Any tips for nursing a poinsettia back to health?
I bought a small poinsettia for Christmas, and I am surprised it has last this long. It is losing leaves but the stalks still seem good and green. And so instead of throwing it out, I was looking to bring it back to health and keep it year long.
Do you have any tips for taking care of a poinsettia and bringing it back to health? Watering, plant food, light? Amounts?
I've already checked the Wikipedia site, so please reference other pages. Thanks for your help.
Amdrmgirl, should I do this even if it still has more than a dozen leaves, including some small green ones that seem to be just sprouting?
Garden geek: Thanks, but I couldn't find anything on poinsettias.
Poinsettias are not an easy plant to grow. They require a fairly narrow temperature range without drafts. Even just being in close proximity to the cold glass of a window in winter can cause problems.
They are extremely difficult to reflower. This is because poinsettias require a very precise ratio of darkness to light in order to induce the flowering cycle, and the darkness has to be complete. Ambient light from night lights, street lights, light pollution from nearby parking lots etc… can cause them to not rebloom.
Personally I'd recommend you just toss the thing in the compost bin and be done with it. If you're up for the challenge you may find some helpful information at
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/poinsettia/reflowering.html