Grow and Care for Blue Candle Cactus

Grow blue candle cactus in full sun and cactus mix that dries. Blue candle cactus is Myrtillocactus. Shops also say blue myrtle cactus. It is not myrtle.

Give it full sun, mix that dries, and a dry winter

blue candle cactus is a blue-green column that branches into a candelabra as it ages. Give it full sun and mix that dries. Water when the mix is dry in the growing season. In winter, keep it cool and almost dry. [1] [2] candelabra cactus wants that same dry mix. It stays shorter than blue candle cactus, but the watering is the same.

1. Site it in full sun. A south or west window is the indoor default. A dim room stretches the column and washes out the blue color.
2. Use cactus mix with grit. Ordinary potting soil holds water against the roots.
3. Soak until water runs out, then wait until the mix is dry. Empty the saucer. Skip extra water in cool, low light.
4. In winter, keep the pot cool and almost dry. That rest is what sets later flowers — not a warm, wet sill.

Plant it in draining ground, or a pot you can bring in

Where frost stays off, plant it in a sunny bed that drains. In most of the US, grow it in a terracotta pot with a hole so you can bring it in before a freeze. [3]

1. Wear gloves, or wrap the stem in several layers of newspaper, before you lift it.
2. Dig a hole as deep as the root ball and about one and a half times as wide. Set the stem at the same depth it grew in the nursery pot. Do not bury the green tissue.
3. If the native soil holds water, mound the bed or backfill with cactus mix so the roots can dry.
4. If the plant came from a shaded greenhouse, shade it for about two weeks before it takes full sun, so the skin does not scorch.
5. Wait several days after you plant or pot it before the first soak, so broken roots can dry. Then soak once, and wait until the mix is dry again.
6. Bring a pot in before a freeze. A frost-free bed is the only in-ground option.

Cut a stem and let the wound dry before you set it

You do not prune this cactus to reshape it. A nursery plant is the usual start. If you want a second plant, cut a stem in warm weather and let the wound dry so it does not rot in the mix.

1. Wear gloves. Cut a firm stem in late spring or summer, when the plant is growing.
2. Set the cutting in a dry, shaded spot for about a week until the wound skins over.
3. Set it upright in a small pot of cactus mix with a hole. Do not water for about a week.
4. Then soak once, and wait until the mix is dry. Keep it in full sun until you feel resistance on a gentle tug.

Pick the berries when they turn dark purple

Older plants can make small berries that look like tiny blueberries. They are edible when they turn dark purple. Eat them fresh. [4]

1. Wait until the berry is dark purple, not red. Red fruit is not ready.
2. Pick it by hand. The fruit is about the size of a blueberry and bruises easily.
3. Eat it soon. It does not keep on the counter.

Not a milky candelabra cactus — and not myrtle or Christmas cactus

Candelabra cactus on a tag may be this plant, or it may be a milky euphorbia. If a broken stem bleeds white sap, you have a spurge, not a cactus. See How to Grow Euphorbia. Confirm the Latin. candelabra cactus is still Myrtillocactus, a true cactus with areoles, not milky sap.

Blue myrtle cactus is still this column. Myrtle is a leafy shrub. A Christmas cactus is Schlumbergera — flattened pads, not a blue column. See How to Grow Christmas Cactus. The berries look like bilberries, but the plant is not a blueberry bush — see How to Grow Blueberry only if you want that shrub.

When the mix is dry and the stem looks plump, soak once. If frost is coming, bring the pot in.