Christmas Cactus Propagation: Rooting Cuttings Step by Step

The steps the sources share

1. Take a short piece at a joint. Twist or cut off a piece of a few segments where two segments meet. Iowa State Extension takes 2 to 5 segments, Clemson Extension 3 to 5, UF/IFAS and NC State Extension 2 or 3, and NC State’s Beaufort County office counts 3 or 4 back from the tip.
2. Let the cut end dry. Iowa State lets it callus overnight; Clemson leaves it in the shade outdoors for a day or two; Beaufort County leaves it in a fairly dark room for 24 to 48 hours. Beaufort County says the callus helps the roots start and protects the piece from rot.
3. Set it in a well-drained medium, the right way up. Iowa State uses moist perlite or coarse sand and pushes the cut end about an inch deep. It warns that a cutting set upside down will not root.
4. Bright, indirect light, and moist but not wet. UF/IFAS keeps cuttings moist in bright, indirect light; Minnesota Extension says moist, not wet; Iowa State waters when the medium begins to dry.
5. Wait for roots, then pot up. Iowa State moves a cutting to a well-drained potting mix when its roots are an inch or longer. Beaufort County transplants once new segments start to grow.

More on Christmas cacti

• Christmas cactus care — light, water, feeding, leaf color, repotting, and when a pot goes outside in your zone
• Christmas vs Thanksgiving Cactus: How to Tell Them Apart
• How to Get a Christmas Cactus to Bloom, and Keep the Buds
• Christmas Cactus Propagation: Rooting Cuttings Step by Step — this page
• ZIP code zone finder — your exact USDA zone, to read the tables on these pages against

Each source’s method

NC State Extension’s plant toolbox adds that the Thanksgiving cactus roots after a few weeks and waters it only when the mix is completely dry. Purdue Extension roots pieces in moist vermiculite.

When to take cuttings

Clemson Extension and NC State Extension’s Beaufort County office take them in May or June; Beaufort County points out that a May cutting makes a gift plant by the next Christmas. University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension says new plants can be started any time of year, but rooting may be better from late spring through summer.

Pruning gives you the pieces. Minnesota Extension prunes after flowering, cutting where two segments join, and Purdue Extension says the pieces from an after-bloom pruning can be rooted. UF/IFAS says to use the trimmings but not to prune beyond mid-summer, so the plant still flowers.

Rooting in water

UC Master Gardeners of Sacramento County twist off a branch, shorten it to the newest three to five segments, and stand it in water deep enough to cover the lowest segment by half; roots form on the end resting on the bottom of the jar. For pots instead, they let the cutting sit for a day or two to callus, plant it in fresh potting soil and cover it with a plastic bag. They say rooting powder may speed things up but is not necessary.

A fuller pot, sooner

Plant several cuttings together. Clemson Extension puts three in a 4-inch pot or five in a 6-inch pot and covers the pot with a clear plastic bag held by a rubber band, to keep the air humid, until roots form; it then removes the bag and starts a dilute fertilizer. University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension often pots three new plants together, and pinches them back once they start growing so they branch. Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County tucks extra segments around the edge of a mother plant’s pot to fill it out.

Saving an old plant through its cuttings

A big, old holiday cactus is often a family plant, and University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension says cuttings are its insurance. It roots a few new cuttings every 3 to 5 years and keeps young plants on hand in case the old one fails.

Wisconsin lists the signs of a plant losing its roots in old, broken-down potting mix: fewer flower buds, buds that drop, little new growth, younger segments that shrivel even when watered, segments that drop, small hair-like roots at the base of many segments, and soil that stays wet far longer than it should. When the roots are mostly dead, it says, take as many cuttings of different sizes as you can at the same time as you try to save the plant, and expect a low success rate from a badly stressed plant. The Christmas cactus care page covers repotting and root rot.

What we could not find

We found no Texas A&M or LSU AgCenter source on holiday cactus cuttings that we could read. Southern advice on this page comes from Clemson, UF/IFAS and NC State.