A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 christmas cactus?

hi! i just got 2 christmas cactuses a couple of weekes ago at lowes. one with red flowers and one with pink flowers. i have been keeping them inside because i don't want them to freeze outside. but here is the problem...the flowers are starting to fall off! now one of the cactuses at the bottom leaf, that the rest of the plant is growing off of, looks like it is rotting. does anybody know what is wrong? any help would be wonderful thanks!

Hi Hon!

Sounds to me like nothing's wrong. They are probably just done with their flower cycle and are shedding the blooms, just like mine is doing. You can pull off the spent flowers and they just might give you a second flush of flowers in a couple of months.

You also don't want to overwater them. Water only when the soil feels dry. The one problem I've found with plants at Lowe's is that they don't know how to water their plants correctly. I've seen plants like the Christmas cactus soaking in water and others dry as a bone.

Once they finish flowering you should water less often, put them in a cool place and then in the spring you might even get another flowering. Once they start to bloom again, resume a watering schedule.

thanx everybody and merry christmas!!