hey guys how's it going today i want to
talk about poinsettia plants because
we're seeing a lot of them this time of
year i just want to talk about like how
to pick out the best one how to keep
them looking really nice but before i
get into any of that information i did
want to address how to pronounce the
word poinsettia because you might hear
it one of two ways you might hear
poinsettia and you might hear poinsettia
i do think it's regional i grew up
saying poinsettia i know a lot of people
from the midwest say poinsettia there is
an i in the word but i think over time
the eye has kind of been dropped the
dictionary actually lists both
pronunciations as being proper
so there you go i just wanted to talk
about that first poinsettias are a type
of euphorbia native to mexico so a very
warm humid tropical type environment and
it's kind of funny that we've adopted
them to be kind of a traditional holiday
plant which is the coldest time of the
year for most of us here in the united
states
but in their native climate that's the
time of year that they start to color up
and look beautiful like this and what we
think of as poinsettia flowers are
actually not flowers at all they're
modified leaves called bracks
that when they're given the right light
conditions they color up like this
beautifully and they help attract
pollinators to their actual blooms which
are very tiny and clustered right in the
middle in the center of all the bracks
and there are a lot of different
varieties of points that i think i read
somewhere that there's over a hundred
different varieties i'm not just plain
old red and white but there's all kinds
of pinks maroon purple there's
multicolored there's poinsettias with
variegated leaves like this one here
there's also different sizes just like
in all your other plant
areas like in shrubs and stuff you'll
find shrubs that are a dwarf and some
that get really large same goes for
poinsettias and some have different
shaped blooms so i want to break the
rest of this video up into three
different sections the first section i
want to talk about how to pick out the
best poinsettia what to look for second
section is how to keep it looking it's
best as a seasonal plant and then the
third section is how to take care of it
year round if you're going to try to
keep it and get it to bloom the
following year so first step is how to
pick out the best poinsettia now there
are some obvious things you want to take
a look at the plant make sure it's nice
and full it's not leggy make sure that
all the leaves look firm not wilted that
they're not damaged you also want to
take a look at the top layer of bracts
surrounding the blooms if they're not
fully colored up and there's still some
green in there your plant will start
losing its color really quickly after
you bring it home you also want to take
a look at those blooms clustered in the
center if they've already started to
fall off then you know your plant isn't
fresh you want to avoid buying any
poinsettia that's been displayed in a
drafty area like near a door i cringe
when i go into some box stores and you
know that lobby in between the front
door and the main door to the store like
where the carts are kept oftentimes
you'll see a huge display of seasonal
plants points out as this time of year
and those plants are just getting
blasted by hot air from where the carts
are being kept and then they're getting
huge drafts of cold air as the front
door opens and closes all day long so
it's very likely that you pick one of
those plants out and take home they'll
start dropping their leaves right away
so when you do find one that has been
displayed in a proper area you will want
to make sure that whoever is checking
you out puts a sleeve around the
poinsettia or ask for a separate bag so
you can kind of put it over the top
because you'll want to make sure to
protect your plant from the trip from
the store to your car and then the car
into your home you don't want to subject
it to any extra cold temperatures in
this next section i want to talk to you
about how you can keep your poinsettias
looking the best throughout the holiday
season and blooming and beautiful most
people only keep them as a seasonal
plant because they're inexpensive to
replace and to get them to bloom the
following year is a super fussy process
that most people don't want to mess with
so here are my five tips the first one
is light exposure you want to put your
poinsettia in a very bright location so
like a southwest or east facing window
is perfect you just want to make sure if
you have them near a window that their
leaves are not touching the glass
because the glass can get quite cold
even if the ambient temperature in the
room is nice and if those leaves touch
that cold window they can be damaged and
start to fall off the second thing is
temperature so poinsettias like temps
like we do so somewhere between 65 and
75 degrees again they do not want to be
in an area that's drafty so no
putting them near doorways or near air
registers because that can make their
leaves fall off prematurely the third
thing is watering and you want to make
sure to water your poinsettia when the
top layer of soil dries out which could
mean something a little bit different
for all of us we heat with wood in our
house which makes the air very dry so i
find that i'm watering a little bit more
often and the winter months tend to be
drier anyway so we're probably going to
be watering these a little bit more than
we would at other times of the year they
also do not want to be sitting in any
standing water very few plants like that
so you want to make sure that if your
poinsettia comes in this decorative foil
sleeve that you slip the bottom
or cut holes in it so the water has a
chance to escape so what i like to do is
when that top layer of soil dries out
i'll water it very thoroughly until the
water is running out the bottom and then
i'll let it sit in its saucer for just a
few minutes so that water has a chance
to all drain out and then i'll pour out
the remainder and you want to be pretty
hands-on with your poinsettia during the
holiday season if you want them to keep
looking like this so maybe finger test
the soil for moisture because if you let
them dry out too much and they wilt even
a little bit that can cause their leaves
to drop off prematurely as well the
fourth tip is to provide humidity if you
can because these are tropical plants
that come from a human environment they
really benefit from extra moisture in
the air so if you can remember to miss
them maybe on a daily basis or every
other day they would really benefit from
that you can also place them near a
humidifier and i know that's not always
practical
because we don't have humidifiers all
around our house you can put them where
you've got other house plants grouped
because wherever you've got several
houseplants they kind of create their
own microclimate which means a little
bit more humidity in the air the fifth
thing i wanted to talk about was the
toxicity of poinsettias because i feel
like they have a really bad reputation
as being a really poisonous toxic plant
when they are not they are only mildly
poisonous and you would have to eat a
