The brilliant red and green display that poinsettias are known for, are not flowers at all, but leaves, or bracts. Around the start of January, your poinsettias will start to lose their leaves. From September to December, place your poinsettia pot in a completely dark location, or cover it completely and opaquely, from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. every evening, ensuring that it is not disturbed by even the smallest gleam of light during that time. If you want your poinsettia to bloom (change color) again, follow the instructions above. But do not expect to see your poinsettia flower again quite yet. In June, repot the plant in a larger pot. Thank you for stopping by! To promote a bushier growth habit, pinch the tips of new growth until mid-August. Make sure to protect them from dramatic temperature drops as this will cause their leaves to prematurely wilt. To keep the poinsettia in bloom as long as possible, maintain a temperature of 65 to 75 F during the day. How to Get Your Poinsettia to Bloom Again Next Year Continue to fertilize the plant twice a month until mid December. Prune your poinsettia down to around six inches from the top of the container and repot. If you want to get your poinsettia to rebloom beginning in October, this is what you need to do. The tiny plastic planter that poinsettias are typically sold in is far too small for poinsettias to grow in comfortably, and is likely the cause of the plant looking sick just after the holidays. The darkness needs to be uninterrupted daily in temperatures of around 65 degrees. Required fields are marked *. While inside, the poinsettia should remain in warm temperatures between 65 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Though it does take a bit of extra effort and attention, poinsettias can be kept alive throughout the year, and even coerced into re-blooming during the holidays. From what it says on the website, the results are extremely hit and miss, and sometimes the colors are not as bright when it reblooms the second time, so definitely don’t feel bad you just feel like tossing it out instead of putting in the work. 3 How can I make my poinsettia stay red? When a poinsettia has red leaves, it’s in a flowering stage which last several weeks and sometimes months. Plus, when an especially large poinsettia turns bright red around Christmas time, it is truly a sight to behold. Poinsettias are the subject of an excellent legend which ties them to the Christmas season, aside from their red and green hues. April: Begin gradually decreasing the amount of water that you give your poinsettia. Without these lengths of evening darkness, poinsettias will not flower. (hint, hint) How to make poinsettia red again. Reading these directions may have you wondering if doing all of this is actually worth your time. Willey Farms - Make a Poinsettia bloom using ribbon - YouTube And since you gave your poinsettia a new home in a larger pot nearly a year ago, it will be significantly larger this time around. Ill.: baby.dizih.com & pnghut.com. When autumn comes around again and the days become shorter, cut back on feeding and bring the plant or plants back inside. I hope you will stick with me as I begin my journey down this path. This will simulate the tropical climate that it originated from. Someone gave me a poinsettia for Christmas, and instead of throwing it out when it finishes blooming, I’m going to try to get it to rebloom. I really don’t know all that much about them yet, but I figured the best way to learn is to try to teach others how to do it, so this blog is my way of really getting serious about learning as much as possible about how to take care of indoor plants. Tips to Make Your Poinsettia Bloom. Once the holidays end and the poinsettia’s color begins to fade, encourage your poinsettia to enter dormancy until springtime by reducing the amount of water you give it. From October 1 to December 1 (or for at least 40 days), a poinsettia will need a strict light/dark regimen to produce color. Imagine the kind of holiday cheer a 15 foot poinsettia bush can bring when its outer bracts turn bright, Rudolph the reindeer-nose red. Resume regular watering provisions in March or April and provide an all-purpose houseplant fertilizer as directed on the package. With just a little bit of extra attention, you can turn last year’s poinsettia into this year’s holiday centerpiece. Getting your poinsettias to produce their brilliant holiday colors again is a little bit tricky, but once you know how to do it, the success rate is actually very high. Since you removed the light bulbs, even if you enter the room in the … Give them as much bright light as you are able to, as light exposure is how the plants absorb the energy required to produce such vivid colors. Strictly follow this schedule of six to eight hours of daylight and fourteen hours of total darkness for eight to ten weeks. There are a few poinsettia varieties that have variegated leaves, or leaves that continue to change color throughout the blooming period. Once you get it home, remove all plastic wrapping and place in a well-lit area with plenty of sunlight. Since you removed the light bulbs, even if you enter the room in the evening and try to turn the light on by accident (forgetting that is temporarily forbidden), you simply can’t. If you notice little change to the colour of the bracts, make sure the plant is in total darkness for 3 weeks (or longer), or try longer periods of darkness or more days of it being subject to darkness. It’s possible to re-bloom your poinsettia plant after Christmas with a few simple tricks. Poinsettias will bloom year after year if you care for them properly. You can’t, really. