Nursing my Christmas Cactus back to health - the journey so far!

Hi everyone. I'm looking for some advice on what to do next with my Christmas Cactus. I'll give you some history on the plant with some photos. It's been through the wars a bit, mostly due to my naive neglect, so please excuse my past ignorance!

Anyway, I was given the plant a few years ago for Christmas from my old boss, who was a really lovely lady. It was fine for a couple of years and then it started going purple, the leaves lost their succulence and wilted.



Sorry, it's not the best photo in the world, but you get the gist!

I was completely clueless back then and kept the cactus on my windowsill above a boiling hot radiator all winter. I very rarely watered it because I took the term 'cactus' a bit too literally. I should probably mention that the links between the leaves started sprouting roots, which I assume must mean it was gasping for water.

I started reading up a bit about Christmas Cacti and read that in the summer months they can be kept outside in the shade. I moved it outside to a shady position and then completely forgot about it(!) I found it a few weeks later and it really wasn't looking at all happy. I vowed to try to nurse it back to health.

Now, I don't know if the following things I have done so far are correct or not, but it seems to have been perking up since. What I did first was to prune off all the leaves which were completely dry and damaged beyond repair. Quite embarrassingly I was left with this mere stub, which was then repotted in fresh soil:



You can't really tell from that photo, but the top leaf has a huge chunk missing where a bug has been eating it!

I placed the plant on a cool, fairly dark windowsill and watered it whenever the top of the soil felt dry to the touch.



It then reached this stage and grew some lovely new leaves where I had removed the previous dead ones. The problem was, the leaves protruding from the leaf with the chunk missing kept curling and growing roots from their base, so I assumed they weren't receiving enough water and pruned the lower leaf off. I don't know if it was right to do this or not but they didn't really look that healthy. I also pruned off the driest leaf which can be seen at the bottom.

My plant now looks like this:




As you can see, it's looking very green and the baby leaves both have bright pink buds, which I'm thrilled about!

I still have a few issues which I feel I need some help with though. Firstly, I noticed a while back that there were tiny little bugs crawling on the soil. Whilst doing some regular research I read about mealy bugs and I'm now wondering whether if it's possible that my cactus is infected with them. If so, what's the best thing to do? I have bought some Baby Bio insecticide which I have sprayed on to the plant and soil, but I'm concerned that since the plant was left outside for considerable time and potted in soil that had been left outside for a while then there could be any number of bugs beneath the soil which could affect the roots. Am I right in saying this?

Some parts of the soil have little furry white/yellow bits on them and I'm wondering if these are bug eggs or merely mildewed bits from where the soil's stayed moist for a while. I suspect the plant probably needs repotting in better soil but what's the best way of doing this and when? I read somewhere that ceramic pots are better than simple plastic ones, is this there any truth to this?

Also, when's the best time to start feeding the plant? I've been told it's a good idea to start feeding them with Baby Bio once the buds start appearing but I've also read that feeding should start during periods of active growth, which I assume means leaf growth. What would you suggest?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you. :thumb:

 

Perevere ms flower and you yes will be rewarded with a lovely cacus maybe not give you floers this year but next year yes.
plenty TLC now .

I leave mine outdoors all summer and take them back in before the frost.Good luck.

 

The tiny bugs crawling in the soil are unlikely to be mealy bug they don't move very fast you can check by tapping the whole thing out of the pot if it's mealy bug they will show up as white powdery patches with the beasty inside,a cotton bud dipped in meths will see them off,do keep it away from your other plants until you have sorted your pest problem,the roots growing from the new pads are the plants attempt to survive there is a good chance these pads would grow you a new plant if potted,be careful with the waterig just because the surface of the compost dries out doesn't mean it needs watering,don't worry about feeding it just yet let it establish first.

 

Hi Ms Flower
When your cacti shows signs of starting flower buds be very careful not to change the angle of light scource, if you keep it on a windowsill when you pick the plant up make sure it goes back facing the same way.
The flower buds twist toward the light and will twist off if at a different angle,