Home & Garden Tips
Taking care of poinsettias
By Roosevelt McWilliams County Extension Agent

During the holidays, you can place poinsettias just about anywhere to brighten things up. They'll last almost a month in a fairly dark place. While it is in the dark, water only when the soil is very dry. You should not fertilize it. Over watering

or fertilizing your plants during the holidays is the most common cause of rapid death. It is always good to remove dead leaves. Losing a few leaves is expected when poinsettias are in dark places. After the holiday cleanup, which for most of us is in January, poinsettias must be returned to fairly bright light to remain healthy. You can place the plant in the south, east, or west window.

The bracts may begin to fall off fast. This is normal process. If they last until March, your plant was happy where you put it. Before you begin fertilizing, cut off the long stems halfway down to the soil. By early April, when the bracts begin to die, cut the plant back, leaving four to six nodes or segments in the stem.

You don't buy poinsettias for their tiny, yellow flowers, but for the modified leav es or bracts that surround them. And though newer colors are out there now, most Americans still prefer the red ones.

At this point, the poinsettias can be grown outdoors in full sun. If watered and fertilized, poinsettias will grow great outdoors. Trim them in June and plant them is 1-gallon pots or large indoor planters. As a poinsettia grows, trimming the new growth will allow branching and will form an impressive, bushy plant. Trim bract new growth again around July 1 and again by mid-August.

Outdoors, the plants will require fertilizing every week. Most houseplant fertilizers will do. Apply the same rate as you would for common houseplants. Continue to fertilize your plant all spring and summer, backing off the fertility rate as fall nears.

If watered and fertilized properly, poinsettias will grow quite large. Georgia greenhouse growers are growing millions of dollars worth of poinsettias for the holiday season.

Poinsettias are absolutely safe, too. They've been scrutinized over many years and are proven to be nonpoisonous plants, perfectly safe for display around children and pets.