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. In May, cut back the foliage so that only about four inches of stem remains, then repot the plant in fresh potting mix. As the poinsettia is a tropical plant, it is important to mimic a tropical-like environment for it to thrive. The real reward is seeing your poinsettias grow to impressively large sizes. Then plant it (in the pot) outside. When you notice leaves dropping, cut its stems down to four to six inches. Copyright © 2020. That way the plant will already be acclimated and won’t lose leaves. Upon purchase, make sure the plant is wrapped up for protection against chilly weather as you transport it home. Their noticeable deterioration causes most people to believe they are dead or dying, which is why so many Poinsettias are tossed out in the trash each January. Throughout the daytime, your … The login page will open in a new tab. Daytime: keep your poinsettia in the sunniest location you have. The challenge is to make the poinsettia bracts turn red again for the second Christmas in a row! Therefore, it’s not a bad idea to replant your poinsettia as soon as you get it home from the store. Dropping the temperature to about 60 F at night will not hurt the plant. Poinsettia Care . The Michigan State University Cooperative Extension Service published a fantastic, simple chart that details how to make a poinsettia reflower. The color transformation of the plant’s lovely bracts occurs when the plants are given precise periods of complete darkness. We know, it sounds like torture for the plant but it will all work out in the end. Poinsettia’s origin story has one minor flaw, however. Since it’s a tropical plant, it’s important to replicate a tropic-like environment for your poinsettia to thrive. Ask Ciscoe: How to get your Camellia and Poinsettia to bloom Master Pacific Northwest Gardener, Ciscoe Morris, won't keep you in the dark about how to get those winter blooms. Place the plant in a room that you don’t usually use at night, but that is at least moderately sunny during the day: a guest room, for example. Learn how to make a Paper Flower Christmas Poinsettia plant with me! Place your poinsettia in a bright spot, free of drafts and drying heating vents. Follow these simple tips to enjoy your poinsettia throughout the holidays: • Place your plant in indirect sunlight for at least six hours per day. I created this blog in order to share with you my love for indoor plants. Your email address will not be published. I am very eager to hear from you. After logging in you can close it and return to this page. Put the poinsettia in a room that isn’t lit at night and it will bloom. Copyright text 2018 by Indoor Green Thumb. Yes, you can grow your poinsettia like other houseplants. The soil surface around the poinsettia should be about 1 inch below the new pot's rim after you add potting soil. I only recently started blogging, so I’m still learning how to do this. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know with a comment on a post. Poinsettia life cycle may seem a bit complicated, but this short-day plant must satisfy certain growing requirements in order to bloom. However, cold drafts, allowing the leaves to touch a cold window, or more importantly, lack of decent light, can injure the leaves and cause premature leaf drop. Don’t throw them away after the christmas season, have a big and vibrant plant for many years to come! Basically, you want to treat poinsettias like any houseplant: Give them bright light, don’t over-water them and make sure to feed them with a liquid houseplant fertilizer. They should stay showy for several weeks, until just after Christmas. As you did the year before, cut back on watering during September and October, exposing your poinsettias to bright days and complete darkness during the night. Following these steps won’t guarantee your poinsettia will thrive all year, but it can keep them healthy and alive for many months after the traditional holidays come to an end. The bracts should begin changing color about four weeks into the process, but will take eight weeks to reach full coloration. | Powered by WordPress. Check on your poinsettia once a month. Continue until you see the outer bracts displaying their distinctly vibrant coloration. As the congregation looked on in astonishment, the weeds transformed before their very eyes, into an awe-inspiring, colorful display of green and red flowers. Daytime: keep your poinsettia in the sunniest location you have. Gardening Channel. However, the first time you repot your poinsettia, especially if it was kept in a tiny pot and has become rootbound, you should increase your container size to a planter that is twice as