How to get your Poinsettia to Rebloom
If you want to grow your poinsettia throughout the year and force reblooming for the next holiday season, you must follow a very specific process throughout the year. Achieving rebloom is not easy, so don't be disheartened if you don't succeed on your first try. Follow this schedule for best results:
December to Early Spring
Water your holiday poinsettias, keeping them moist but not soaked. Then, starting in early spring, do the following:
- Gradually decrease waterings, allowing the soil to dry out between waterings. Be careful that the stem of your poinsettia does not begin to shrivel—this is a sign the plant is too stressed and is dying.
- In a week or two, when the plant has acclimated to this drying process, move it to a cool spot, such as the basement or a heated garage. Keep the temperature around 15 degrees Celsius.
May
In mid-May, do the following:
- Cut the stems back to about four inches and repot your poinsettia into a slightly larger container filled with new potting soil.
- Water well and place the newly potted plant in front of the brightest window you have, and once again keep it at a temperature of 18 to 23 degrees Celsius.
- Continue watering whenever the surface of the soil feels dry and watch for new growth.
- Once new growth appears, begin fertilizing every two weeks with a complete fertilizer.
Summer
Come summer, move your potted poinsettia to a bright filtered light location.
- In early July, pinch back each stem by about one inch to encourage a stout, well-branched plant. If left unpinched, the poinsettia will grow tall and spindly.
- By mid-August, the stems should have branched and leafed out. Once again, pinch or cut the new stems, leaving three to four leaves on each shoot. Bring the plant indoors and place it near your brightest window.
October
Poinsettias are short-day plants, meaning their bud set is affected by the length of daylight. To rebloom, poinsettias need about 10 weeks with 12 to 14 hours of absolute darkness per day. You will have to artificially create these conditions and remain diligent. At the very start of October, do the following:
- Keep your plant in complete darkness from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m.—any exposure to light will delay blooming.
- Use an opaque box or other material to block out all light, including artificial light. Many people place their plants in a closet, but if any light gets through cracks or if you open and use the closet, the exposure to light will affect the bud set.
- Move the plant back to the bright filtered window during the daytime and continue watering and fertilizing.
November and December
About the last week of November, stop the darkness treatment and allow the plant to remain near the window. You should see flower buds at this point. Stop fertilizing around mid-December. Keep watering and treat your plant the way you did when you first brought it home in bloom. If all has gone well, bracts should begin to show color.
