has anybody ever tried to keep a poinsettia around for a year (or more?) as a houseplant, then do the light/dark treatment themselves to get the red bracts?
What was your experience with that?
I think I'm going to keep one around this year and give it a shot.
Well good luck. I have never heard of any individual having success. Let us know how you do. The light/dark cycles are a must. Gene
Without very much help from me I had a plant bloom the next year.
It was placed outside all summer and set 2 buds when taken inside in the fall.
The room it was put into had no artificial light at the time.
The 'flowers' were very small - nowhere near the size of the original.
I kept mine from last year. It was in a six in pot when I got it as a gift. I brought it home in June and put it in a larger pot outside. We didn't do anything special to it at all. I just fed it Miracle Grow and this is what happened. It is about 3 feet tall and 3 feet wide.
I'm looking for one of the ruffled or variegated varieties to pick up cheap after the holiday and start the process again for next year.
Coolest...Thing...Ever.
That is just so neat. I never bothered to keep mine after the holidays, but I think I will try to do so this coming year. I can keep the plants in my enclosed porch until spring and then grow them outside. They may never "re-red" (I also have a beautiful variegated one) since I don't think I can truly control lighting in the fall, but it is still worth a try.
Ken
Ken, we never tried to control the light. It was outside on the deck until fall and then in the greenhouse. The natural daylight/dark cycle seems to have done it. I think that might be the trick.
I will know more when next fall/winter rolls around. I neither have the time nor the inclination to protect those plants from light sources next fall.
Ken
I believe you need to keep the Poinsettia in TOTAL darkness from
mid-October to beg. of December for it to turn red. So--about 6 weeks.
You can put a big cardboard box over it or keep it in a dark closet.
Not one bit of light can enter this period. None!
This is just a technicality--but the actual blooms of the Poinsettia are not
the red leaves--but that tiny cluster of green/yellow round thingies in the
middle of the "bloom"...
This is hard to accept--because we all call the beautiful red leaves as the 'bloom'.
So do I.
Another erroneous belief is that Poinsettias are toxic to animals. That is not true either.
A cat or dog would have to eat a huge amount of Poinsettias for it to be lethal.
Mostly, if an animal just nibbled on one, it may throw up. That's it.
Many years ago, I grew a Poinsettia for 2 more years. Never tried to turn it red.
I took it outside for the summer. It was a nice, woody green plant.
Then it died.
Gita
