Garden Detective: keeping poinsettias
This speckled poinsettia variety is called White Glitter. Follow the steps here and you can keep its show going from year to year. Credit: Newsday/Ken Spencer
DEAR JESSICA: My gardening days are over; I'm 88 years old and in a retirement home. Last Christmas I was gifted with a small poinsettia plant, which has subsequently survived nicely with healthy dark green leaves, but no red blooms or red leaves. What can I do to make it have red? And are the red whatevers considered leaves or blooms? -- Maureen Heath, Lake Ronkonkoma
DEAR MAUREEN: I'm impressed you kept and nurtured your poinsettia all year, as most people simply throw them out after the holidays. It's certainly possible to keep them from year to year, as you've pointed out, and to get them to rebloom. All it takes is a cool, dark spot, a closet and some perseverance. Here's how:
1 Enjoy. Provide water and sunlight for poinsettias through the holidays until they stop blooming. Once the flowers (technically, they're bracts, but we'll call them flowers) are gone, allow the plants to dry out.
2 REST TIME. When they've entered dormancy, lay potted poinsettias on their sides in a cool, dark cellar until April. If you don't have a cellar, perhaps your building has an unheated basement where you'll be allowed to stash your plant. Or maybe a family member could tend it for you in the off-season. It will only have to be checked periodically; if the woody stems start to shrivel, they'll need a little spritz of water. This may not be necessary.
3 Spring Break. In April bring plants back into the main part of the house, trim about 2 inches from the end of each stem, place by a sunny window and water regularly, keeping soil moist but never soggy.
4 Feed. You can move poinsettias outdoors around Memorial Day or continue to keep them as houseplants over the summer. Either way, fertilize once a month with one teaspoon per gallon of a complete fertilizer (20-20-20).
5 Bug Off. Around Labor Day, check for insects, and if any are found, pick them off by hand or rinse the plants with a gentle stream of water to remove, then bring plants indoors. (If they're already indoors, then just keep doing what you've been doing.) Place by a sunny window and continue to water and fertilize monthly. Poinsettias do best if temperatures are kept between 70-75 degrees during the day and 60-65 degrees at night.
6 Bright/Night. To form flower buds, poinsettias require about 15 hours of complete darkness daily. So for 40 days beginning Oct. 1, keep them in a very bright, sunny spot from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, then move them into a dark closet from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. Do not skip this, even for one night, or buds may not form.
7 See Red. By Nov. 10 you should notice the bracts taking on a reddish hue. From this point on, keep plants in the main part of the house around the clock and continue to water and fertilize. You should be seeing red (or white) in time for the holidays.
Enjoy them -- and please let me know how you make out!
