Poinsettia care - one year old poinsetta

I just brought home a large (about 3' tall and probably 4' around) poinsettia that's lived at our office for about a year. It was a gift from someone we work with and came from their nursery. It's in reasonably good shape with new top growth, but lately it's had some leaf drop. I know it needs new potting mix at the very least and probably a larger pot, but I need to control its growth a little. Do poinsettias tolerate pruning? I don't want to drastically cut it back, but I'd like to even it out and maybe encourage it to branch a little more - the bottom third to one-half of the stems are a little bare. I'll also need to prune the roots a bit if it goes back in the same pot, I'm sure, but I suspect it has too much topgrowth for that.

And no, I'm not overly interested in blooming it again, although it does have some red leaves just from getting the shorter days naturally. (Our office is in an old farmhouse, so there are windows, and it was in the conference room where it got morning sun and afternoon light.) I've just become rather fond of it after caring for it for a year, and I'd like to give it a chance to keep doing well.

You can prune it back hard in a few months. When the colored leaves start to shrivel up go ahead and prune it back half way down. In a few weeks NEW leaves will grow.

To add to Tommy's advice---

Poinsettias do not, easily, re-bloom as houseplants.
They require q strict regiment of light and dark times to do so. Like--14hrs, a day of total dark.

Poinsettias can be great plants in your garden though. They will grow into nice, green, woody plants.
Getting them to "bloom" again is difficult...SO--just enjoy them as green garden plants....

Cutting back in spring is, certainly, OK.
To me--it is NOT worth the time and effort to have them re-bloom.
You can buy a new, fresh Poinsettia in the Holiday season for $6.00 WHY bother with the re-blooming schedule????
Unless you have a greenhouse or a sun-room that can be shaded--it is NOT worth it...

Gita

I'm not even going to try to rebloom it. I think the only reason it did this year was because it was in our conference room, which gets daytime sun but isn't typically used at night.

Right now I have to find a pot, though. It's outgrown a 10" pot and the biggest ones I could find at Lowes were eight inches. Off to Home Depot tomorrow...

Sparrow---

maybe you can talk someone at Lowes into giving you a large, black pot when they are throwing out plants....
I get many of my pots (all sizes) that way--but, of course, I work at HD.

HD has fairly inexpensive, plastic pots in Outside garden. They come in clay color or greens. or light gray.
They also have matching saucers.
No need to buy expensive ceramic pots.....

Gita

It’s important to pinpoint the possible cause in the event that your poinsettia plant leaves are falling off, as in some cases, this can be easily fixed. Environmental factors, such as warm, dry conditions, are most often the reason for leaf drop. Stress can also be a factor. Keep the plant in a cool, draft-free area and provide plenty of water. If all else fails, the plant may need to be discarded.

The leaf drop wasn't severe - just a few of the lower leaves. It's stopped dropping and is putting out new ones at the top now as well.

I think it dried out a little too much the weekend before brought it home. Someone turned the heat up to 75F and forgot to turn it back before they left that Friday, so it got kind of warm in there.

Just an update - I repotted it in a nursery pot (that once held a small tree!) and it's thriving. I'll get a picture of it this weekend to post. I can't believe how many red leaves it's putting out just from being in a room that got natural day length and not a lot of light (but not total darkness by a long shot) at night. It could use some shaping this summer, but it's still a handsome fella.

Out of the eight small ones I rescued from our holiday event, two are doing well, one's doing okay and the others didn't recover from being cold-shocked, overwatered and wrapped in foil. I always feel bad for holiday plants. So many of them are doomed...