A gardener has revealed the best way to fertilise a Christmas Cactus to ensure it is healthy and blooms like never before
Despite their festive name, Christmas cacti don’t just bloom in December, they can start as early as November and give you colourful flowers well into the New Year.
These gorgeous indoor plants not only look fabulous but many folks aren’t aware that Christmas cacti can thrive for years, even decades, with the right care.
Tracey Besemer, a green-fingered guru from Rural Sprout, has revealed that the secret to keeping a Christmas cactus healthy and blooming beautifully is all about the correct fertiliser.
She shared: “After years of trying different fertilisers formulated for houseplants, mostly choosing what happened to be in stock at the garden centre each time I ran out, I stumbled across a great fertilising solution for my Christmas cactus quite by accident.”
Surprisingly, the top-notch fertiliser for Christmas cacti is Schultz African Violet, a liquid plant food typically used for African Violets but will give other plants a boost as well, reports the Express.
How to fertilise your Christmas cactus
The process is simple – mix several drops of this plant feed with a litre of water and then pour it onto your Christmas cactus to give it a boost.
Tracey revealed: “I had the most prolific blooms on my cactus that I’ve ever had; that’s what happened. From that point on, it became my go-to fertiliser for blooming houseplants.”
Fertilise the plant every second time you water it to prevent salt buildup in the soil, which means you’ll be feeding it every two to four weeks during its growing season.
Why does this fertiliser work so well for Christmas cactuses?
When tending to houseplants, a solid guideline is to select a fertiliser containing equal amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, as these represent the three essential nutrients plants require to thrive.
Nevertheless, the reason this particular fertiliser performs excellently is due to its higher phosphorus content, which serves as the primary nutrient plants require for bloom development whilst also maintaining plant strength.
Tracey explained: “It’s such an important nutrient for so many different processes: cell division and growth (which increase during the blooming phase), sturdy root growth, energy storage and transfer, and even respiration – all of these plant processes require phosphorus.”
When should you fertilise Christmas cactuses?
It’s also vitally important to feed plants only during specific periods throughout the year, as you could risk overfeeding their freshly developed buds and causing harm.
Only nourish Christmas cactuses whilst they’re in their active growth period, which generally occurs during February or March.
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Avoid fertilising when the plant is preparing to become dormant and rest for six to eight weeks, which usually happens just before bud formation begins.
Should you adhere to these feeding guidelines, you ought to be able to enjoy larger and more abundant Christmas cactus flowers every festive season for many years ahead.