Nice example but actually there are much bigger ones around. I prefer to keep house plants indoors all of the time, apart from them having to cope with sudden changes in light exposure, humidity and temperature when they are moved from one environment to the other the Great Outdoors is full of bugs and slugs.

As indoor plants Schlumbergera need a comparatively coarse, cactus style (yet high organic content) potting mix, bright yet indirect light, moderate watering and humidity plus fertilization (per label directions) with products packaged for use on flowering house plants during summer, with a dry period right after flowering. I find the Thanksgiving types to be very forgiving but the Christmas cactus type like you have may need to be protected from nighttime illumination during the pre Christmas budding period to flower well - or flower on schedule, anyway (a friend has one in bloom right now). Also these are prone to dropping of flower buds if allowed to become too dry after they have been set.

The wild parental species grow on trees or rocks in tropical rain forest of SE Brazil, you need to give your plant less light and more humidity than a desert cactus would need. Growing as epiphytes puts them up out of the gloom of the forest floor, but still not where they are likely to be hit by hours of direct sun - in combination with low humidity, at any rate.

That is a beautiful Christmas Cactus bananastand

My Christmas Cactus is in a bark, perlite, soil mix.. Quite fast draining to alleviate any drainage problems in the winter near cool windows. From October till around now (April/May) it resides in a South facing window which gets quite a bit of light... Outside though it needs to be put in a shadier spot.. Even in the shade, it is quite bright for an epiphyte.

I would like to dispel the myth of the light affecting their flowering. Mine sits 5 feet from my T5HO grow lights, which certainly illuminate the room as if it was bright out. I feel like the Christmas Cactus needs more of a cooler temp to flower.. Along with sensing the days shortness... maybe lol

When you move it outside depends on your zone, but do put it outside. It will be much happier.

How fun to get such a large plant to care for.

Mine are outside year-round in dappled shade. Obviously you cannot do that. I keep them elevated in the hope that it discourages insects crawling in the bottom hole. I never kept them in the dark, they always bloom. Not sure about that hour of driect sun, but it might be ok.

Others here might not agree with me, but after it blooms I would cut back maybe 1/3, then repot. I just don't care for so much sprawling. I recently did a small one, tied it up as shown in the photo for handling and a day or two after until it settled in.

Repotted in September 2016, and it bloomed in December.

Thanks for the advice! I'm glad to hear the recommendation to cut it back a little. It's incredibly sprawly, even in the large space where I placed it! Socks, I see that some of yours that have been pruned have relatively large diameter (almost woody) branches-- I have that too. A few family members expressed jealousy at me finding this large plant. If I trim off a large branch, will it root if I put it in soil? Or do cuttings need to be smaller to thrive? I do have Orchiata bark, should I try to re-root in that (seems unlikely), or just a seed starting mix?

Here is the plant in place. This is on the north wall of the room. There's a long narrow window across from this on the south wall, and the window in the upper left of the photo faces west.

Here's the juncture where it gets sprawly and there are pretty thick stems. Do I need to worry about cutting at a particular point on the stem to ensure re-rooting?

One more pic from front on. The light is coming off my grow lights, over some seeds nearby on the west wall.

I'm going to bump this up for you because I really don't know the correct answers to your questions. I have rooted small cuttings but never a large one, especially woody.

Josh Green! Please help our friend...thank!

Hey! If you have Orchiata bark, use that! These plants thrive in bark, or bark-based mixes. That's all I use. I have a pretty large 38 year-old Christmas cactus.

Also, root your cuttings in bark, or bark, perlite, and just a pinch of potting mix.

It'll work like a charm.

Josh

Thanks, all!