Winter care tips for cacti
Cut back on your watering and make sure temperatures don’t go down too low
Now that we’re getting into winter, there’s no need to water most cacti. Of course, there’s an exception to every rule and it’s the Christmas cactus
(Schlumbergera truncata), which you can continue to water. There are some lovely and reasonably-priced examples, usually the products of Dutch nurseries, available in supermarkets and garden centres coming into the Christmas season.
They may be called Christmas cacti, but it isn’t easy to synchronise flowering with Christmas week. These plants don’t like an abrupt change of environment at an early stage of bud development, and there can be a disastrous dropping if conditions are too warm and dry. Buds nearer to opening are more robust, so look out for these if you’re buying a plant for Christmas.
The lithops’ flowering season is just about over and these won’t need watering until spring, when this year’s leaves shrivel to something like paper and the new leaves are in evidence. Lithops will withstand winter temperatures down to freezing.
Some cacti overwintered at too low a temperature, if they survive, can be badly marked. This damage will grow out but it’s better to avoid it in the first place by providing a temperature of at least 5C (41F) in winter. Cacti, such as melocactus, and African and Madagascan succulents, such as some aloe species and varieties, and euphorbia may need 10C (50F).