99 Problems but a Poinsettia ain’t one!

Poinsettias are one of my favorite seasonal plants! Maybe you got one for the holidays but are now left wondering what do you do now. Well, good news! With a few tidbits of information, you can keep your poinsettia thriving all year.

Poinsettias that are kept around after the holidays bring bright splashes of color to the home on grey, dreary winter days. You won’t find them available for sale until the year, so why not enjoy them for as long as you can? The good news is that keeping your poinsettia going after Christmas is easy to do but you’ll need to be a bit more intentional about caring for them. Generally, poinsettias enjoy a warm sunny window without drafts. They also need at least 6 hours of bright, indirect sunlight each day and temps between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the day to ensure continual bloom. They don’t like “wet feet” so be sure your pot is able to drain. They also don’t like to completely dry out, and if night time temps drop below 60 you’ll end up with leaf drop.

From Christmas until Spring, water your plant a little less than you normally would (watering a when soil is dry to the touch) and remove faded or dried leaves as usual. Once May comes it will be time to repot into a slightly larger pot. If at that point, your plant is a bit leggy, you can cut it back to about six inches above the soil and repot. Be sure to use a clean and sterile potting mix or a soilless mix. Once you’ve repotted your plant, water it thoroughly and put it back in a sunny window. 

Continue to check your plant periodically to make sure it has adequate moisture. When you start to see new growth you can fertilize your poinsettia. Fertilize every couple weeks using an all-purpose houseplant fertilizer. When nighttime temps stay above 50 degrees, it’s safe to move poinsettias outside. Find a spot that is slightly shaded and out of the wind at first then gradually move it to a sunnier spot once it has had time to adjust. This will take a few weeks. Keep watering and fertilizing usual.

Around July or August, you can trim the plant again if needed by taking about an inch or two from each stem to encourage branching. Just be sure to keep at least 3-4 leaves on each shoot and don’t trim it after Labor Day. When temps start to cool down to 55-60 degrees, you’ll need to bring the plant back inside and continue watering and fertilizing. 

If you’ve kept your plant alive all this time, you’re ready for the next challenge - getting it to bloom again. Poinsettias need short days to bloom and form their colorful bracts. This part may seem a little odd, but bear with me. Starting in October, move the plant into complete darkness for 12-14 hours a day and continue this through Thanksgiving. This means no artificial light either, not even for a quick minute. You’ll need to continue the darkness period for about 8-10 weeks. You don’t need to do anything fancy. Just put the plant in a closet or cover it with a box from around 5pm to 7am and then put it back in a sunny window for the rest of the time. Because your plant will be kept in darkness for so long, it will not require as much water.

Once 8-10 weeks have passed, your poinsettia will need at least 6 hours in a sunny window again. At this point, you can stop fertilizing and water as you normally would. With patience, diligence, and a little luck, your poinsettia will be blooming for Christmas. Now, don’t be disappointed if your plant doesn’t re-bloom. This process unfortunately isn’t a sure bet. Keep in mind that you’re trying to mimic the plants natural habitat as best you can but it’s not always 100% possible. It’s also a lot of work each day trying to remember moving it into darkness. If you had an empty closet, a grow light and timer, you could just set it and forget it providing you remembered to water.

Caring for poinsettias after Christmas isn’t really tricky... it’s getting them to bloom that takes some finesse. Are you up for the challenge? I would love to see your progress!

Until next time…

Dream Big, Plant Love, and Grow Where You’re Planted

XOXO - Laurie