How to grow poinsettias well? A detailed guide to the latest growing methods

Poinsettia is also known as ivory red, Christmas flower, Christmas red, monkey tree, etc. It is a shrub plant of the genus Euphorbia in the Euphorbiaceae family, native to the Taxco region of Mexico in Central America. It is now widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions, and is cultivated in most provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China, commonly seen in parks, botanical gardens, and greenhouses for ornamental viewing. Now let us take a look at how to grow poinsettias best!

Benefits of growing poinsettia

1. Ornamental value: The poinsettia has graceful branches and leaves, bright flower colors, and a long flowering period. It blooms right around Christmas, New Year's Day, and Spring Festival. Its brilliant red color adds a festive atmosphere. During holidays, arranging poinsettias in patterns for ornamental display has a very good effect.

2. Home decoration: Apart from arranging beautiful furniture and some furnishings in the home, if potted flowers, bonsai, and cut flowers can be used as indoor decorations, it will have a more unique flavor. It can not only bring a strong sense of life to the room, but also make people feel pleased and relaxed. The poinsettia's unique and gorgeous red bracts are eye-catching and attractive. When decorating a windowsill, balcony, or study, it spreads red and displays green, charming and moving.

3. Feng shui effect: The poinsettia has brilliant colors. Because it blooms during New Year's Day and Spring Festival, it carries the beautiful meaning of universal celebration and jointly welcoming new life. At this time, using it to decorate places such as the home living room can easily bring good luck to family members in feng shui.

4. Medicinal value: Poinsettia is cool in nature and bitter and astringent in taste. It has the functions of regulating menstruation and stopping bleeding, activating blood and resolving phlegm, and setting bones and reducing swelling. It mainly treats excessive menstruation, wind-cold cough, traumatic injuries, external bleeding, fractures, and traumatic swelling and pain. Selecting an appropriate amount of poinsettia can treat functional uterine bleeding, and it also has a certain therapeutic effect on traumatic swelling and pain.

How does poinsettia propagate?

1. Semi-hardwood cuttings: Poinsettia semi-hardwood cuttings are mostly carried out from March to May in spring, generally when the temperature is above 15°C. When taking cuttings, cut a one-year-old woody or semi-woody branch about 10 cm long, remove the leaves and branch tip from the cutting, and cut the base incision into a slanted surface close to the node. Dip it in plant ash, wait for the cut to dry, then insert it into fine sand. After insertion, water thoroughly, keep the temperature at 22-24°C, and roots can form after 20 days.

2. Softwood cuttings: When the current year's branches of poinsettia grow to 6-8 leaves, take a 6-8 cm long section of young shoot with 3-4 nodes, cut it flat below the node, remove the large leaves at the base, and immediately put it into clean water to prevent the milky sap from flowing out, then insert it for cuttings. After cutting, ensure the young stem and leaves remain moist, and take shading measures. For most varieties of softwood cuttings, roots can form in 14-18 days.

3. Old root cuttings: For poinsettias cultivated for many years, the roots can also be used to propagate new plants. This is because in March and April of spring, when poinsettias are moved out, a repotting and soil change planting must be carried out to supplement the nutrients in the potting soil and to trim the stems and roots.

4. Layering propagation: Layering propagation is a propagation method in which branches close to the ground are pressed down into the soil, and higher branches have the cut parts wrapped with moist materials such as moss. After they take root, they are separated from the mother plant and planted to form new plants. After layering, poinsettia generally grows roots in about two months. At this time, it can be cut off and planted in a pot to form a new plant. The best time for layering is from April to July.

How to grow poinsettia?

1. Soil mixing: Poinsettia cultivation is best with loose, fertile, well-drained sandy soil. For potting soil, a mixture of culture soil, leaf mold, and sand is best. Generally, poinsettia cultivation uses 3 parts vegetable garden soil, 3 parts humus soil, 3 parts leaf mold, and 1 part decomposed cake fertilizer, with a small amount of cinder added and mixed for use.

2. Temperature: Poinsettia likes warmth and is not cold-tolerant. Its suitable growth temperature is 18-25°C, from April to September it is 18-24°C, and from September to the following April it is 13-16°C. In mid-to-late September each year, poinsettia should be brought indoors for care, and ventilation should be strengthened so the plant gradually adapts to the indoor environment. In winter, the room temperature should be kept at 15-20°C. If the winter temperature is too low, it easily causes poor development of poinsettia flowers and leaves.

3. Light: Poinsettia is a short-day plant and likes sufficient light. It is strongly phototropic, and there should be sufficient light throughout the year, especially during the stem and leaf growth period, so it can grow rapidly and luxuriantly. If light is insufficient, branches are prone to spindly growth and disease. If placed in a dark place for a long time, it will not bloom and will lose leaves in winter. If you want to make it bloom earlier or later, you can control the light by giving 8 hours of light per day, and it can bloom in 40 days.

4. Fertilization: Poinsettia likes fertile sandy soil. When potting and repotting, add organic fertilizer and horsetail slices as base fertilizer. During the growth and flowering period, apply a liquid fertilizer of fully decomposed sesame paste residue diluted 5 times once every 10-15 days. After autumn begins, a 0.3% compound chemical fertilizer can also be applied once a week for 3 to 4 consecutive times to promote bract color change and flower bud differentiation in poinsettia.

5. Watering: Poinsettia is neither drought-tolerant nor moisture-tolerant. Water control is directly related to the growth and development of poinsettia. Watering poinsettia should be flexibly controlled according to the weather, potting soil, and plant growth conditions. Generally, watering should keep the potting soil moist but not waterlogged. Alternating dry and wet conditions can easily cause yellowing and falling leaves. After poinsettia blooms, watering should be reduced.

6. Shaping: Poinsettia goes dormant around Qingming Festival. At this time, it should be repotted, old roots and diseased and weak branches should be cut off to make it sprout new branches. During the growth process, pinching should be done twice, the first in late June and the second in mid-August. When poinsettia branches grow to 20-30 cm, begin shaping and bending so the plant shape is shorter, the flower heads are neat and evenly distributed, thereby improving its ornamental value. During cultivation, plant growth regulators need to be used to dwarf the plant height to meet the requirement of consistent height for commercial flowers.

7. Pests and diseases: During greenhouse cultivation, poinsettia is highly susceptible to pests and diseases such as gray mold, root rot, stem rot, and leaf spot. In usual care, attention should be paid to more ventilation, frequent loosening of the soil, and control of fertilizer and water to prevent pests and diseases. If pests and diseases have already occurred, corresponding measures should be taken for prevention and control, such as spraying corresponding agents to eliminate them.