User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Did I just kill my poinsettia?

So I was busy bringing plants in. I was repotting the poinsettia, because the container it was in had gotten too crowded and the poinsettia wasn't thriving any more. In the process, I managed to accidentally break the growing tip with the little new leaves off. Can it recover from that. I was going to put it in the dark to see if I could get it to "bloom"? Is that still a good idea?

User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

It only had one tip? Or are you saying you broke off a substantial upper portion off?

It may not recover in time for the holidays, but I think it will come back unless you broke it down in the woody trunk... Then I'm not sure this is a good time for it to back bud with new growth.

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Around here poinsettias are cut back in April and August and put in the dark in September for about 6 weeks to get it to bloom for Christmas. Otherwise, left outside, it will bloom in March.

If the tip is broken and you make a clean cut above a node it may come back, but it may not bloom in time.

User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

It has three stems each with a growing tip with teeny new leaves. But the one I broke off was the tallest and strongest stem. I broke off no more than 1/2 inch, maybe less, just enough to lose that little tip and the little new leaves.

This will be it's third winter. The first one was when it was bought from the store already in bloom. Then it stayed in the house for the winter in the 3" pot it came in. Not surprisingly it didn't do very well that way and sometime after that it got abandoned. I found it in the summer still in the tiny pot and nearly dead with one tiny leaf left and repotted it. It thrived after that. It came in for the winter, treated like an ordinary house plant and I didn't try to get it to bloom. Then went back out for spring and summer. But it was in a large tree container with an angel trumpet and a coleus. The coleus grew like crazy and everything else suffered. So now the poinsettia finally has its own reasonable sized container.

I still might try putting it in the dark to see what happens. When you do that, do you still water it? Will it matter if the dark place I have is kind of chilly? (not freezing)

For someone that usually takes pretty good care of plants, I hate to admit, this poor poinsettia has had a hard life! :o

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Poinsettias have to be fooled to make it think that winter has come to get it to bloom out of season. I stick it in a closet but it does get water, not much though since it doesn't dry out much in my humid climate. Cooler is probably better. You want to give it about 16 hours in the closet and bring it out to more light during the day. I make life easier on my self and put a flourescent light in the closet on a timer. This assumes you have a spare closet or box to keep the plant in. I still have to remind myself to check it to make sure it gets enough water.

Poinsettias are a white fly trap. You can spray it before the leaves start to change color, after that if you try to treat it with anything other than a jet of water, the leaves will fall off.

Feed it after it comes out. I like to use miracle grow for acid loving plants but you could use almost anything, you just want it to leaf out so anything high nitrogen will work and bring it out gradually to bright light again.

The regimen to get narcissus to bloom is similar, but more than once, the darn thing bloomed in the closet. Narcissus (dafodils) need to spend their winter in a bag in the frig or about 6 weeks, then put in a bowl of stones and water then brought out to light to bloom twenty one days before Chinese New Year.

https://www.lowes.com/cd_Make+a+Poinsett ... 1281443738_



Return to “Container Gardening Forum”