How do I get my poinsettia to re-bloom? I normally get this question after Christmas but I just had a question today about how to get a poinsettia to bloom for Christmas.
If you saved your poinsettia from last year, it is time to start thinking about the re-blooming process. By now you should bring your plant back indoors if it has been outside over the summer. Continue to provide bright light and keep the soil in the pot moist.
In early October you should begin to provide different treatments during the day and night. During the day you should provide bright light and a temperature between 70-80˚. During the night you need complete, uninterrupted dark and a temperature between 65-70˚. The plant needs this uninterrupted dark in order to produce the colored bracts. Keep the plant in a closet or other completely dark location from 5pm till 8am each night.
Continue this schedule till around Thanksgiving when the bracts begin to develop color and then discontinue the day/night treatments. At this time it is important to provide at least 6-8 hours of high intensity light until the bracts are completely colored. Once this happens you can move the plant to the location where you want to display it for the holidays.
I usually tell people to not even try to re-bloom poinsettias because it is much easier to simply buy a new one each year. But if you must try, I hope this helps and let me know if you are successful.
3 comments:
Very interesting. Thank you for the information.
Thanks so much for your posting. I have one I kept outside this summer and wanted to at least try to get it to bloom again. Your instructions were a big help.I will try it, nothing lost in the trying I guess ;-)
Re-blooming is more labour of love than simply going, buying and using a poinsettia. Thanks for the tips on re-blooming.
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