You've recently gotten a new exciting Christmas cactus from the plant store and can't wait for them to bloom...a few days goes by and the Christmas cactus flower buds are now FALLING OFF. But WHHYYY?!
- Stress: Before this plant got to the store you purchased it from, it was in its ideal environment getting very strong grow lights and ideal temperature... it was living its best life in what can only be described as a plant spa. A few days after that it was in a van wrapped in a dark van traveling across the country and then arrived at the plant store. It still looks great, the day that you brought it home was day 3 of its journey. There is a change in temperature, humidity, and light as you place it into your home...commence the dropping off flowers. These plants are cacti, used to a very specific condition and they have been stressed by the dark, shaken in containers and are now acclimating to your home. Don't worry they will take a few days to acclimate and they will then normalize and begin growing. Keep their conditions as steady as you can (try not to keep moving it around and exposing it to different environments around your home.
- Your plant has been in your care for months. It's not starting to grow flowers and you're excited! Almost too excited and now you'e giving it too much attention... either too much water because you're looking at it more than usual. You move it around because now that its flowering you want it to be in the middle of the room... but that are gets less light. You're creating too much environmental change and or over watering it. Let it fully dry out and do its thing.... The #1 way to stress out plants and to kill them is my overwatering. Step away from the christmas cacti and let it do its thing.
My tips are featured on Homes & Gardens:
P.S. Not a so fun fact about the original uses of the Christmas Cactus… Did you know this is an Aztecan plant. More here.
Did you check out my post on changes in temperature etc from heat? This is a common reason too… we often start to turn our heat on without realizing how it’ll affect out plants. Don’t worry I break it down for you here:
