A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Help with Christmas cactus roots rotting

Hello all !
I have had this Christmas cactus for almost 10 years now. I repotted it about a month ago (trying to give it more soil for the christmas bloom) and noticed the past week that the leaves were turning pink. A quick search yielded that the roots might be rotting. I look around the pot and sure enough, the roots were rotting. I took the plant out of the pot and trimmed the roots (cutting and throwing the rotted roots away). I am attaching pictures of where I trimmed it.
My question is - do I directly put this in the soil now - or do I put this in water, for some roots to form ? Please help !!!!
Many thanks in advance for your help !
MaVen

Hello MaVen, and welcome.

You can root your Christmas cactus both ways.

for using water: put put about 1 cm of water into a wide mouthed glass (example is a short plastic cocktail glass) it should root.

As for in dirt:
First let the fresh cutting to dry at least a few hours to avoid potential stem rot from excessive moisture.
Use a moist peat and sand soil mix . Insert the segment about a quarter of it's length into the soil...avoid placing the pot in direst sunlight. Water sparingly the first 2 or 3 weeks to avoid rotting. You could try misting it well. after 2-3 weeks it should show signs of growth at the tips of it's leaves, which is usually reddish in color. after the cutting has rooted you can transplant the cutting into a pot of loose potting soil, and to add a little sand and or compost would be good.

good luck !

Thank you, JunieGirl ! I will be putting these in water tomorrow and hope they will grow some roots. There are so many buds :(

I really should have known better !