** EASTER OR CHRISTMAS CACTI **
* BOUGHT IN GARDEN-CENTERS *
* HOW TO BENEFIT FROM THEM *
* AND TO KEEP THEM DURABLY *
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Before Christmas (or Easter), garden-centers often propose Christmas Cacti (Schlumbergera) or Easter Cacti Rhipsalidopsis). These plants come from Northern Europe (Denmark in particular), unfortunately, they are not identified and have been cultivated industrially. They were rooted in a quite sterile peat and were fed by fertilizers incorporated in high amount in the water of waterings. This mode of cultivation is perfect for rooting and rapid cultivation and blooming, but it poses the serious problem of follow-up when we buy the plants, unless regarding these plants as disposable objects of single use, which is not my point of view.
When we buy them, they are in perfect health but two problems arise:
1) How to avoid the massive fall of the floral buds and to enjoy the first blooming to the end?
2) How to keep these plants blooming and in good health for several years whereas they are currently in a sterile soil?
This article tries to answer these two questions by taking as an example a Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera) bought in a garden-center in November 2015 (blooms were not yet open).
This unidentified hybrid comes from Denmark and is in a round pot of 8cm in diameter and 8cm height.
The first thing to avoid is the fall of the buds, and to obtain a complete blooming.
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