Temperature method -keep evening temperatures 45-60f anything above 60 f will give you some growth but no or few if any blooms.

Light method- short light 8 hours or less of daylight or artificial light given at temperatures above 60 f- this takes about a month to see results. Its the most common way commercial nurseries induce blooming to time there blooms to the lucrative holiday season. Place your Schlumbergera in a lower light location, a basement, greenhouse with 70% shade cloth, or other low light location that can be made suitable.

Other Schlumbergera facts and notes to keep in mind; If your Christmas Cactus always blooms prior November keep it warm and give ten hours or more of artificial light until the week before thankgiving then use the light method detailed above and you too can have blooms closer to Christmas time.

Temperatures- Schlumbergera are not desert cactus, there species of which most originate from Brazil in a jungle type climate. They like warmer temperatures to grow well in summer and then will bloom at lower evening temps once winter arrives. Schlumbergera can not tolerate freezing temperatures though, so always keep them above 32 degrees in winter. Although Christmas Cactus bloom at lower temperatures there stems grow best in warm summer type weather at 70-85 degrees but they can tolerate a range slightly above up to 100 degrees and below this range to 35-40 degrees just fine.

Each Schlumbergera stem segment can be cut off and placed ½ way into loose potting soil mix with about 20% sand or perlite added. Allow one or two days for the cut ends to dry, leave in a cool dry spot until ready to plant or root them. Rooting cuttings is very easy! See below for step by step pictures of how to root Schlumbergera cuttings. The biggest mistake made is many water new cuttings too much this only causes rot to set in. Remember they have no roots yet so the Schlumbergera stem segments have no way to absorb excess water at there base yet. Only mist the stem segments to keep them hydrated until roots appear. Once rooted you can water the newly rooted Schlumbergera the same as metioned above earlier

Repotting Schlumbergera is best done every season after blooming and as soon as it begins to warm. If the growth looks robust and healthy you might not need to repot every year. Some large plants can go 2-3 seasons without repotting if nessary but repotting every year in spring will ensure you have a great bloom display come winter. If the folage looks poor or not darker green then repot right after blooming in late winter or early spring. If you decide not to repot follow fertilization recommended above regularily to maintain sturdy healthy looking growth. Its very normal for blooming sized Schlumbergera to have a maroon or reddish color in the foilage during blooming and right after. Let them rest after they put on there wonderfull bloom show but be ready to repot into fresh soil mix once it warms again. During the warm months reddish or marron growth can also be a sign of a little too much sunlight exposure.If thats the case just give your Schlumbergera a little more shade.

Most of the Schlumbergera offered on this website are Hybrids with very showy flowers that were hybridized from species originating from Brazil. I listed some of the species below. These species grow in the branches of jungle trees, a few grow in cracks of large rocks or boulders near rivers and streams. Some have very different growth from hybrids and in general are more cold sensitive than hybrids.

Below shows three diagrams of the most often hybridized varieties from left Thanksgiving Cactus-(Schlumbergera truncata), Christmas Cactus-(Schlumbergera x buckleyi) , Easter Cactus-(Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri). Notice the points on the edge of the stems on the first diagram; Thanksgiving Cactus, and smoother edges of Christmas Cactus.

Explanation of scientific names:

Schlumbergera-named after Frederick Schlumberger, a student of plants.
Bridgesii- named for R. Bridges
Truncata-truncate, cut off square, in reference to the ends of the stems.
Gaertneri- named for E. Gaertner.

The picture below show an example of three sizes of the typical Schlumbergera branches you will receive from Mattslandscape.com, at a minimum you will be able to make 3+ segments from any branch you receive-usually many more.

Below shows the smallest branch you could receive, marked #1 before it is cut into segments to be rooted and another picture showing it after segment separation into 5 segments. The tiny piece in the middle bottom is not used and should be discarded as its too small to root.