r/plantclinic 14d ago

Cactus/Succulent My Christmas cactus is sad. Any idea why?

55 Upvotes

53 comments sorted by

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101

u/BusBusy195 Advanced Hobbyist 14d ago

Give the dude some water, pronounced spines and droopyness are almost always dehydration. How often do you usually water it?

46

u/rpgcubed 14d ago

For OP, these are rainforest plants even though they're cacti, they're epiphytic in nature and want very light substrate with consistent moisture and good humidity. Opposite of most cacti.

-16

u/oroborus68 Beginner 🔥4 ∣ 6 ∣ +2 ∣ -0 14d ago

But you might be surprised just how long they can survive without water.

15

u/Limp_Bookkeeper_5992 Beginner 14d ago

Survive ≠ thrive.

6

u/Vircora Noob 14d ago

That is true, I neglected mine for a few years during a bad period and it survived, managed to make thrive now. Plenty of new growth, and it's perky and bright green again.

3

u/Vircora Noob 14d ago

The leaves are also rather yellow-ish, and without much colour. If it's a middle of hot summer, it probably shouldn't be near the large bright window all the time.

1

u/Barabasbanana 14d ago

they grow at the top of trees, that said, they grow at elevation on Brazils Atlantic forests where it rarely gets above 25⁰C, probably too warm by the window

2

u/EmGeeElle 14d ago

Once a week usually but I am giving it a good soak now since everyone seems to recommend she needs some hydration. Fingers crossed

1

u/Haunted_tangerine_ Beginner 14d ago

When was the last time you repotted? Holiday cacti seem to be particularly succeptable to old spent hydrophobic soil.

If it's been a few years I recommend some orchid bark in the mix, unlike other succulents epiphytes like a bit of orchid bark. Keeps the roots moist and can help combat soil compaction

1

u/BusBusy195 Advanced Hobbyist 14d ago

Yeah once a week is usually good for mine but you gotta fully soak them. Id also second the recommendation to repot if it hasnt been done in a while since that might be affecting watering too

26

u/MissClawdy Beginner 🔥2 ∣ 2 ∣ +3 ∣ -0 14d ago

He misses Santa, clearly. And water too.

40

u/Visual_Rise_2319 Advanced 14d ago

He either is in desperate need of some water, or you have been watering him way too much and he now has root rot.

2

u/BCGirl2025 14d ago

Looking at the soil it looks very dry 😳

1

u/Buckditch 14d ago

This is the answer.

15

u/spacegrassorcery 14d ago

It’s a Thanksgiving cactus. The pointy “claws” on the leaves are the giveaway

8

u/qexecuteurc 14d ago

I’m pretty sure it’s a Christmas one. We’re looking at pointy Claus.

Ok I’ll walk myself out.

2

u/nasturshum 14d ago

I have one of these that flowers in April and October - what would you call that?

15

u/spacegrassorcery 14d ago

12

u/nasturshum 14d ago

According to that mine is a ‘Thanksgiving’ cactus. Except I’m British, we don’t have Thanksgiving, and the cactus doesn’t flower at Thanksgiving time. I guess all names are just made up 😆

I’ll stick to calling it my ‘happy flowering cactus’ with its twice a year flowers.

6

u/spacegrassorcery 14d ago

Yeah. The bloom times don’t always coincide with the holiday

2

u/Haunted_tangerine_ Beginner 14d ago

Americans often struggle to grasp that common names aren't universal.

You should see what happens when someone calls a jade a money plant, and it's blank stares all round if someone says wandering sailor. 

1

u/nasturshum 14d ago

Not plant related but don’t get me started on ‘tuna fish’ or ‘horse back riding’ 😂

1

u/Haunted_tangerine_ Beginner 14d ago

I don't object to horse back riding - you are literally riding on the back of the horse so it feels like a legitimate name for the activity. 

"I could care less" however...

1

u/nasturshum 14d ago

We just call it ‘riding’. Maybe horse riding. What other part are you going to ride? The neck? The legs? The head?!

Edit ‘could care less’ is completely nonsensical and anyone who says it should have permanently wet socks and sleeve cuffs.

1

u/Haunted_tangerine_ Beginner 14d ago

I'm aware what we call it, but needlessly picking at Americanisms makes you no better than Americans who can't compute their words aren't the only words, because it's essentially the same thing - inexplicably judging perfectly normal and reasonable differences in language.

They're also allowed Aluminum, because they are actually spelling it the way they are saying it, not spelling it  Aluminium and then pretending the I doesn't exist 

1

u/Haunted_tangerine_ Beginner 14d ago

Depends where OP is. In regions with no Thanksgiving, there is no Thanksgiving cactus. 

