Getting Last Year’s Poinsettia to Bloom in Time for Christmas

While keeping Poinsettias alive all year round is possible and quite easy, it is sometimes baffling why they don’t bloom in time for Christmas again, but later. There are a few tricks to convince the plant to show its coloured bracts on order, though. The gardener’s or florist’s magic lies in daylight management.

Poinsettia flowers in winter. That is understandable considering that its natural habitat is in Mexico and South America. When days get shorter, it is a sign for the plant to start blooming. The red leaves, or bracts, are part of that blooming process. The coloured leaves may keep their colour for a long time after the small flowers have gone.

If you want your Poinsettia to be in full colour for Christmas, start shortening its day cycle beginning of October. The plant should be kept in absolute darkness for 16 hours a day. Absolute darkness means no daylight and no artificial light, either. You can achieve this by putting a bucket over it when it is time to sleep. While not all breeds have the same sensitivity to light, it is advisable to be quite strict in allotting them light. Depending on where you live, you’ll have to figure it out how necessary it is for you to tamper with day and night times. Once the plant has grown its coloured bracts, it is business as usual.

Poinsettia is a shrub. It can grow up to four metres high in its natural habitat. Keeping your Poinsettia for years, means that you might end up with a monster if you let it grow unchecked. It will start to look long and weedy and a bit scruffy, too. To get the plant to be compact and room size, you should cut it back rigorously.

The ideal time for cutting is when the bloom is over while the plant shows new shoots. Cutting back the plant to half or even a third of its former size is no problem. It is irrelevant if you shorten some of its wooden stems, too. After cutting, plant the Poinsettia into a new and only slightly bigger pot with fresh rich humus. When taking it out from the old pot, shake out the old dirt carefully without damaging the roots. You will see new shoots forming within two weeks of pruning.

Don’t throw away what you just cut off! The tops can be used as cuttings to start new Poinsettias. Shorten any long cuttings to about 15 cm (6 inches); but cuttings should not be shorter than 5 cm (2 inches) to be successful. Take off the lower leaves and plant them in little pots in mixture of earth and sand. The cuttings need some water, but not too much, and should not be left in standing water. To help them along a bit, plant the cuttings close to the pot rim where air circulation is better for the forming roots. The cuttings should be kept in humid air by placing a plastic bag or glass over them.

When you find them growing, it is time to plant them in proper pots and rich humus. Treat them the same way as the main plant and they will be ready to give away as small Christmas presents for your friends.