Monday, December 7, 2009

Taking care of your poinsettia

Here are some care tips for making sure your poinsettia lasts the season. *Place in a bright area, preferably natural daylight for approximately six hours a day. The lights in your home will do for awhile. Mine are fine on the table or island top through the Christmas season. If you want to keep them into the new year though, moving them to a brighter place would be a good idea. *Place in a room that is no more than 21°C or 70°F during the day and doesn't fall below 18°C or 65°F at night. *Avoid placing plants near drafts, excess heat and dry air from appliances, fireplaces or ventilating ducts. *Keep soil moist but not too wet or too dry. How do you do this? Water thoroughly when the surface of the soil feels dry to the touch. Discard any extra water that the plant may be left sitting in. This can cause root-rot damage. *It's not necessary to fertilize your poinsettias, however, an all purpose houseplant fertilizer wouldn't hurt and could help maintain the lovely green foliage. *There's a rumor going around that poinsettias are poisonous....not true. Experiments were done by The Poisindex® Information Service and they state that a 50 lb. child (or animal) would have to ingest over 500 bracts to reach any toxicity whatsoever. So you can be confident that your beautiful poinsettia will not cause anyone harm. Now you know how to make your poinsettia last through the season, enjoying it to the fullest. ☺
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2 comments:

  1. JoyDecember 8, 2009 at 8:11 AM

    Thank you so much for the tips Lorraine. As you know I have a hard time keeping plants alive.
    This may be a silly question, but I need to know. When you say "thoroughly" and "discard any excess water", does that mean you keep giving it water until I can feel water sitting in the foil liner then dump that?

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  2. Huron RidgeDecember 14, 2009 at 11:08 AM

    You don't need to give it that much to start with. Just give enough to make it moist. If you happen to give it too much though, that's when you need to dump the water out instead of letting the plant sit in it. Sometimes if the soil has gotten too dry, the water runs right through to the bottom and the plant ends up not getting enough. If that happens, leave the water, wait a few hours and see what the plant soaks up and then dump the excess out. Hope that answers your question. ☺

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