From October to May the christmas cacti grew in my light garden, grew AND bloomed, but the plants themselves were not as branched and robust as their siblings that were in the 4 inch pots, so last week I decided the end the “experiment” and move them on into sub-irrigated (“self-watering”) pots.

I concluded that not EVERYTHING thrives in a pop-bottle sip even though I’ve had tremendous success with other things planted in them, from lettuce to some of the “crankier” calatheas. I guess, in spite of Christmas Cacti originally being from the coastal mountains of south-eastern Brazil where the plants grow on trees or rocks in habitats which are generally shady with high humidity, the constant moisture provided by the sips is a little too much – though I often withheld watering to let them dry out a bit. Nonetheless, they just didn’t do as well and it was time to move them on.

In the pics, you can see what they were in originally and then the grand move to a 6 inch Bloem pot. I’ve used these pots over the last few years, both in the larger size as well as these and I like the quality – they’re sturdy with rolled rims for easy carrying of the large ones and I love the port on the side that allows for easy filling of the reservoir that holds a decent amount of water for pot size. If you can get them, I highly recommend it.