poinsetta advice

thebourke

I recently got a poinsetta plant...does it need to be watered every day?

What about when the leaves disappear...can you plant it outside...do the leaves come back next year?

Reckless Abandonment

Enjoy it over Christmas then put it in the compost bin. :)

Honestly I've always found them tricky to keep alive.

looksee

You don't need to water it every day, depending on the room it is in (a warm living room or a cooler hallway for example) water it every few days to a week. Keep an eye to see is it wilting a bit then water it. They grow in the hot dry climate of Africa, so you would probably kill it if you over watered it.

As Abandonment says, enjoy it then bin it. They can be kept from year to year but only with a good deal of care - not outside - and enough bright daylight hours to make it turn red again.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118367615#Comment_118367615

Agree with every bit if that but they're native to central America.

looksee

They are indeed native to central america but they grow with wild abandon in East Africa where they are regarded as a pest! Probably because, like many plants taken from their original homes they have no predators. It completely spoiled me for the little plants we see at Christmas when I had seen them growing into huge bushes by the roadsides.

Jellybaby_1

I'm still amazed that I kept a poinsettia alive for more than two years. It went from red to green and then got red a second time and it grew huge. I potted it into a bigger pot twice. I was sick of it in the third year and dumped it as it was far too big and I had nowhere to keep it.