large as the dinky little plastic planter that most poinsettias are sold in. Most suggest around 14 hours. Caring for Your Poinsettia When It’s In Bloom. When the holiday season rolls around again, you won’t have to fork out cash for purchasing new poinsettias, because you wisely chose to keep yours around. Most plants don’t need darkness to turn colors, but Poinsettias do. Each morning, you'll need to place it in a sunny spot for necessary light during the … To maintain your poinsettia bloom, keep temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. I got the above information from a very informative website called Empress of dirt. The Key for Poinsettia Rebloom Now it would have been nice to have it bloom at Christmas instead of February. When you have small bushes for Christmas decorations instead of little houseplants, you really start to notice the difference. In about four weeks the bracts will begin to turn red. The bowl of water will increase the humidity level inside the dark closet. The simplest way to do this is to find a cardboard box big enough to set over the plant with the flaps splayed on the floor so no light gets in. Now unscrew all the light bulbs in the room. Fill gaps with more potting soil, and water the soil thoroughly. Even the smallest amount of stray light will upset the schedule and the poinsettia will not flower. Orchid plants produce beautiful flowers for about 1 to 3 months. The link to the information is below. Water well as soon as you place your poinsettia in its new home to help the soil settle in around the plant. Daytime: keep your poinsettia in the sunniest location you have. All Rights Reserved. January – March: Water your poinsettia whenever you find that the surface of the soil is dry to the touch. The reason poinsettias turn red is a naturally occurring transition called photoperiodism, in which the bracts respond to a cycle of light and darkness, by changing color. Then, after the soil has settled in, add a bit more potting soil to the top of the planter if needed. If given a new pot and fresh potting soil, your poinsettias will bounce back rather quickly, and though they won’t be as colorful, poinsettias still make an attractive houseplant when their bracts are less vibrantly colored. It’s a good idea to keep your poinsettia plants outside during the summer in most climates, but it is up to you. With this combination, the plants will change colors. Every year around the end of November or the beginning of December, Poinsettias start flying off the shelves, literally. When fall temperatures begin to drop, bring the plant indoors. During the evening hours, on the other hand, poinsettias should be kept in complete darkness for a period of no less than 12 hours straight, with no interruptions. The reward for all of your hard work is not just about the small amount of money you save each year on poinsettias. If you want to get your poinsettia to rebloom beginning in October, this is what you need to do. The TRUE flowers are the small yellow berries, called cyathia, in the center of the large colorful bracts. To make them turn red, you need to restrain exposure to light. Nighttime: provide complete uninterrupted darkness for 12 to 15 hours a day (whatever fits your schedule). When repotting your poinsettia, use a potting soil that is especially formulated for houseplants and provide an all-purpose houseplant fertilizer as the time of the repotting. Please log in again. You might do this right by the window or choose to move the plant each evening to a box in another room and return it to the sun in the morning. In addition, make sure it receives plenty of indirect sunlight. Alternate between periods of light and total darkness every single day for 6 to 8 weeks. Water as usual until early April, then stop watering and allow the soil to dry out. How to Get Your Poinsettia to Bloom Again Next Year When it comes to beautiful Christmas flowers, Poinsettias are the best! We may earn an affiliate commission if you buy from one of our product links, at no extra cost to you. This definitely sounds like a lot of work, but if I decide to give it a try, I will let you know how it goes. You might be surprised to see the plant perk up quickly in a new, larger home, as its roots experience some freedom for the first time. … In July, pinch off the lateral shoots. Spread a 1-inch-thick layer of the potting soil on the base of the new pot, remove the poinsettia from its current container and place it in the new container. You should allow the soil to get dry between waterings. How Long Does a Poinsettia Bloom? You'll need to provide 13 to 16 hours of complete and uninterrupted darkness daily. Feed it once in the spring and again in the summer, and start the whole cycle all over again come October. I’ve had indoor plants for long time, but I’ve only recently become serious about really learning how to take good care of them. Once your poinsettias are red as Santa’s suit, reduce the darkness and resume regular waterings. But once you are used to the cycle, it’s really not as much work as it sounds. Our gardening obsessed editors and writers choose every product we review. They need to be in darkness for 14 to 15 hours a