When it’s that time of the year and you receive an Easter cactus, there are a few things you will want to keep in mind.
These plants are pretty awesome but they can also face problems just like any other plant such as losing leaves which is what we will be getting into.
Some of the causes for an Easter cactus dropping leaves include overwatering, lack of light, pests and fluctuation in temperatures.
So let’s get into each of these scenarios and see what we can do about it.
Overwatering an Easter cactus
A very common cause for an Easter cactus to start losing leaves will be due to overwatering this plant.
You want to be watering your Easter cactus about once a month or only when the soil has nearly dried out to prevent overwatering which can certainly cause the leaves to drop, not to mention other problems that are worse.
You also want the soil to remain slightly moist for best results, and I really mean slightly, not standing water or anything like that.
Your drainage should also be on par by using the correct type of soil to allow water to not retain for too long, essentially mimicking overwatering effects.
Once you have taken care of the watering situation, you can expect to see new normal growth and not see leaves dropping from this issue on your Easter cactus.
Overwatering is also a big cause for an Easter cactus to droop or wilt by the way.
Lack of light
Another cause for leaves to begin falling off your Easter cactus can be attributed to a lack of light.
Although these plants don’t really like full sunlight or direct light, they sure do require a lot of light throughout the day, just bright but indirect light to be specific.
By not allowing your plant to get enough light this can cause all sorts of problems, especially leaves falling off or slowly dropping from your holiday plant.
A minimum of 4 to 6 hours of bright light daily should suffice and allow your Easter to begin growing strong and not losing leaves from this cause alone.
Pests
Odds are you won’t be dealing with a pest problem if you own an Easter cactus, but in the off chance that you do get pests such as mealy bugs or scales then they can cause some serious damage to your plant.
These pests take the nutrients from your plant by feeding on the leaves which can cause the leaves to fall off if enough damage is done so you will want to deal with them fast.
A common sign of mealy bugs is a fuzzy white appearance on the leaves as well as small dots for the scales.
To get rid of these pests use a cotton swab and some rubbing alcohol to remove them by hand or use some quality neem oil spray at least once a week until they are gone.
Keep this plant away from other plants in the meantime to prevent the pests from spreading and when using neem oil, only apply it at night.
Once the pest problem has been dealt with, you won’t have to worry about anymore leaves falling off in the future.
Rapid changes
Lastly, huge fluctuations in temperature or repotting stress can cause leaves to drop from your Easter cactus.
Easter cacti prefer cooler temperatures in general, but big fluctuations in weather can stress the plant out and cause leaves to drop.
The same will go for repotting stress as a new environment can also stress out your Easter cactus in a similar way which can cause leaves to fall off.
The best thing you can do for this is prevention by trying to keep the growing environment pretty stable and when repotting only go up or down one pot size at a time.
For both of these scenarios, I wouldn’t worry when the leaves drop because new growth is right around the corner.