hey guys we're back with Diane Avery
who's gonna talk about some home care of
you've got one set is that you've either
just bought her and gifted to you it
were just entering December right so
tell us if you've got it right now at
your house what are the like two or
three things you need to be making sure
you're doing first of all you need to
put it in the sunniest window possible
if you have a south east window or south
window that's gonna give it the most
light because they really are they come
from Mexico they're grown outside and
the full bright hot Sun so they like
that full Sun so first thing put it in a
sunny window if you're gonna have an
event a dinner party you know guests are
coming over and you want to highlight it
on your kitchen table take it away from
the window put it on the table for the
evening
put it back in the sunny window if I
want to keep it okay yeah so I mean
that's the biggie that's a good one and
then watering right that's the other big
salutely so watering poinsettias they're
not crazy about being sopping wet they
don't want to be really really wet but
they want to be watered thoroughly so
what you're gonna do is you're gonna
water it in the sink take it out of the
foil wrapper that typically the ones you
get at Christmas at the retail
establishments coming
take it out of that put it in the sink
thoroughly drenched that media until
it's completely saturation so when you
when you take the root mass out of the
pot it should be dark all the way to the
bottom all the way the bottom roots are
being wet and then you're gonna let it
dry completely out before you wonder we
can water it again so that's the biggie
with poinsettias another thing is when
you transplant them I would put them in
a media that has a lot of rock or gravel
in it that it can drain really well that
way it'll keep you from over watering it
because that's the death to poinsettias
that's too much water there's too much
water and especially with those four
wrappers right if you're watering it and
they're sitting in there that's nice
just gonna write a little Rotty or roots
and they're gonna hate life but very
soon you'll see them start to wilt and
look really crappy but it's because
they're drowning so the other question
that we get a lot of is you can I put it
by a fireplace I would not put it by the
fireplace
even if you're only going to have it on
the fireplace for a night you're gonna
probably sports that plant it's probably
not going to come back but too much heat
even though it could handle the knot as
the sunlight area it's just its babies
it's not gonna be great
yeah that's not gonna be gonna want to
keep it a little bit away from the
fireplace so if a homeowner is wanting
to keep their points that have passed
you know into the new year and keep it
for the next year and try to grow it let
it become bigger color up again what
happens you know we've turned the new
year we're in 2018 now what do you do to
keep that plant alive well the first
thing is keep it in the window and keep
watering it the way I said and then it's
gonna all of these flowers are gonna
fall off all the leaves it's gonna
completely
all the leaves are gonna go no school
and that's normal so by mid February
early March they're gonna be completely
leafless at that point he want to slow
way down on your watering you just want
to water it
you know once every 10 days or so to
keep it alive because it's actually
going dormant it's going through its
dormancy phase in about May once our
temperatures are over 40 degrees I would
cut that plant half its height this one
isn't a good example just because it's a
standard and I've already done that to
it but if you look at one that hasn't
been trimmed yet you can see it's got a
lot of different stems under there
I would trim it right here to the top of
the main stem and then put it outside as
soon as the nights or our daytime
temperatures whatever are not gonna go
below 40 and then put it in the sunniest
spot in your yard and you'll be amazed
at how fast it'll just completely get
big green leaves on it leave it in the
sunniest spot in the yard they can
handle the full hot Sun every single day
I would upgrade it at that point in May
when you put it outside put it in one
size bigger pot make sure you use some
really good drainage materials so that
it drains really well and then be
prepared that in the middle of the
summer when it's really hot and dry
you're gonna have to water that Queen
set every day because they really are
gonna need that much water just to keep
them going and that's if it's in a pot
and that's if it's in well if they put
it in the ground if you put it in the
ground you can water it a little bit
less but if we're in a drought you're
still gonna have to water that thing and
believe me it will start to wilt and
you'll know if it's not happy and needs
a drink okay
so we're going into the fall in the fall
you want to keep it outside all the way
to the bitter end and that bright the
brightest spot in your yard because like
I said they're indigenous to Mexico so
they like that hot bright Sun do that
until it gets the point where our
temperatures are going below 40 and as
soon as they're gonna hit below 40 you
have to bring it in and then put it back
in that sunny window probably it'll be
difficult to have them bloom if you
don't have a lot of sunlight coming on
them through that window and throughout
the year it'll be real hard for them to
actually blend they'll look good they'll
be green but to get Brax and to actually
throw a bloom it's gonna be difficult if
you don't give it a lot of Sun so Suns
gonna be the key and so once you bring
it in and we're talking in this area
that typically would be it's socially in
October in this area and then what do
you have to do for trying to get them to
color at home if you can do a dark
treatment where you're given at 12 hours
of light 12 hours of dark at the end of
September beginning of October that's
gonna throw it into its blooming phase
and do that for about they do that for
about ten days to two weeks right and
then make sure you put it right back in
that sunniest spot in your home and let
them finish there okay and good luck
with that because I mean it's difficult
if you don't have a lot of sunlight
coming in your house
you know and in the winter it's at a
premium sure so we've got an example
here this one is a 3 year old plant
right and so we were just talking that
this can be done right you can continue
bringing back the plants here after a
year and get a big beautiful showy plant
and we you know we talked with other
gardeners and kind of home plant
enthusiasts who do this here in the DC
area right virginia maryland so
definitely take heart if you're one of
those that want to try your hand at it
here are some tips thank you so much
Diane first minute some time with us and
guys we got questions you know what we
have a plant hotline and so send us your
questions and we'd be happy to help out
but maybe try some of these tips and
good luck with your own foot tell you
Thanks