You’ve seen them. The saddest thing ever – a poinsettia, still in its little foil sleeve, tucked into the corner of the doctor’s office/bank/etc. In June. 
Photo courtesy of Beth Bonini http://beedrunken.blogspot.com
So iconic, there’s even a rock band in St. Paul called “Dead Poinsettia.”
Every year about this time, I get asked “how do I care for my poinsettia so it will bloom next year?” by friends, students, random callers, and random newspaper writers.
Two words: Chuck it.
Four reasons:
1) Unless you have a greenhouse, you probably can’t replicate the growing conditions that resulted in that lovely, leafy, perfect plant. That poinsettia has been grown under optimal temperature, humidity, fertilizer, and high light conditions. It’s also been sprayed with plant growth regulators – often multiple times, to keep the internodes from elongating. Even with all the breeding for a compact habit, they still want to streeeeetch to be the shrubs/small trees their forefathers were back in Mexico.
2) Day length. Poinsettias are obligate short-day plants, which means they require a long dark period (yes, I know, why don’t they call them obligate long night plants) to become reproductive, resulting in red (or pink or cream) bracts and the little yellow flower-thingy in the center (the cyathia). You can, of course, stick it in a dark room at 5:00 p.m. and remove it to a lighted area at 8:00 a.m., every day for the months of October and November. Until you forget over that long weekend and leave it in the dark for three days…
3) Help stimulate the local “grower” economy. Consumerist, I know, but wholesale and retail greenhouses grow poinsettias to keep their full–time employees working during what is otherwise a very dead time in the ol’ floriculture business. Seldom do these businesses make much of a profit on poinsettia; the plan is to keep everyone busy and generate a little cash flow. Now, some growers/garden centers go above and beyond the usual 6” red point, with unusual cultivars in a range of colors and sizes, hanging baskets, poinsettia “trees”, etc. This has proven to be a great strategy for some enterprising growers.
4) Poinsettia = total whitefly magnet.
In light of the above, I recommend enjoying your poinsettia until the leaves start dropping…then once it reaches the “less than fresh” stage, add it to the compost pile. Next season, go to your local independent greenhouse or garden center and buy a new one. Finally, if you are one of the hard-core, stick-with-it types that has been successfully reblooming the same poinsettia for three years running, congratulations! You have much, much more patience than I do.
Disclaimer: My Master’s research was on poinsettia and the effects of nitrate- N:ammonium- N ratio on growth thereof. Five treatments x 6 replications x 3 cultivars = 90 poinsettias, off of which I picked every leaf and bract to run through a leaf area meter. The latex oozing from the petioles made for a gloppy mess and the whole process took five days. Even 15 years later, I can barely look at a poinsettia without cringing. Pleh.
</d
I live in St. Paul, and yet I have never seen the Dead Poinsettias. I wonder if I’m missing something?
There’s a reason why I buy Christmas Cacti, orchids, and cyclamen instead of Pointsettias. They rebloom year after year.
Deirdre, you make a great point! All fabulous alternatives(not that there’s anything wrong with poinsettias).
Jeff, you’re obviously not hitting the club scene hard enough. (snerk!)
For some reason I’m getting an error message that doesn’t allow me to see the post.
Which is really for the best since I hate poinsettias :0)
Love your disclaimer… nothing will make you hate a plant like doing graduate research on it!
Mr. Brown Thumb: Any luck yet? I have no idea why you’d get an error. Anyone else having this issue?
H.
After coddling seven thousand plus, of the hideous things through every year for a decade of Holiday season displays (in my previous corporate life…), I loath them.
But I have to say there is no greater joy than running them rooted soil, sticky stems with half dead leaves, and all the mess, through a shredder after Christmas. It was just so fun to see them spit out in tiny bits! Of course cleaning the latex out of the shredder was not fun, but boy did I have a great compost pile.
These days I just refuse to carry them at the nursery and point out all the cool other winter bloomers that are available and that our customers will actually have success with.
Hap, your comment cracked me up! Nice visual! On another note, Holly, have you noticed any differences in performance among colors? My white poinsettia still looks good,m but now I will feel no guilt when it goes into the green waste barrel. (I have a contest to see what lasts longest in the house – the tree or the poinsettia. This may be the first year that the poinsettia wins.)
My poinsettias insist on looking great for months after Christmas. Really, who ever heard of Easter poinsettias? Sheesh.
Linda, they all croak the same, no matter the color. Actually the smaller flowered ones like ‘Winter Rose’ seem to hang in there the longest. Though I know what Deirdre means…if it still looks good, it’s tough to throw out (for me anyway).
@ Joseph…
You bet. I had a grad student that worked on Persian Shield – Strobilanthes dyeranus. Not only is it embarrassing to say repeatedly in a research presentation, the experiment never really worked after three goes at it. I imagine she now gets nauseous if she sees one….