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Christmas Cacti
 Once the holidays have ended, it’s time for your Christmas Cactus to rest. Place it in a cool, sunny room and water it thoroughly when the top inch of the soil is dry to the touch. Come springtime, you should care for the Christmas Cactus as you would other tropical plants. Keep the Christmas Cactus in a humid location, expose it to bright, indirect sunlight and prune it after blooming to encourage new branching. In the summer, you can move the Christmas Cactus to a shady or semi-shady outdoor location, keeping in mind that too much sunlight can burn the leaves or damage the plant. If the leaves seem to wilt quickly or the soil dries out quickly, re-pot it in a slightly larger container in well-drained soil.
During the fall, you will need to take special care of the Christmas Cactus in order to encourage holiday blooms. If you did move the Christmas Cactus outside for the summer, you will need to slowly re-introduce it to the indoors in the fall by gradually increasing the number of hours the plant spends inside each day. Beginning mid-October, place the Christmas Cactus in complete darkness for twelve hours each night for approximately six to eight weeks. Another option is to place the Christmas Cactus in a cool location, such as a root cellar with temperatures of 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit, until you see flower buds forming. This eliminates the need to place the Christmas Cactus in complete darkness.
Then, once the Christmas Cactus is in bloom, expose it to bright, indirect light and water regularly. If you wish to start new plants, remove various stems by pinching them off with your fingers or cutting them with a sharp knife and re-plant them in moist vermiculite.
Poinsettias
 Now through March, place your Poinsettia near a sunny window and water it whenever the soil’s surface is dry. In April, prepare the Poinsettia for a long period of rest by gradually decreasing the amount of water it receives so as not to stress the plant. The best way to do this is to allow the soil to dry between waterings. After a couple of weeks, move the Poinsettia to a cool area in your home where the temperature remains at approximately 60 degrees Fahrenheit. At this point, the Poinsettia will only need enough water to keep the soil from drying out completely and the Poinsettia should lose all of its leaves.
In mid-May, cut back the stems to approximately four inches and repot the Poinsettia in new potting soil in a container at least one size larger than the previous year. Water thoroughly and place it in the brightest window of your home where temperatures remain between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Water the Poinsettia whenever the soil feels dry. Fertilize every two weeks once new growth appears.
Move your Poinsettia outdoors once daytime temperatures reach 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Place in a partially-shaded area and continue to water and fertilize. Around July, new growth should begin to appear. Pinch back old stems approximately one or two inches to encourage a stout, well-branched plant. By mid-August, the Poinsettia should have branched out and you should trim new growth to prepare it to return inside for the winter. Trim single stem plants to four or five inches long and multiple stem plants to three or four inches long. Leave approximately three to four leaves per stem. Once outdoor daytime temperatures fall below 60 degrees Fahrenheit, bring the Poinsettia inside and place it in the brightest window in your home and continue watering and fertilizing.
October is an extremely important month if you want your Poinsettia to bloom during the Christmas season. Starting in October, the Poinsettia needs a minimum of twelve hours of complete darkness each day for approximately ten weeks. Failure to do this is the number one reason Poinsettias do not re-bloom. From the beginning of October until the third week in November, keep the Poinsettia in complete darkness from 5PM to 8AM. You can use material or an opaque box to completely block out the sunlight as even the slightest light exposure will negatively impact re-blooming. During the day, move the plant back to a sunny window and continue watering and fertilizing.
During the last week of November you can stop the darkness treatments and begin keeping the Poinsettia in the window twenty-four hours a day as the plant will now naturally experience adequate periods of darkness. Flower buds should start appearing at this time. Stop fertilizing around mid-December. Resume watering the Poinsettia just as you did when you first brought it home in bloom. If all went as planned, your Poinsettia should continue to bloom throughout the holidays.
Sources: http://gardening.about.com/od/winterinthegarden/a/Poinsettia.htm, http://blisstree.com/live/caring-for-christmas-cactus-after-christmas/?utm_source=blisstree&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=b5hubs_migration, http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/cactusFAQs.html
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