I have a plant called a poinsettia. Once upon a time the leaves were red. Then I forgot to water it and they all dropped off. They have now regrown and they are green, how do I make them go red?
I tried chucking it in a cupboard and a couple of the leaves are speckled red but then others are yellow (?!) and falling off. I don’t care about it flowering, are red leaves too much to ask?
I think the deal is … from October through December, put it in the closet for 12 hours of absolute darkness, then take it out for 12 hours of as much light as possible.
I first saw a poinsettia TREE in Jamaica, and then realized that though it is a Christmas plant, it does GREAT in lots of heat and lots of light. And I spritz it with a plant mister.
But, at the end of the day… That was last year and mine is dead now! So what do I know? Actually, it’s dead because I had it on my balcony to get some sun and forgot to take it in. It went through a frost overnight. But otherwise, it was doing well.
I have tried the light-dark business and I got an ugly, spindly plant with a few red leaves. It’s a waste of time. These plants are adapted to do great as young plants in a green house dedicated to making them look good just before Xmas and a few weeks thereafter. Unless you live in a warm climate or have a greenhouse, I think you are better off chucking it as soon as it fades.
Plant in ground. Stand by with secateurs and chop back regularly and viciously to stop it taking over your whole block, with red leaves everywhere.
Simple.
Oh. You don’t live in the sub-tropics? In that case, I have no idea.
Poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima (meaning “most beautiful”) are by nature leggy plants. They will cary long branches with few leaves. It is common for them to drop their leaves in fall and winter, which is what mine is doing right now, leaving the red bracts primarily. They are hardy to zones 9A and up. Frost can knock them back, but they tend to send up new shoots from the roots.
The ones you buy in the store have been treated with 14 hours of darkness and 10 hours of light. They need absolute darkness for 14 hours to cause the plant to go into flowering (light initiated). in pots this process should be started in october, and continued each day for 10 weeks. This should ensure the reddening of the bracts (upper leaves)
Coming from a wet summer dry winter region, you should cut water just enough to keep the leaves from wilting (they’ll let you know, they tend to get floppy). Once the leaves fall off of the plant (and this is common for them), reduce watering to a minimum, just enough to keep the soil from going bone dry.
They are useful plants outdoors and can actually be clipped into a hedge if desired. Legginess can be prevented by cutting the stems back to two buds. You should never prune after about August 15th, because after that date they begin forming the flower buds, and you’ll end up cutting off the future flowers and bracts.
Where it gets frosty (meaning your temps drop no lower than about maybe 28F each winter), they should be grown close to walls or the house. If your winters are warmer they can be grown out in the open.
They do need to be fed when grown in pots, because the soils they are grown in for the trade are actually soilless medium and after enough watering nutrients are used up. High nitrogen fertilizers can help the red coloration. Outdoors in the ground they don’t need much care where adapted. Indoors they need to be placed in a bright window. Where it is too dark (and even outside in too much shade) they become scraggly and the flowers and bracts are much reduced.
These are large shrubs in the tropics and can grow over 10 feet tall. I’ve seen some well taken care of specimens and they are an incredible sight!
Here’s an image of one:
