I'm no expert but I just put them in moistened half cactus soil / half perlite and leave it be till it roots, then water it and leave it be some more. Mine are inside in a third floor apartment windowsill. It gets pretty hot + humid in here by my standards but I'm sure it's nothing like the inside of a plastic bag :) I don't really worry about them to be honest, but they grow just fine (unlike a lot of succulents I try to root!).

Those red cladodes (they're stem segments, not leaves) are indeed new growth and you should leave them right on, they'll get big and turn green in due time. They do look very nice.

I find a little humidity helps. To prevent rot, I use barely damp soil or dry soil, and I lightly mist the cuttings daily or almost daily. Like you, a mix of bark and some pumice or perlite, with a few touches of regular soil, works great for me (I, too, am thankful to have learned that recipe here). It keeps things a little airy, but retains some moisture (as tropicals, they don't want to go dry). I think your outside temperatures sound safe, but you could go either way and take things inside if you feel more comfortable that way.

The new red growth on yours looks great. Those pieces will green up later on.

This post was edited by teatree on Fri, Oct 11, 13 at 2:37

Thanks JAndrews and teatree for you help and advise.

For now I will leave the red new growths on them (they are definitely too pretty to remove!).

This particular variety is suppose to stay light green I believe? Its the same variety as the picture I found on Ebay...The new growths are suppose to be yellow/pink/red? Only time will tell "if" it roots and grow for me lol...

And NO, I did NOT pay that price,lol...( I'm happy to say I was not the high bidder for that auction on Ebay for that TC :o))...Too rich for my wallet!

Here is a link that might be useful: Ebay auction of the same variety I'm rooting

Under stronger light, the foliage on the holiday cacti will redden, in my experience, and the new growth is just more delicate and susceptible to that. It's a temporary thing, like stress color, and it'll go away. Unless it's some rare variegated plant, which I'd know nothing about! I have a few Thanksgiving cacti with similarly red new growth, from summer stress.

I have found that all new growth will be of a color. If the flowers are red, the new growth is red...usually. The new growth on my yellow TC is yellow and on my orange EC, the new growth is orange.

Hey, Nancy!
Lovely cuttings! I would root them indoors in a warm but not directly sunny window or shelf space. I imagine that they'll be rooted within a few weeks at most. You are right, I think, in that no extra humidity is required. I always root my holiday cactus cuttings in a relatively dry environment.
Nice mix ;-)

Josh

Thanks you guys for all your responses :o).

Hi Josh, So when do you think I will need to water them? Or should I just mist them every few days when I see the mix is dry...I've only rooted some CC cuttings once but not sure if that was a fluke,lol...

Oops...Double post, I removed it!!

This post was edited by puglvr1 on Sat, Oct 12, 13 at 11:08

Hey!
Keep the mix moist with either light watering or misting. I'd probably just dribble water over the cuttings every few days or so. Keep us updated!

Josh

SEnd them my way..I'll root them for you under my lights!

You should see all the ones I rooted under lights this spring..They are huge now:-)

Beautiful Nancy!

MIke

Thanks Josh and Mike!!

I'll give it a go Mike and hope for the best...I appreciate your kind offer as always :o)

I'll update in a few weeks (hopefully) with good news?

18 days and the cuttings still looks good...I'm hoping its rooting down below :o)...I'm very excited, usually by now the cuttings are either rotting or completely shriveled up,lol...

I saw one of these on Ebay sold for $66 out the door for a small pot...So I really want these little guys to live :o)

Good growth!
Can you see any roots from the drainage holes?

Josh

Thanks to you Josh and your great TC rooting mix recipe :o)

I do not see any roots from the drainage holes yet...but that pot is at least 2 1/2" deep...but I'm hopeful!

Looking Good!

I wonder if that is the light green they will be from now on or if it get a little darker.

Thanks Camellia I believe they will stay light green? At least according to the pictures I've seen on the listing on Ebay...according to the listing they're selling a small pot that is about one year old and the colors are very pretty!! I'm hoping mine will look similar when it gets more established...

Below is the picture from the link that sold...

Here is a link that might be useful: Ebay sold listing

Thanks! Oh, Very NICE!

I love when it has the 3 colors.

Hi Nancy, good luck with your TC cuttings, I have a little one I just stuck in a pot with my Plumeria which seems to be growing. Gave it no attention whatsoever, the plant is at my brother's who doesn't do anything to it...But he has the mother TC, which he left on his porch all summer, and now it is bursting with buds, I couldn't believe how many...

Christopher

Thanks Christopher...Wow!! Amazing the amount of buds your brother's TC has, Congrats!! Beautiful!

The funny thing is, Nancy, with all this talk about specific soils and how important they are, this plant has been in the same pot. in the same wrong soil for years, unfertilized, yet performs like this. There are six buds on some individual segments.

Christopher

Is this the same plant as Nancy's? So, it's green but not too dark when it matures?

That's really amazing Christopher...sometimes it does make me wonder how some people have plants that doesn't get any special care or even the proper soil and it thrives,lol...and then there's me...I think I give it too much TLC, that's the problem!

Hi Camelia, NO, that plant that Christopher posted is not the same as my TC that I'm trying to root...its different :o)

He was referring to his cuttings ( and the mother plant of the cutting) he's rooting belongs to his brother...the picture he posted above...hope I explained that right,lol...

Camelia:

Indeed as Nancy explained, not the same individual plant, but the same TYPE of plant.

Christopher

Very cool!

My 34 year-old Christmas Cactus was in awful soil for years at a stretch, and in a giant pot...but it was also watered in sips, and so it never rotted. Once I began to care for it full-time, the vitality increased.

Nancy, I'm glad the mix works for so many people around the globe, but I can't take credit, really. All I did was modify Al's 5-1-1 recipe by removing the Peat and subbing in porous grit like pumice, lava rock, or turface (occasionally adding that pinch of potting mix).

Josh