Poinsettia advice please.

For the very first time (drum roll, please) and after many years of hankering ...

... I've bought a poinsettia

And very attractive it is too Nicely potted, looking very healthy and quite attractive in my lounge. However ...


... no care instructions!

So: quite simple really - how do I care for it?

 

Prefers a coolish temperature ( around 18C - 20c). Only water when light and dry. Happy with morning sun but not loads and doesn't like draughts.
Is it classic red or cerise pink or peachy pink ?
Jenny

 

Thank you, Jen-Jen
Classic red - of course
It's in the basement lounge, on the side table next to a sofa, near the archway at the base of the stairs but before you enter the dining room ... hopefully not much of a draft there. And no danger of "too much" sun (It may get a wink or two of it early doors, but other than that .. nada!)

Ok, now I'm thinking ... what are you meant to *do* with it after Christmas? Does it "keep" as a houseplant all year round? Do I pop it in the compost bin and then buy another next year?

 

I've had one "do the distance" between 2 Chrimmies "M" but it won't develop that classic red bract unfortunately. Always have a bit of a wrestle with my conscience about "letting old plants go".....
Jenny

 

Ah, ok - understand.

Compost heap then ... at least that way it will live on in a meaningful way by feeding something else. *sighs*

 

Restoring a healthy green Poinsettia plant from last year back to its original red color is no problem if you follow a few simple rules. Poinsettias need total darkness, for 14 hours each day, starting about eight weeks before you want to display them.

During the day, the plants need bright light, along with the other routine care. However, starting in the evening, the plants must get complete darkness. Even a nightlight can disrupt this process!

compost bin me tinks

 

A *challenge" ME thinks!!! I'm game

I think
(14 hours per day total darkness? Hmm ... box ... under stair cupboard ... 8 weeks ... ... Jewish decent ... tight fisted ... ... why not!? Synopsis would be: compost bin *this* year vs compost bin *next* year)

 

One other point I came across when trying to grow poinsettia on was that they are usually treated to keep them compact, when you repot them they do grow taller than originally.

 

RE-pot? When? This year? Next? Before solitary confinement? After?

This may be more complicated than my memory may cope with Already my homemade care label is half a sheet of A4!

 

Try not repotting then "M", give it a rest and a trim after Christmas, before watering normally all through the late spring and summer with a liquid feed now and then.
Then go for the dark treatment in the Autumn.

 

Will do, @pete thank you

Oh, by the way ... the sprouting seeds made a great salad with my dinner tonight ... and I have *no* ill effects

 

Sorry, forgot: do I trim the flowers, the leaves, both or either?

 

I have never got a Poinsettia past February. They are a lovely Christmassy plant ,we buy one each for all the family. But in my hands three months is their allotted time on this planet !
Just thought we've not got one ourselves, I'll get one this weekend.

 

Want me to send you one, @HarryS ? Seems a shame that you buy for everyone else but then have to "treat" yourself!

 

A friend of mine has two large poinsettias in pots in their stairwell. Plants about 5ft high pots 30 inch. They are evergreen with green being the operative word. Attractive though.
In Nepal last year I came across a poinsettia that had gone native.