I bought my Mum and Dad a Pointsetta last christmas from a supermarket and amazingly my mum has kept it ailve and it is thrving there is lots of new growth from the past 12 months and it is a lot bigger, the only problem is it is not turning red, is there anything we should be doing to encourage it to show off its wonderful colours it is all green at the moment, my mum heard on the radio you should be looking to throw them away in March time but it looks so healthy and happy she obviously doesnt want to do this we would just like to see if we can get the colours to come out, it is on a bright draft free windowsill and watered when needed.
Pointsettas turn red when they receive less light. The ones you see in the stores are conditioned to 16+ hours of darkness. Try moving it away from light (sunlight and artificial) for some days and see how it responds.
Basscadet is right a poinsettia needs at least 12 hours of darkness each day to form the red 'flowers'. The real flowers on this plant are tiny insignificant little things and the red 'blooms' are actually the top leaves.
ah right thank you no wonder they wont turn! thats great at least we know what we are doing wrong I passed the message on and im sure we can try keeping it dark.
I have always heard to place them in a closet or really dark place in October. That should insure a bright red poinsettia come December!
I admire people who manage to keep their poinsettias for more than one week. Ours just sigh and die, so we're not having any this year.
I wish I had known all of the above advice when I had my poinsettia (it is the one pictured on my post in the Christmas card thread). It was given to me by a good friend just a few months before she died after a long battle with cancer. I thought it was not going to bloom any more so I got rid of it :'( Never mind, I still have the photo to remind me of her