tremendous amount of the leaves in order
to even get an upset stomach
and i've heard a lot that they're toxic
to pets i actually worked at a vet
clinic for five and a half years never
once had an animal brought in because of
a poinsettia overdose i mean we saw the
normal things like a dog got into the
chocolate bag or ate a bunch of onions
or grapes that sort of thing but never
points at us the biggest issue with
these is because they're a type of
euphorbia if you accidentally break one
of the branches or fold a leaf in half
those open wounds can ooze kind of a
white
sap and if that sap gets on your skin it
can cause an itchy rash which is not a
serious thing it will go away but that
is the biggest issue with poinsettias of
course you can play it safe keep them
out of the reach of pets or kids which
you probably want to do anyway because
you don't want them to be knocked down
onto the ground and make a mess and have
your plant all broken up the last part
of this video i want to talk about
year-round care of this plant and how
you can get it to rebloom the following
season i know most of you probably won't
care about this section because most of
you won't be tackling this and you can
find a lot more detailed information if
you look online there's a lot of really
good guides but i thought i would just
go through and give you a brief month by
month schedule of what you should be
doing with your plants so from january
through march it's really easy you just
want to maintain your regular watering
schedule the colorful bracks on the top
will start to fade and will eventually
start falling off your plant
at that point you can start fertilizing
and you just want to use just a
well-balanced fertilizer i grabbed some
this is espoma's indoor fertilizer this
would work great just use the
recommended rates on the bottle every
two weeks in spring around mid-march to
the beginning of april you want to start
gradually decreasing how much water
you're giving your plant you want to do
it very gradually though because you do
not want to get your plant to the point
of wilting and about two weeks after you
start that process you want to move your
plant to a cooler spot somewhere right
around 60 degrees in mid-may you're
going to want to cut your plant back
because by this point it's probably not
looking that great you're probably
dealing with some legginess it's
probably lost some leaves you may even
have some bare branches and by cutting
it back you'll stimulate a bunch of new
growth so i like to take mine down by
about half some people say you can take
them down to about four to six inches
but it will depend just depending on
what size of poinsettia you have and
after you're done cutting it back you'll
want to repot your poinsettia now i'm
not doing any of these steps right now
because obviously we're right in the
middle of the holiday season and these
plants are looking gorgeous but i did
grab some supplies just to show you what
i would use you would just want to use a
regular potting mix
and then you would want to just bump up
each points at it one pot size so i
brought this pot up to show you so like
this four inch poinsettia right here i
would bump it up just slightly into this
six inch container right here and that
would be perfect you'll also want to put
your poinsettia back in a warmer spot
that gets a lot of light and then once
nighttime temperatures stay above 50
outside which for us is usually the end
of may beginning of june
you can safely display them outside they
actually thrive and do wonderfully
outside if you can put them in a spot
that gets really strong morning light
but protected in the afternoon you
certainly don't have to do that you can
keep it inside all year round if you
want to so by sometime in july or early
august you'll notice a whole bunch of
new growth on your plant so you'll want
to pinch it back at least one time
pinching back is really easy you just
want to pinch all those new stems down
by maybe an inch or two and that will
encourage your plant to grow more side
shoots more bushy growth and so you'll
have a nice full plant now you can pinch
it up to three times like june july and
august if it's growing like crazy but
keep in mind that the more you pinch it
the smaller the bracks will be when the
plant starts to color up in september
you want to bring your poinsettias back
inside if they've been displayed outside
for the summer once the nights get a
little bit longer and a little bit
cooler put them back in a warm spot that
gets lots of light continue watering
normally but at this point you'll want
to start reducing the amount of
fertilizer you give them so either
fertilize with half strength or just
fertilize them half as often so that's
all pretty easy and it fits in with a
lot of our regular maintenance for our
other potted plants because you know
we're doing lots of grooming repotting
watering fertilizing that's all really
normal but toward the end of september
beginning of october is when the real
work begins for these because
poinsettias are what's called a short
day plant and what that means is that
they need to be subjected in a 24 hour
period to 12 to 15 hours of 100
complete darkness and then the remaining
hours can be regular light for eight to
ten weeks in order to color up and bloom
like this so we have to create those
conditions for this plant if they're
exposed to any light and i'm talking
like a little sliver of light underneath
a door or car headlights if they're
exposed to any light during that 12 to
15 hours that will delay their bloom
time so from about september 21st to
october 1st you need to start creating
these conditions for your poinsettia so
you want to put it in darkness from
about 5 pm to 8 am you can put it in a
sealed off closet where you know nobody
is going to be opening the door and no
light gets in you could also leave your
plant right where it sits in your home
just find an opaque box where no light
can get in and no light can get under it
and just put it over the top of your
plant that's probably the easiest way so
you're not you know putting your plant
in and out of a closet because that's
what it takes every morning at 8 am you
have to either go get your plant out of
a closet or take the box off the top so
it can still get regular light and you
want to continue watering and
fertilizing at half strength during this
process so at least that doesn't change
that stays routine and then about mid to
late november the process should be done
you'll start noticing flower buds form
the bracks will start coloring up really
nicely at that point you can bring your
plant back out you can stop the whole
dark treatment
and then you want to stop fertilizing at
that point and then you can just enjoy
your poinsettia by following the five
tips i gave you earlier on in the video
and then you can start the whole process
again if you want to try to get it to
bloom the next year so that's it you
guys i hope you found this video helpful
and interesting and i hope it helps you
keep your poinsettias looking amazing
throughout the whole season
thanks so much for watching and we'll
see you in the next one bye
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