One of my favorite parts about the holiday season are all of the poinsettia bushes–especially when they start blooming! My husband gave me my first poinsettia a few years ago and I’m so thrilled that I’ve kept it alive over the past three holiday seasons.
That’s right–did you know that poinsettia bushes stay alive all year long with the right care? It’s true! Learn about poinsettia care after Christmas with this easy guide of mine. With these tips and tricks, you’ll keep yours alive for years to come!
Poinsettia care after Christmas tips
Unfortunately, your plant will likely drop most of its leaves after the holiday season has wrapped up. Once your plant begins dropping leaves, cut the plant back so that it is only made up of stems. It should be about 4-6 inches tall after you are done with your cutbacks.
Once complete, move your plant to a larger pot. Typically, holiday poinsettias come in plastic pots with some kind of showy wrapping around them. Remove this ASAP and repot to a slightly larger pot with better drainage. Learn how to drill drainage holes here if you don’t already know how.
Light
On average, Poinsettias need at least five hours of indirect every light everyday. And the lighter, the showier the plant leaves and blooms will be. I have my poinsettia in an east-facing window and it seems to really enjoy that location!
Fertilizer
Immediately after the leaves drop from the plants, begin feeding your houseplant with a mixture of diluted houseplant fertilizer every week. YES–this is one of those plants that needs a weekly feeding!
How to get more leaves
Your poinsettia plant should begin producing new leaves a few months after it drops the ones leftover from Christmas. However, you should pinch these off so that there are only 5-6 leaves per plant at a time. Continue pinching new leaves until September, then you can let them grow however they want.
How to get your poinsettia to rebloom
Around the beginning of October, move your poinsettia plant from its window and into a closet or another area of your home where it won’t receive ANY sunlight. Seriously NO sunlight. Poinsettia need around 14 hours of COMPLETE darkness every day in order to rebloom. When you begin to see the top parts of the leaves beginning to darken, you can remove your poinsettia from the closet and put it back into the light–this means your plant is getting ready to rebloom!
Typically, poinsettia plants will bloom in late November and stay blooming until early January.
