How cold does it get? Do you still have it wrapped in the foil?

optimal temps are 65f nite, 70f day. it does not like higher or lower. it needs sev hours of morning or evening sun. and it drops leaves if it's wet or dry. so avoid both. some leaves will drop no matter what you do - these are temperamental plants. and home conditions differ vastly from nurseries.

Those are almost impossible to keep alive once you bring them home. My mom was an ace at houseplants and even she could not do it. Temperamental is an understatement. Good luck.

Some on this forum have kept these alive and blooming year after year...so it CAN be done.

Christopher

i've kept most of mine yearly until march, then pruned and regrown foliage. then got tired of them and chucked them. it really helps to grow them outdoors with better light in summer.
i've scored exceptionally pretty pink hybrid with euphorbia cornastra this year. and i've got pretty close to optimal, except my temps are in 72-75F range, and they are still dropping bracts some.
most people would be happy to just keep the bracts for a month or so, but i think it's keeping the bracts from dropping that is the hardest part. aside from rebloom that is :).

This post was edited by petrushka on Mon, Dec 30, 13 at 13:55

Hi
I grow them in pots but outdoors. The red, flowered before
TG white was right on schedule They are very easy to grow here but tend to grow too big, break easily and are susceptible to caterpillars
I suspect the reason they are difficult to grow in the house is from fluctuating temps and low light levels??
Have seen them used as a shrub but never had luck with that method probably due to my lousy soil?? lol
They can be fantastic Bonsai but is a LOT of work gary

gary, i'm sitting in balmy miami right now :) together with my 'pink babies'. curious,how yours are doing outside in hot 80's temps?
i thought they did not like the heat - so i am keeping them indoors. they are still developing new pink bracts, but dropping some older every day. just won't stop.
am experimenting - just put them outside overnite, since it's cooling of a bit. the production guides indicate 65-70F.
how do yours pull thru the summer?
and one more: since yours are outside, do they get totally dark in the fall , or they get some street/house light? is it true that they won't color unless total darkness is achieved?
i read somewhere that even with some nite light they will color, but later, in january.

Hi
All my poinsettias are ghosts of Christmas past Wife brings them home and I can't let them die yet i don't keep up the feeding and pruning during the year. so end up with leggy lopsided plants . i believe the oldest is around 10 and has colored every year except this year it colored around halloween and was done flowering around thanks giving while the white colored right on cue and is still in full flower and color
My garden is mostly deep shade but the P's are in the east part which does get direct sun in am only They go through summer well except for a couple of years when the entire garden went underwater lol .
often hear of the "total ' darkness rule but whatever they have never failed to color . i also keep C. cactus in the same area and one is almost in full flower while another failed ??
The red poinsettia was used as a gymnasium by a squirrel so most of the floral heads are broken off but regrowth has started so maybe this year will keep up the pruning??.
have seen a lot used as landscape plants in Miami Dade area while in Palm beach not so much. They will grow into trees and are spectacular
Often hear about them being "finicky " but haven't found that to be the case??
i uderstand the so called "valentine " type is a hybriid between two different species . Noted some at HD so obviously they maintained the winter flowering.
Sorrry I couldn't be of more help they are so cheap and common i don't give them the attention they deserve!!! gary

good to know that heat is OK!
i've thanksgiving cactus that blooms by the western window ev,year, even though there is light from the street. but a lot of sites say that it needs complete darkness too. mine never had it and never will. so may be i'll try to rebloom poinsettia too... some day. if it survives till spring that is :).
happy new year!

Looks like mrs803 may not come back to this...rhizo asked the two most important questions right out of the gate and they haven't been answered. I have 18 and 13 year old plants and unless your house is below 60F, cold isn't a factor. As mine go through their photoperiod in my basement they are at 60F for the last month. Prior to being put in the basement they will often see 45F while outside. My only leaf loss comes when I forget to water them. Overwatering will do the same thing, so likely one of those two are the cause. Cold may enter into it if when transporting them home they were exposed to sub 30F temps

tj

I really disagree with john 's assessment of these plants. They are really very easy to grow all year round as long as you aren't intent on abusing them, lol.

Keeping them nice and stocky, then getting them to rebloom is a challenge but not an impossible one.

They're easy to keep looking good.

Temperatures which are comfortable to us ... are comfortable to them.

Water sparingly ... you can kill them with too much. I usually wait until I see slight signs of wilting and then I'll give them maybe a cup of water.

DO NOT feed them. If you feed them, they will drop their
bracts and grow new foliage. Starve them ... and they keep their bracts.

Most non-negotiable point ... they need good sunlight/fluorescent light exposure.

When they drop leaves/bracts, it's mostly because they're not getting enough light.

I've kept them looking good in to early summer. I've seen them looking glorious in windows at Easter.

I don't attempt to re-bloom them. You can always get better-looking plants from professional growers than you can grow yourself.

This post was edited by aegis500 on Sat, Jan 4, 14 at 9:07

"You can always get better-looking plants from professional growers than you can grow yourself."

Not always. Besides, getting there is half the fun. ;-)

My 4 foot tall 13 year old.

{{gwi:69360}}

tj

hey everyone! i am so sorry for the 3 month later response. I couldn't find out how to find all my posts so I finally typed in my user name and found it.. do you guys know how to see your posts once you post them? like is there a my post section? Its still really cold here except for a few days recently, my house gets about 50 degrees at night (its really old) around christmas time, I won a pointsettia at work when I post pictures it will be the smallest one. The two bigs ones my dad found at work in the garbage so they were a little shocked when I got them. For the most part the smaller one is doing fine and its leaves are still red but the biggers ones lost a lot of leaves but now the one plant has so many new baby leaves its amazing! the one big one has no signs of new growth yet however. I keep them in my room by a window but not completely close to it and although there are drafts slightly they seem to not be that affected. I have them close but not to close to the window and they get sun the whole time until the sun sets in the evening. For a while i found it hard to keep the watering under control but now I think I figured it out but any tips like how long between days or what the soil should feel like before watering again would be appreciated. The foil has been removed from the pots and i have them sitting in a saucer type thing to remove the excess water if there is any. The pictures I took here are not where I keep them I just moved them to get a better shot. Hopefully they will stay healthy!

here is one of the parts that has baby leaves

this is the second plant

and finally the smaller one