Hi there,
I have this cactus that I got from my mom in November and for the first few months it looked great, I even got it to bloom again in January! But then all of a sudden half of the plant started drooping, the leaves got mushy and wrinkled and the flower just dropped. I tried to move it out of direct sunlight as I thought it might be drying out and I tried to change up my watering schedule but I wasn't sure if it was over or under watered. I usually water once a week on Sunday. Eventually I ended up cutting that half of the plant off and saving a few leaves to propagate. I took the healthy half, grabbed a new pot and fresh cactus soil and replanted it. It seemed ok for a week or two but now it is showing the same signs, mushy wrinkled wilted leaves, as the last one. I really would like to try and save this as it was taken from one of my grandmas plants. Please help!

Looks like it might be frum overwaterin. They like to dry out beween waterins. Let it dry out an when those leaves dry out yo can see which ones need pruning. it will prolly come back, their purty fergivin.

Oh, an welcome to the forum.

Hi VerdantStar, to the site!

It looks like your Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera truncata) is in a clay/terra cotta type pot which will tend to dry out much faster than plastic. Depending on how quickly the soil drains, your plant may require watering more often than once a week. Schlumbergera are not desert type cacti, their native habitat is a warm and humid climate where they grow as both epiphytes (on trees) or lithophytes (on rocks) with their roots exposed to the air. When grown as a container plant, an airy well draining medium is best. The soil should be consistently damp throughout, not overly wet and not overly dry. If the soil in use is water retentive, it can be amended and lightened by adding perlite, pumice, lyca, orchid bark chips, etc. They should never be subjected to direct, hot sunlight.

Welcome to the site!

I live in the same area, just south of you in AV, all of mine are located in the East window, they like a well draining medium. I usually water once every 8 days, not letting the plants sit in any excess water. The plants are put outside on my east facing porch that has some shading to protect against full sun, when it gets warm and the nights are consistently above 50degrees. I will occasionally fertilize at 1/2 strength Miracle Grow during the warm months. I bring the plants in when the temps start approaching 40deg, by than the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer which sets the buds for the blooming later on in the winter.

That is S. truncata. When you water, do you thoroughly moisten all of the soil?

purpleinopp said: That is S. truncata. When you water, do you thoroughly moisten all of the soil?

I didn't look closely at the pictures. Here's our database entry for Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera truncata)

https://hort.extension.wisc.ed...

I keep mine on the dry side. It seems to like it.

Hi all thanks for the warm welcome!

It seems like the consensus here is that it might be getting too much water. I usually try to soak the soil, removing any excess water that drains so it doesn't sit in it, and water again when its dry in a week. I did skip watering yesterday and I will leave it be for a week or so to really dry out. I have it in a cactus soil but I might look into adding some more well draining mediums that were suggested.

Overwatering is a real thing, but repeated episodes of dry soil can be just as damaging. Epiphytic plants can be tricky because they thrive when soil is consistently moist but it must absolutely have a lot of air in it. The "cactus" part of the nickname can be a bit misleading because if cultivated like a prickly desert cactus, it's going to suffer from being too dry. Surviving a drought usually yields a plant that looks like it survived a drought. You would probably prefer a vigorous, robust, picture-worthy plant that never has to survive something. Letting it "really dry out" is not a path to that.

Using a clay pot is a great move because the pot allows moisture to evaporate quickly and oxygen to penetrate the entire soil mass, not just the surface.

If it takes a week for the soil in that little pot to dry, it may be too water-retentive with too much organic matter, usually peat moss. If it is drying more often, watering more often could be what is needed. The way you described the watering sounds good to me, that's what I do.

If root rot happened, sometimes it's hard to get them to come back. My Mom usually overwaters hers, then gets scared and underwaters them after that. That combo is usually fatal. I never knew about the epiphyte thing so I potted mine in garden soil and watered it as often as I would a cactus. I guess it was dumb luck, but that plant is over 15 years old, and one of its offspring is huge now too.

The original in the garden dirt was looking pretty sad, so I repotted it in January with a very coarse mix that is heavy on bark. After a relentless pruning, it is looking great.

I would advise the Original Poster to root a few cuttings off of the original plant just in case it doesn't make it. Then you're still continuing Mom's plant.

Posting an update because I feel like these threads never get closure. It was overwatering! I cut back on the amount I was giving and it seemed to perk back up. I did take two cuttings and they are both doing well. The main plant even flowered over Christmas! Thanks again to everyone for their help!

Magnificent! A cheerful sight on a gloomy day here.

Thanks for the update!