Poinsettia: Essential Care For Flowering

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Poinsettia or euphorbia, the most beautiful in many homes, has already become a traditional decoration for New Year's festivities. And all thanks to the fact that the flowering time of this plant falls in the period from December to February. However, it is valued not so much for its flowers, which have a rather inconspicuous appearance, but for its bright bracts, the shape of which inspired the emergence of another poetic name - the Christmas star

Original color of poinsettia

Currently, there are a large number of poinsettia varieties with different colors of bracts - not only a deep red hue, but also raspberry, pink, white, there are even two-color ones. Most often, they are sold precisely in such a bright blooming form, or with tiny buds still unopened, but already colored top, which retains its original shade for three to four months.

However, often after that, once in our homes, it is difficult to achieve flowering. What kind of care must be provided for the milkweed so that it will continue to delight with its festive decorative look?

The most beautiful spurge requires annual pruning

First of all, you should know that poinsettia blooms on young shoots. To do this, make a short cut. In addition to new shoots, this contributes to good branching of the bush, and it grows more luxuriant.

After a long flowering, the beautiful Euphorbia often sheds its leaves, which has lost a lot of strength. This is the best time to do a radical pruning. As a rule, this procedure is carried out in March. A pair of buds are left on the flower. The length of the shoots remaining on the main stem after pruning should not exceed 10 cm. Strong pruning will stimulate the emergence of new strong young shoots.

After pruning, the plant needs a special maintenance regime. Watering the nutrient substrate is minimized. After a month or two, more frequent moistening of the soil is resumed, top dressing is carried out.

Irrigation technology has its own characteristics. Moistening the soil is carried out immediately with an abundant volume of water, but the next one is done only after the earthen lump dries out enough. The Christmas star does not like moisture stagnation. With such care, new shoots will not be long in coming.

The important role of flower lighting

Many budding growers are unaware of the fact that poinsettia belongs to the short-day plant group. If you do not provide her with conditions of detention, in which the daytime will be shorter than the night, the formation of flower buds on the shoots can not wait. It is difficult to fulfill such conditions in the fall in houses and apartments, but it is possible.

To do this, in the room where the flower is kept, artificial lighting is not turned on until dusk, until the pot with the plant is hidden from the light - be it an opaque hood, a box or a niche in the pantry. It is advisable to hide it an hour or two before it gets completely dark outside the window.

It is also necessary to get the spurge from its opaque shelter some time after the moment the sun rises. And then provide him with a place in the most well-lit corner of the house. When it is cloudy outside the window, which often happens in autumn, it is necessary to supplement the foliage. Therefore, it is good when there is a lamp nearby. The brightness of the color of the bracts directly depends on this.

Choose the right fertilizer

Unlike other flowers that do not require fertilizing in winter, poinsettia needs fertilization. Top dressing continues both in the budding phase and during the flowering of the Christmas star.

However, it is very important to choose exactly the composition that will not inhibit flowering. Therefore, you need to carefully study the packaging so that the composition must contain phosphorus and potassium. If in a specialized store there is no packaging for feeding poinsettia, organo-mineral products for cacti, aloe, Kalanchoe may be suitable.