Propagate Christmas cactus using cuttings or seeds
Usually you propagate a Christmas cactus from cuttings. This method almost always works and you can look forward to an offshoot with many flowers.
also read
- Are you allowed to cut a Christmas cactus?
- The right soil for the Christmas cactus
- A good location for the Christmas cactus
Growing a Christmas cactus from seeds takes a bit of experience and a lot of patience. It can take many months for a new flowering plant to emerge.
How to pull cuttings from cuttings
- Cut off cuttings with a sharp knife
- Let the interfaces dry
- Prepare cultivation pots (€ 14.90 at Amazon *)
- Insert cuttings
- keep moderately moist
- cover with plastic wrap if necessary
- place bright and warm
The best time to propagate a Christmas cactus is right after flowering. To do this, use a sharp knife to cut off shoots with one to three limbs from the mother plant. Let the interfaces dry for two to three days.
Fill small pots with a mixture of potting soil and cactus soil. Insert the shoots two to three centimeters deep into the soil and carefully press the substrate.
Place the offshoots in a bright but not too sunny position. Keep the substrate evenly moist, avoiding too much moisture. You can also wrap the pots in cling film to keep the humidity constant. The film must be ventilated at least every two days so that the cutting does not rot or go moldy.
Growing Christmas cactus from seeds
Some varieties not only produce flowers, but they also produce fruits with seeds. When ripe, the fruits burst. They contain a lot of the tiny seeds. Shake out the seeds, remove the pulp and let them dry. They must be stored in a dry place until they are sown the following spring.
In spring, fill small growing trays with loose cactus soil or growing soil. Sow the seeds as thinly as possible. Cover the seeds with a very thin layer of soil. It is best to use a flower syringe to moisten the substrate so that the seeds are not washed away.
It can take several weeks for the seed to germinate and not all of the seeds will sprout by a long way.
Prick out after emergence
Once the young Christmas cactus plants have reached a height of around two to three centimeters, prick them out carefully. Later, the individual plants are transplanted into pots with cactus soil and cared for like adult Christmas cacti.
Tips
Commercially available cactus soil is suitable as a substrate for Christmas cacti. But you can also use garden soil that you loosen up with sand and gravel. It is important that the earth is not too rich in nutrients.