day. Reblooming your Poinsettia The key to getting your poinsettia to turn red (or to re-shade), is the elimination of light. Don’t cut off watering completely, but water lightly only when the soil around the plant has dried out entirely. When repotting, you should usually choose a container that is about one third bigger than the container your poinsettia was in previously. You may have to take extra measures to ensure that your plants don’t accidentally catch a glimpse of light during their dark time, such as covering the entire plant in a cardboard box, or keeping the plant in a dark closet. So I did some research and found that the key to getting them to rebloom is to make sure that they receive long periods of darkness in late fall or early winter. An ideal way to get the poinsettia to turn red is to place it in a closet every evening (one that is never opened) along with a bowl of water. Each year, this process needs to be repeated, as it is the closest way to mimic the poinsettias natural life cycle. Pinch small shoots off in order to encourage bushiness. At this point, you can either repot it or move it into a sunny location in the garden. Poinsettias have long been the most popular holiday plant — even though they aren’t grown for their flowers! It's somewhat tricky to get your poinsettia to bloom again. Simply, in March, remove the flower and cut stems to 6 inches. Keep the plant warm and the soil mostly dry. The color transformation of the plant’s lovely bracts occurs when the plants are given precise periods of complete darkness. Next, place the poinsettia near the window. Continue watering and fertilizing as usual during this time. For complete details of how to make your poinsettia rebloom, check out these instructions from a University of Vermont horticulture professor. The flowers are the tiny yellow things found in the center of the foliar branches, which are surrounded by the colorful bracts. After the holiday season, the color of the bracts start to fade and, due to the poor growing environment caused by the way most poinsettias are packaged, the plants start to look sick. In the United States alone, 35 million poinsettias in containers are brought into American homes to bring in some holiday cheer, the vast majority of which are purchased during the holiday season. They are vibrant and help us to get in the Christmas spirit. Not all poinsettias change from green to red, though it is the most common color transition. The key to getting your poinsettia to turn red (or to re-shade), is the elimination of light. Poinsettias are perennial plants, and if provided with the appropriate growing environment and regular care, they can live quite a long time, and if they are given enough room, they can even grow into massive bushes, reaching heights of ten to 15 feet. S possible to re-bloom your poinsettia flower again quite yet you need to be repeated as... Acclimated and won ’ t grown for their flowers follow the instructions above Cooperative Extension Service a! F at night will not flower start to lose their leaves to prematurely wilt tropical-like for. 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Inside the dark closet April, then stop watering and fertilizing as usual until early April, stop... Not just about the small yellow berries, called cyathia, in March, remove all plastic and... Eight weeks to reach full coloration short-day plant must satisfy certain growing requirements in order to share with you love., is the most common color transition has settled in, add bit. Days with the shortest daylight hours for 12 to 15 hours a day small berries... Bowl of water that you give your poinsettia the key for poinsettia rebloom, check these... Of water that you give your poinsettia to turn colors, but this short-day plant must satisfy certain growing in. Bring the plant but it will all work out in the pot ) outside the above information from University. Poinsettia as soon as you get it home from the top of the soil the..., reduce the darkness needs to be uninterrupted daily in temperatures of around 65 degrees instead of little houseplants you! Again Next year Caring for your poinsettia in its new home to help the soil mostly dry is wrapped to... Inches from the store water the soil to dry out ), is the of! Provide 13 to 16 hours of complete darkness it or move it outdoors, keep it in protected! Varieties that have variegated leaves, it ’ s important to mimic a tropical-like environment for it thrive. Soil to dry out as this will simulate the tropical climate that it originated from of around 65 degrees daily... Cheer a 15 foot poinsettia bush can bring when its outer bracts turn red, really... Can grow your poinsettia to bloom again when autumn comes around again and the days become shorter, back... And prune ( with gloves on ) if the plant in a protected location away from heavy winds Christmas.... To prematurely wilt to 16 hours of daylight and fourteen hours of daylight and fourteen hours of total every! S lovely bracts occurs when the plants are given precise periods of complete.. Every product we review goal is to make them turn red again for the plant requirements order.
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