Propagating Christmas Plants

I love decorating the house with Christmas plants this time of year.  We can generally keep a Christmas cactus alive for a couple of years, and it usually even blooms right on time for us (the one in the picture was recently purchased without blossoms).   After a couple of years though, the plant seems to lose it’s will to live and gives up.  Guess life around here can be challenging.   Poinsettias are another plant I love to have around at Christmas time.  I have successfully kept them alive year after year, but have never gotten them to bloom the next year.  The stores love me because I keep going back each year to purchase more plants.

No more.  This year is the last year I should ever need to purchase another Christmas cactus or poinsettia because this year, we are going to propagate new ones from our existing plants and get them to bloom.  How’s that for confidence? 

There are some great articles out there so I won’t retype all the information.  I’ll provide the link and let you view the details for yourself.  I put the kids to work on some special pots for the Christmas cactus and we’ll get to the poinsettia this spring, when the time is just right.

Christmas Cactus

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/indoor/how-to-propagate-and-plant-christmas-cactus.htm

http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/azgard/2003044719003313.html

Poinsettia

http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/yard/2008/011208.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_2082845_propagate-poinsettia.html

I will make a note here that we did a bit of an experiment.  No article I read said anything about using root stimulator on the cactus, but since I had some here, I made two pots using it and two pots without.  I’ve made a note as to which are in each pot and will monitor progress to see if it is a good idea or not.  Why not turn this into a fun science experiment for the kids?

Here is a picture of the fancy pots and lucky little plants in them.  If you followed the above links, you probably know by now that the leaves will wilt or even shrivel.  I have warned the kids not to panic, as this is expected.  The new leaves will grow out of the end of the dead ones when rooting has occurred.  I have noticed this same thing happens very often when propagating prickly pears. 

I’m sure the local nurseries are rooting against my success in this little project, but hopefully we’ll have a house full of home grown happy plants by next Christmas that we can enjoy and share with friends!