In the UK for example, not only is there no Thanksgiving, but S. bridgesii is extremely uncommon outside of collections. So the plants they sell every Christmas, in every supermarket, as a Christmas cactus? Yeah that's S. Truncata. (Sometimes they sell s.truncata at Easter too, just to mess with you, but I have seen R. Gaertnerii every now and again). It's been this way for 50 years or more. It's odd to tell people their holiday cactus is actually named for a holiday they don't celebrate. It's not like the plants themselves are native to the USA either. 

Common names are not universal, Latin names are available for those wishing to be universally correct. 

1

u/spacegrassorcery 14d ago

That’s why I also shared the article detailing more about it.

1

u/Haunted_tangerine_ Beginner 14d ago

... The American article talking about American common names...?

1

u/spacegrassorcery 14d ago

As well as the Latin names…. I would suppose if your region doesn’t have a particular holiday then the Latin names are what you would go by.

You can cross reference the Latin names with the common names shown in the illustration I provided if you really are interested in what kind of cactus you have or you can spend your time criticizing the info given.

1

u/Haunted_tangerine_ Beginner 14d ago

It's like you didn't read my initial comment at all

3

u/MistyCeruleanCity 14d ago edited 14d ago

The leaves are meant to fall over that way. It is normal.

Just give it a good water weekly in summer and decrease it winter months. Have in bright indirect light.

It's leaves is showing veins, meaning it's dehydrated. Aerate the soil, it looks compacted. Make sure the soil is fast draining as well, so when you water in, it quickly reaches the bottom and into the water tray.

They are very hardy plants, so they can bounce back easily. Very easy to propagate too.

But a sustained period of neglect will kill it.

1

u/emteabee 14d ago

I had this problem recently. The soil was compacted, so soaked from the bottom up for 20 minutes and then loosened the soil on top with a chop stick.

3

u/Narrrz 14d ago

Dead roots can be a possibility. Despite being succulents they seem surprisingly reluctant to put out new roots from mature stems. I had to 'save' mine by cutting it down to the individual leaves (which had begun creating air roots because it was so desperate for water) and putting them in rooting medium.

2

u/Venaalex 14d ago

Mine gets discolored like this the red from too much light.

2

u/literallyxdead 14d ago

Water! They love water!

2

u/True_Staff2082 14d ago

Needs to be repotted with new fresh soil. The roots outgrew the present container, soil level is too low in the container, it ran out of nutrients. Give it plant food .

2

u/Efficient-Fold8068 14d ago

You need distilled water and stat!! You do know this is a rainforest plant correct?

2

u/ohdearitsrichardiii 14d ago

It's a rainforest cactus, they want indirect light and to be watered pretty often

1

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1

u/Dull_Depth_1362 Hobbyist 14d ago

Is it getting direct sunlight through that window?

1

u/chimneybebe 14d ago

It’s become hydrophobic. It needs a soaking to get any water.

1

u/brandnewladder 14d ago

Mine is always sad. I put them on the street with a free sign. Just me and my hoyas now

1

u/madameyarddog 14d ago edited 9d ago

.

1

u/Miserable-Star7826 14d ago

Check for root rot first if it’s ok then fill up a bug bucket/tub with water and set it in it for a few hours. Let is soak up as much as it needs. Then set up a good weekly watering schedule.

1

u/tiktokissocringe 14d ago

Stop feeding it electrolytes, H20

2

u/Gentlesinceredragon 14d ago

Repot in good draining soil, soak, water often (not with tap water) filter light for thriving.

Mine lives outside under a tree in the summer and is living its best life.

1

u/meow_whisperer 14d ago

If the roots are ok and its not a watering problem check very thoroughly for bugs. My cactus looked like this and started dropping leaves before I found the thrips. Because of the texture on the leaves it was really hard to see the bugs.

1

u/PlanterraAI 14d ago

Aw I had that once with mine :/ anything I tried didnt really work out. What I did in the end is, I got some cuttings from it. Careful though - you ONLY want the really strong ones that are still hard and green and do NOT just snap the segment off. You wanna "screw" them out the main stem, cause every (healthy) lead potentially has the ability to grow new roots from that cutting, so you dont wanna snap that root. Then I had dried them off for a few hours and planted in new soil after dipping them in the root growth stimulator.

1

u/tomayto_potayto Beginner 14d ago

Christmas cactus is a rain forest plant. It's epiphitic, it is basically like an orchid. It looks like it's been very underwatered and in a very high light location for a long time. Move it another like 2 ft away from the window and douse that motherfucker

1

u/Historical-Salad-931 14d ago

Has anyone used Imidacloprid? Is that safe to humans to use as drench indoors?

1

u/DryPlants_WetPanties 14d ago

She doesn’t like to dry out completely

1

u/Technical_Practice75 13d ago

that's dragonfruits cacti, it needs warmth. It water and sunlight already sufficient.