Euphorbia Pulcherrima (Poinsettia) #107

Orion_metalhead

Orion_metalhead

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Got this a couple years back when my boss purchased a bunch for the office. I recently cut it back hard. Needs some further refinement and thinning this summer when it gets back outside in the yard.

Its in a @HorseloverFat pot.

20240425_122458.jpg
 
Are you doing the complete darkness on this to get the red bracts this winter? I have one I'm playing with & put it in complete darkness today from 5pm - 8am, until I see red.
 
Honestly i havent messed with it to get the red leaves/bracts.
 
FYI, clip and grow is the preferred way to style these. They don’t wire easily. Branches tend to snap rather than bend. Even if you do manage to bend a branch successfully without snapping, there’s a fine line between leaving the wire on long enough to set the branch and it leaving an ugly scar because it dug in just a little bit but that was enough to compromise the integrity of the hollow tubular structure inside the branch.
 
I have been clip and grow on this so far. It probably can use another clipping.
 
There are so many different ones to choose from these days, that I may try it again if I can make space. I had a more dwarf variety some years ago that I kept for 3 years. The leaves were only about 2 - 2-1/2 inches long. It was starting to ramify nicely. It turned reliably red bracts late season every year I had it. It was kept under plant lights all this time and when the lights were out it must have been dark enough in one of my basement garden areas for it to thrive and do its thing. But I would never say it was pitch black.
 
This is just a hypothesis and I haven't read anything about poinsettias in like, forever, but I believe poinsettias grown today are easier to bring to bloom than those of my childhood. I remember about 40-45 years ago they talked about the sensitivity to unwanted light, but the experience I have had over the past several years appears to contradict that earlier notion. Of course all our plants then were red and large, quite different from offerings today. As they are hybridized for plant size, leaf shape and size, color etc., it stands to reason that growers would propagate those that are easiest to color up.
 
The flowers on this were fading, and it was soooo large... so I did what any self-respecting bonsaist would do: cut it all back to nothing to start over again. Should see this completely flush back out no problem in a few weeks.

Before:
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20250122_000913.jpg

After:
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What percentage of roots did you take when you repotted this? I'm planning on repotting mine in the near future.
 
Maybe 50% max now... My initial reduction was maybe 60%... They seem to root no problem like other succulents. I just didnt hold back water.
 
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