Poinsettia Care

As I read about how to take care of my post-holiday poinsettia, I see that I am doing some things wrong!  That's no surprise, though.  I have been working to get the watering right - not too dry or too wet and not sitting in water.  However, the environmental temperature seems to be not so good in my house.  According to a Yard & Garden Brief produced by the University of Minnesota Extension (http://www.extension.umn.edu/projects/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h102poinsettia.html), poinsettias should get at least six hours of bright sunny natural daylight and stay between 65 and 70 degrees.  I can get the sunlight for the plant, however we keep our house primarily at 65 degrees during the day, but let the indoor temperature fall at night.  In order to resolve this problem, I may need to move the plant between day and night locations.  I may need to put it on an inside wall near my aquariums at night - this may be the place where the temperature drops the least at night.  And during the day, it should be close to the windows in the southeast room in my house. 

For additional optimal care of poinsettias, the Yard & Garden Brief recommends fertilizing the plant 6-8 weeks after acquiring it.  This will help maintain the nice foliage and allow for new growth.  As with all potted plants, follow the directions on the label of the houseplant fertilizer but mix to half-strength.  This will help prevent over fertilization - the symptoms of which cannot be reversed.  According to the Yard & Garden Brief referenced above, repeat again in another 6-8 weeks. 

By the time summer rolls around, you can re-pot and prune the plant back, allowing for further growth.  And for those who are most ambitious, check back to the Yard & Garden Brief to understand the process for making it bloom again for the next holiday season!

For now, I will use this information to try to keep my poinsettia nice for as long as possible.  I wish you luck in doing the same! 

By the way, while I lived in northeast Florida, we would often take holiday poinsettias and plant them in the ground.  They made a very interesting bush that would easily grow to five feet tall.  Every few years, a killing frost would cut it back to the ground, but it would survive and grow again.