poinsettias

roseycheeks · Thu Jan 09, 2014 11:13 am

I have a white poinsetta that I got for a Christmas and I must be doing things right, because it is growing new leaves!!! Here is a picture of it, got a question, will the colored bracts fall off as the new leaves come on? The tips and edges of them are turning brown. The colored bracts that is, the new leaves are nice and green.
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applestar · Thu Jan 09, 2014 12:00 pm

The colored "leaves" are the bracts of poinsettia flowers. So yes, it's OK for them to start fading and dropping, as the new shoots start to grow.

I couldn't get mine to bloom though it looked as though they might when the leaf stems turned red -- it's tricky because poinsettia needs short days to bloom and should be covered to exclude artificial light. But they (this has I think three plants in it -- two red and one white) are growing well and have started to grow new shoots too:

I have a couple of new ones with double-tone pink bracts -- a holiday gift

rainbowgardener · Thu Jan 09, 2014 12:14 pm

Those two tone ones are pretty, applestar!

rosey, yours is looking happy and healthy. It is normal for the colored bracts to drop off. After that it will just keep putting out green leaves. I have one that was from Christmas 2012. It was in a little 2" pot and got thrown away. I found it when it was down to one little leaf left and rescued it. It is now thriving.

But as applestar suggested, getting them to"bloom" [I.e. put out the colored bracts] again is an exacting process. To "bloom" for Christmas, they need 12 -16 hrs a day of total darkness, starting beginning of Oct. So they have to be covered or kept away from any artificial light. I didn't try this time, maybe for Christmas 2014 I will try, just to see if I can do it.

roseycheeks · Fri Jan 10, 2014 11:31 am

Thanks for fixing it applestar, I forgot which link to hit

I am glad nothing is wrong with it, my sister-in-law had one for several years, it never bloomed again but it got BIG! It was all over the place. I want to see if I can keep it alive for quite some time, you know how bad I am with plants

The bigger red one is still doing good too, it has not started to grow any new leaves though, but it is still pretty to see colors inside when the snow is still outside.

roseycheeks · Sun Mar 23, 2014 3:02 pm

The white one is still alive and has small green leaves, nothibng like yours, and the red one looks like it is dead. Is it natural for some of the green leaves to fall off of the white one? It has new greenery coming on but the others are not getting any bigger, I have some Miracle-Gro and some Jobes plant sticks, will any of them help grow it bigger?

rainbowgardener · Sun Mar 23, 2014 3:10 pm

No and no. No, not natural for it to be dropping leaves and no, fertilizing a plant that is struggling just stresses it more. Just give it the best conditions you can, which is bright indirect light and not too much moisture. Poinsettia benefits from getting really dry between waterings. Benign neglect is the best thing for it.

roseycheeks · Sun Mar 23, 2014 9:56 pm

The red one looks dead, no leaves and wrinkly looking.

rainbowgardener · Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:04 am

yup, looks dead. If I had to guess, it might have died of over watering.

imafan26 · Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:44 am

Poinsettias don't like to stay wet. If you do try again poinsettias should be pruned in April and August. After the second pruning put them in a darker place for about 6 weeks to simulate winter. Then bring them out into the light again and they should bloom at Christmas. Otherwise, they will bloom at their normal time about March.