Keep poinsettia looking good
By Jake Weber
Kansas State University Research and Extension
The Christmas holiday decorating time is here, and one key holiday decoration item is the poinsettia plant. If this plant is on your decorating list, follow these tips to keep it looking its best during the holiday season.
Your blooming poinsettia plant is sensitive to heat and cold so protect it from temperature extremes when you take it home. Pay attention to your home’s indoor temperature. Your poinsettia will give you a longer display life if you keep the room slightly cool where it’s displayed. During the daytime hold the room temperature near 70 degrees. At nighttime, lower the thermostat setting a few degrees; 60 to 65 degrees is good. Avoid exposing your poinsettia to prolonged periods when temperatures are above 75 degrees or below 60 degrees.
Strive to keep the plant from going thirsty. Letting the plant dry to the point of wilting may cause sudden leaf drop (bare-legged poinsettia). Check your plant each day to monitor its water needs. Your fingers can help you decide when to water the plant. If the potting soil feels slightly damp or dry, apply enough water to the potting soil so that some leaks out the bottom of the pot and into the drainage tray. If the soil feels wet when you check it, you should wait another day before watering. Shortly after watering your plant you should discard the water from the drainage tray; poinsettias don’t tolerate wet feet
Give your poinsettia lots of sunlight. An optimum location for your plant is near a brightly sunlit window. Unfortunately, your plant may have to spend most of its time in a not-so-well-lit area of the house while it’s on display. If it’s not too much trouble you can move your poinsettia next to an unobstructed south-facing window for few hours during the day when it’s not needed elsewhere.
Modern poinsettia varieties retain their colorful bracts for up to two or three months. By that time, they’ve shed all their old leaves and have sprouted new ones. If you’re an adventurous gardener, you could keep your plant growing and maybe even get it to bloom again at Christmastime. If that’s your choice you should move your poinsettia outdoors when freezing temperatures are no longer possible. That would also be a good time to replant it in a larger pot, or maybe plant it directly into a flowerbed.
Fertilizing your poinsettia during its outdoor summer vacation is important; adequate soil fertility encourages healthy, robust growth. By fall your poinsettia’s growth has slowed in response to the days getting shorter (no more fertilizer now). If you’re reblooming the poinsettia you must keep it away from bright light after sunset; bloom development is triggered by dark nighttime periods longer than 12 hours. Once a reddish color appears in the uppermost leaves (they’re called bracts after they’ve started to develop color) the plant is on its way to full bloom. Move the plant indoors before freezing weather arrives.
