Plan on reapplying fertilizer about once a month while the plant is in its most active stages of growth. Try this Better Homes & Gardens White Round Ceramic and Wood Planter and Stand Set ($50, Walmart) to add a stylish touch to your display. This image is not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. Its blooms are a cluster of tiny yellow flowers surrounded by large brilliant (usually red) floral bracts, which are modified leaves. Translating these conditions for your home means that the plants like a fairly stable temperature, humid air, well-draining soil, and drier periods during their yearly cycle. Before you even leave the garden center or grocery store, make sure your poinsettia has adequate protection from the cold. And one more benefit to keeping your poinsettia alive beyond the holidays, is that you can take cuttings from the new growth in spring and grow a few brand new poinsettia plants. This will promote side branching and result in a bushier plant. Yes, it requires a bit of effort, so this project might not be for everyone, but its at least worth a try once. Use it to try out great new products and services nationwide without paying full pricewine, food delivery, clothing and more. Choose a new pot about two inches wider and an inch or two deeper than your current pot to give your poinsettias roots room to spread out during the coming fall growing season and help stimulate foliage growth and bloom production. And get more articles on caring for houseplants, right here: Ask the Experts, LLC. When pruning your poinsettia, leave at least 2 fully expanded leaves on each shoot. This is also a good time to repot your poinsettia into something nicer than the nursery pot it came in. 4. She is a Certified Permaculture Designer, holds a Certificate in Native Plant Studies from the University of North Carolina Botanical Gardens, a Landscape for Life certificate through the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the United States Botanic Garden, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in liberal studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. If youve kept the plant outside, be sure to bring it inside long before temperatures fall below 60 at night. And only prune through mid-August since beginning in early fall, your plant will start moving into bract-producing mode. To bring that gorgeous, vibrant color back to your plant, your plant needs approximately 10 weeks of long, dark nights lasting 13-14 hours, and days with 6 hours of bright, indirect sunlight. If it came wrapped in foil or a plastic sleeve, its a good idea to remove all the wrapping around the plant. Water your poinsettia whenever the soil surface feels dry to the touch. Sarah Scott is a fact-checker and researcher who has worked in the custom home building industry in sales, marketing, and design. Buy your poinsettia on a warmer day or wrap it loosely when you make a mad dash to your vehicle. Stop fertilizing around mid-December. Extension Today: Poinsettia Care | OSU Extension This is completely normal. Once the blooms fade, cut the plant back to about eight inches. Did you know you can get expert answers for this article? According to Lisa Eldred Steinkopf, author of Bloom: The Secrets of Growing Flowering Houseplants Year-Round, its the poinsettia. Save yourself the stress of trying to keep your poinsettia alive and compost your tired plant after the holidays. Sure, soaking your poinsettias soil is the best way to quench its thirst, but be sure to pull off the shiny foil wrapper that came tucked around the pot before you water it. If you are dedicated to keeping your indoor plant on a strict schedule for reblooming, it can live for up to two years, quite possibly three, or even longer. The topmost bracts change color with the short days and long nights during the winter. Table 1. We often assume these red leaves are flowers and refer to them as blooms. Poinsettia care: how to keep a poinsettia alive | BBC Gardeners World Uncredited photos: Shutterstock. But after the colorful bracts (leaves) are gone, its a simply a nice, green plant. She was recently named a GardenComm Fellow by Garden Communicators International. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/8\/89\/Revive-a-Dying-Poinsettia-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Revive-a-Dying-Poinsettia-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/8\/89\/Revive-a-Dying-Poinsettia-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/aid1239040-v4-728px-Revive-a-Dying-Poinsettia-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"