My Surprising Fertilizer For A Super Blooming Christmas Cactus Every Year
The most important thing you can do to get your Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera) to bloom each year is to ensure it goes through a proper dormant phase with shorter days and cooler nights.
However, closely behind that in importance is making sure your Christmas cactus has the right nutrients available. That means fertilizing at the right time and with the right fertilizer.
But with so many different fertilizers on the market, which one do you use?
A good rule of thumb for fertilizing houseplants is to choose a balanced NPK fertilizer in a 1:1:1 ratio. For chemical fertilizers, you should also dilute them and use them at half-strength.
Of course, anyone who owns a Christmas or other holiday cactus can tell you these aren’t your average houseplants. Far too often, frustrated Christmas cactus owners find that their basic houseplant fertilizer isn’t cutting it.
Lucky for you, I’ve found the perfect fertilizer for Christmas cactuses.
After years of trying different fertilizers formulated for houseplants, mostly choosing what happened to be in stock at the garden center each time I ran out, I stumbled across a great fertilizing solution for my Christmas cactus quite by accident. I have my obsession with African violets to thank for it.
What Do African Violets Have to Do With Fertilizing Your Christmas Cactus?
I grew up in a house that had lots of “grandma” houseplants, not the plants that are so popular today, such as monstera or pothos. We had Christmas cactuses and African violets — all the plants everyone’s grandmother grew.
Naturally, I have an affinity for both of these plants, but over the years, I have acquired quite a collection of African violets. I got pretty good at getting them to bloom continuously.
Part of that is using Schultz African Violet liquid plant food to feed my violets. Seven drops in a quart of water, and you’re good to go.
I remember it’s what my Papa Link used when I was growing up, and it works. Beautifully.
So, I decided to try using it on my holiday cactus a couple of years ago and see what happened.
I had the most prolific blooms on my cactus that I’ve ever had; that’s what happened.
From that point on, it became my go-to fertilizer for blooming houseplants. So far, it’s never let me down. Now that you know my secret, let’s take a look at why it works so well and when and how to fertilize with it.
Why It Works So Well – It’s the ‘P’
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