower in November but are well and truly over by the festive season, this year the cactus were put into the greenhouse where they stayed until the end of October, they didn't like the hotter sunnier conditions but recovered when they were brought indoors and put on a great Christmas display. 

barry island

I usually leave them in the porch, which even though it faces south this year they got more daylight in the greenhouse, I think that is why they flowered later. The Easter cactus on the other hand which I have propagated several plants from a very old woody one and have been growing well over the summer, now that they are indoors on an east facing windowsill the leaves fall off each day and by the spring I will be back to square one with just single living lobes without branches.

PeggyTX

I don't currently have a Christmas Cactus, although I'm rooting some peach-blooming cuttings.  I used to own one that was in an east-facing window that bloomed prolifically.  This was its 3rd year in that location.  Then I moved it outside to the edge of my patio after I thought it was through blooming for that year.  The new location got full sun for about 2 hours a day (noon) and it did VERY well outdoors.  It also bloomed the following April, which really shocked me: 

It thrived outside for 2 more years.  Then we sold that house and the move to this house did her in.  The 2 days after our move were heavy rain days and the exhaustion from our move led me to ignore the plants out back.  It got soaked and died from root rot before I discovered it wasn't far enough up under the roof eave to avoid getting a drenching.