Grow and Care for Easter Cactus

Grow Easter cactus in bright indirect light, and water when the top of the mix is dry. Easter cactus is Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri — not a Christmas cactus.

Give it bright indirect light, and water when the top of the mix is dry

Easter cactus is Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri, a rainforest epiphyte from southern Brazil. It has flattened, spineless stem segments with rounded scallops and tiny bristles at the tips, and it opens star-shaped flowers in spring. Give it bright indirect light and a mix that drains. Water thoroughly when the top of the mix is dry, then empty the saucer. Keep growing temperatures around 60 to 75 F. [1]

If the pads wrinkle and the mix is still wet, the roots have likely rotted and can no longer take up water. If the pads shrivel and the mix is bone-dry, water more often. Either way, the plant may drop segments. [2]

1. Set the pot in bright indirect light. An east window is a good default. Sheer the pane if afternoon sun hits the pads.
2. Use a pot with a drainage hole and a cactus or epiphyte mix. All-purpose mix is fine if you add perlite so water can leave.
3. Water until it runs out the hole, then empty the saucer. Wait until the top of the mix is dry before you water again.
4. Keep the room around 60 to 75 F while the plant is growing. Raise humidity with a pebble tray if the air from heating is dry. Do not stand the pot in the tray water.

Hang it in summer shade, then bring it in before frost

After the last frost, you can hang the pot outdoors in light shade. That hardens the new growth. Bring it back in before nights settle in the low 50s, and check the joints for pests first. [3]

1. Wait until nights stay above frost, then hang the pot in shade or morning sun only.
2. Keep watering when the top of the mix is dry. Rain must be able to run out the hole; dump a saucer after a storm.
3. Bring it indoors before nights in the low 50s. Wipe the pot, pick off debris, and look for mealybugs or scale.

Give it cool nights and long dark nights for spring bloom

Easter cactus blooms in spring when it gets a cool rest and long uninterrupted nights. Iowa State University Extension asks for 14 to 16 hours of darkness at 60 to 70 F for three to four weeks, then nights of 47 to 55 F for four to six weeks. After that, grow it on longer days at 60 to 70 F. A spare room with no lamp at night often supplies the dark stretch on its own through winter. [4]

1. In fall, put the plant where nights are dark for 14 to 16 hours. No kitchen lamp, no TV glow. Keep days around 60 to 70 F for three to four weeks.
2. Then keep nights in the high 40s to mid 50s for four to six weeks. Do not freeze it.
3. When buds show, return it to 60 to 70 F and longer days. Keep the mix evenly moist while it is in bud. Do not move the pot until the first flowers open.
4. Once flowers open, you can display it. Keep it off heater vents and cold drafts, or the buds drop.

After the flowers fade

Pick off spent flowers, or let them drop. Water less until new growth shows, then resume a regular watering and a monthly feed through summer. If you want a second plant, that job is How to Propagate Easter Cactus. If the mix has collapsed, dump it after bloom on How to Repot Easter Cactus.

Not Christmas cactus — and not Thanksgiving cactus

Most plants sold as Christmas cactus are Thanksgiving cactus, How to Grow Christmas Cactus. Thanksgiving cactus has pointed teeth on the pads and yellow anthers. True Christmas cactus has scalloped pads and purplish-brown anthers. Easter cactus has rounded pads with tiny bristles at the tips, and the flowers are star-shaped in spring, not tubular hanging bells in winter.

Orchid cactus is a different plant with long flattened stems; How to Grow Orchid Cactus owns that job. Mistletoe cactus (Rhipsalis) has thin pencil stems and small berries, not a star Easter flower. A desert cactus mix that stays bone-dry is the wrong start for all of these rainforest epiphytes.

Give it bright indirect light, water when the top of the mix is dry, and keep nights cool and dark in fall so it blooms in spring.