Merry Christmas everyone! I think this is a recurring question. A pole mate from Orlando, another friend from a few years ago, and my radio host asked me how to get a poinsettia to bloom again.
There are many different types of poinsettias that can fit into most decorations. Have you ever wondered what to do to make a poinsettia or Euphorbia pulcherrima bloom? Without these beautiful leaves we wouldn't have much.
My parents grew these plants for a long time. I remember a 24 foot tall pyramid of red poinsettias we did one year for a winter project. Let me know if you remember the event. There is magic in these plants on many levels. If you look at a poinsettia, the flower is actually a leaf and not a petal. The flowers on this plant are actually small yellow structures at the ends of the stems. Would you be able to guess that this little yellow structure was actually a flower?
Poinsettias are native to North America. Joel Poinsett, former ambassador to Mexico during the administration of John Quincy Adams, brought the poinsettia to the United States in the 1820s as a cutting in his South Carolina greenhouse. Poinsett's friend John Bartram took this new plant and cultivated it in 1828. During the following year, Bartram exhibited this new euphorbia at the first exhibition organized by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society at the Philadelphia Flower Show. Since then, we have adopted this plant as the most popular Christmas flower in the United States, and growers have been able to modify it and improve its color. The poinsettia is also the best-selling potted plant every year; In the six weeks before Christmas, 70 million vases bloom and are sold.
Knowing that the poinsettia comes from Mexico will help us make those leaves bloom again. From October 1st you will need 12 hours of darkness. We must remember this date so that your poinsettia will bloom again next year. This will trick this sensitive photoperiod plant into believing that your plant has returned to Mexico and will begin preparing to flower.
When I took a greenhouse management course at Ohio State University's Agricultural and Technical Institute, Dr. McMahon taught us about the implications of photojournalism in the form of DIF. A simple term, but complex in its application. At the commercial level, you should be able to place a dark cover on the beds where you grow poinsettias with a specific time frame in mind. In three weeks you will see the color develop in the leaves. For those of us trying to do this at home, we need to have room in our wardrobe for them to change color. You have to be patient to understand that it is three months. The top leaf of the Poinsettia produces a pigment called bracts, which are the leaves that surround the flowers. They are usually white. In our light-polluted lives of always-on lights, it is a challenge to create 12 hours of darkness every day for the enzyme in the bacteria to turn red. For this, shade cloths and timers are used in the greenhouse. Even in Mexico, the country we are trying to emulate, the shortest days occur around Christmas, which causes an enzyme to turn the red pigment into green.
To get your poinsettia to bloom again, you should start by cutting the plant back about 6 inches about three months before starting the light treatment. Then stop watering for about two weeks or until the leaves start to fall. There is usually a bit of a drought that causes the plant to go dormant in the fall in Mexico.
At this point we start dealing with the interruption we talked about. The scheme consists in leaving the plant in complete darkness for exactly 12 hours. At the end of this period, you should take the plant from dark to light for another 12 hours and repeat until you see a change in the baking tone. After a few weeks, you will see the results of your efforts to transform the plant from darkness to light. You need a dark room or a blackout curtain. Consistency is the key to making the leaves red.
As with any plant, it is necessary to fertilize with appropriate nutrients. A balanced water-soluble fertilizer should be applied every two weeks. Follow the basic fertilizing instructions. Overfertility can be just as big a problem as underfertility.
Do not leave your poinsettia in drafts. Remember to water your poinsettia after taking it out of the bag, and place it where you can let the water drain. Take care of your plant normally. Like my parents, you can keep your poinsettia for years.
This Christmas time has been unusual as I have been getting very cold lately. I don't know why, but I did. I find comfort in knowing that tropical plants like poinsettias can make me feel warm.
I hope everyone has a good season. Try expanding your gardening in some way. If you have any indoor or outdoor gardening problems, you can email me at ericlarson546@yahoo.com. My website is ohiohealthyfoodcoop.org. Thank you for participating in our column.
Eric Lawson of Jeromesville is an experienced landscape and gardening enthusiast and a founding board member of the Ohio Chapter of the Society of Professional Landscape Designers.
This article originally appeared in the Mansfield News Journal. In Magic of the Poinsettia and its Rebirth.
