Christmas Cactus leaves turning red
 

We have a Christmas Cactus and the leaves have turned red.
Searching suggests that it is due to too much direct sunlight, too much
water, too little water or possibly something else.

One striking thing is that a leaf which broke off has been rooted in the
same pot and at the moment is growing strongly and is a bright green
colour.

The cactus was growing strongly and flowered about a month or so ago. Now
it is looking less healthy but then these plants often do.

At the moment it doesn't seem to be over watered.

It is in a south facing bathroom window behind frosted glass so I don't
think too much sunlight (at this time of year) is the problem.

A branch broke off, and I've planted that in an adjacent pot just to see
what happens.

Anyway, anyone else had green to red?
If so, did the plant survive?

Cheers


Dave R



--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

Christmas Cactus leaves turning red
 

On 23 Dec 2017 14:32:27 GMT, David wrote:
We have a Christmas Cactus and the leaves have turned red.
Searching suggests that it is due to too much direct sunlight, too much
water, too little water or possibly something else.

One striking thing is that a leaf which broke off has been rooted in the
same pot and at the moment is growing strongly and is a bright green
colour.

The cactus was growing strongly and flowered about a month or so ago. Now
it is looking less healthy but then these plants often do.

At the moment it doesn't seem to be over watered.

It is in a south facing bathroom window behind frosted glass so I don't
think too much sunlight (at this time of year) is the problem.

A branch broke off, and I've planted that in an adjacent pot just to see
what happens.

One of ours has always been red one of the others has red edges. That
said, they both spend the summer out in the garden and do get sun.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

Could you send a picture, please?

Christmas Cactus leaves turning red
 

On Sat, 23 Dec 2017 15:08:00 +0000, Bob Hobden wrote:

On 23 Dec 2017 14:32:27 GMT, David wrote:
We have a Christmas Cactus and the leaves have turned red.
Searching suggests that it is due to too much direct sunlight, too much
water, too little water or possibly something else.

One striking thing is that a leaf which broke off has been rooted in
the same pot and at the moment is growing strongly and is a bright
green colour.

The cactus was growing strongly and flowered about a month or so ago.
Now it is looking less healthy but then these plants often do.

At the moment it doesn't seem to be over watered.

It is in a south facing bathroom window behind frosted glass so I don't
think too much sunlight (at this time of year) is the problem.

A branch broke off, and I've planted that in an adjacent pot just to
see what happens.

One of ours has always been red one of the others has red edges. That
said, they both spend the summer out in the garden and do get sun.

Still confusing.

I've fed and watered and there is no apparent change.

The young plant in the same pot is growing vigorously so the conditions
can't be too bad.

I wonder if it is "shagged out after a long squawk"?

Or to put it another way, does it have a resting phase after flowering?

It certainly grew like mad last year.

Oh, and the recent weather has probably ruled out the "too much sun"
option.

Cheers



Dave R

--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

Christmas Cactus leaves turning red
 

On 13/01/2018 19:57, David wrote:
On Sat, 23 Dec 2017 15:08:00 +0000, Bob Hobden wrote:

On 23 Dec 2017 14:32:27 GMT, David wrote:
We have a Christmas Cactus and the leaves have turned red.
Searching suggests that it is due to too much direct sunlight, too much
water, too little water or possibly something else.

One striking thing is that a leaf which broke off has been rooted in
the same pot and at the moment is growing strongly and is a bright
green colour.

The cactus was growing strongly and flowered about a month or so ago.
Now it is looking less healthy but then these plants often do.

At the moment it doesn't seem to be over watered.

It is in a south facing bathroom window behind frosted glass so I don't
think too much sunlight (at this time of year) is the problem.

A branch broke off, and I've planted that in an adjacent pot just to
see what happens.

One of ours has always been red one of the others has red edges. That
said, they both spend the summer out in the garden and do get sun.

Still confusing.

I've fed and watered and there is no apparent change.

The young plant in the same pot is growing vigorously so the conditions
can't be too bad.

It might be off its roots. In which case the other pieces you have
rooted down in active growth will be much happier.

I wonder if it is "shagged out after a long squawk"?

Or to put it another way, does it have a resting phase after flowering?

It might set fruit if you have more than one clone around.

It certainly grew like mad last year.

Oh, and the recent weather has probably ruled out the "too much sun"
option.

With cacti the default assumption is invariably too much water leading
to rotten roots. I'd ease up on the water for now until the longer days
of spring and then keep an eye on it. If it continues to deteriorate
then you may have to take more cuttings and root them before the rot
comes up from the roots and destroys it segment by segment. It may well
fall apart into cuttings of its own accord if the roots have failed.

I suspect the plant is now showing signs of water stress but because it
has been over watered and no longer has working roots. In its natural
habitat it would be an epiphyte clinging to moss on a tree so it doesn't
react well to compacted soggy wet soil for extended periods.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlumbergera

Has some cultivation tips. They blame reddening on too much light but in
a UK midwinter I think we can rule out that possibility.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown