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As you can see MEGA Chop Back!!!!

He has LOADS of New Shoots Growing now... Some will have to be rubbed out as they are in the wrong place...

naturelover Please let me know how you do with yours
Thanks

I'm a newbie to keeping poinsettias...I was given a "baby" (4" pot) cream one with pink down the centers in mid-December. It's been sitting on my desk in the exact same spot since I got it and still looks as good, maybe even better! Thanks all of you for the great information on care, I'm really excited to see how long I can keep him thriving. Ninecrow, I'm soooo impressed by Draven! Sorry, but no one else's photo links worked...

Here's mine, trimmed back last month:

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Wow Ninecrow, that's quite a pruning! No holds barred, huh? LOL...

Tommy, your Poinsettia looks like it's coming along nicely...

Here's a picture of mine (It's growing in hydroculture rather than soil). I have two more that are just a little bit smaller (this one is the most ambitious to get going) but they're all doing pretty much the same and okay so far. I'm going to keep pinching, trimming and so on, until the summer time to get them as compact as possible and shaped to my preference. We shall see. Ninecrow, you have inspired me to try this out! My Poinsettias are very young but you never know!

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Looking Good tommy and naturelover...

Yeah the pune back was Kinda Drastic, wasn't it.... But LOOKIE at him Now....

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Wow, your poinsettias look great! I have two that I have managed to keep alive for two years but I don't know why. I keep them in a north facing window (actually beside a sliding door that is constantly being opened to let my dogs out) and water them when they feel dry. Thats about it. Can you tell I'm a plant newb ?!?!

I did try to get them to bloom for xmas by putting them in a closet at night but was afraid they were going into shock because they looked wilted so I abandoned the attempt very soon after.

I know its about time to prune them , the one is pretty leggy, and I'd like to repot them too. I am a little hesitant now though because this past week or two they are starting to get red stems and some red in the leaves. They shouldn't be wanting to bloom now should they? Do I wait it out or prune anyway?

I say prune now. Half way at least. Keep soil moist but NOT soggy. Bright light, no direct sun for now.

Tom

Hi everyone

I purchased two this last Christmas. I always thought of them as disposables too. I thought mine were dead since most of the leaves had dropped off and others were dry. I pretty much ignored them. Then one day just as I was about to toss them out I noticed new leaves. I was shocked. They are growing like crazy now. I water them and alternate direct sun for indirect sun. They seem to be happy. I don't know anything about keeping them alive. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and see what happens. I do plan to get more next Christmas since these have done so well!

Heres a pic. I got them from Home Depot

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This the Latest Photo I have of Draven.
Photo Taken on the 8th of May 07

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Hello. I am new here and to keeping plants. However,I have a Dravenisque poinsettia myself. Four years old and just this spring it got "working glands". Then this thing starting growing out of the flower. It dropped yesterday. Is it a poinsettia seed? If so, how deep do I plant it?
I look forward to corresponding about this. The wife and I are very excited about this plant. It is not unlike a pet to us :)

ezeitner, 1st of all please let me say Congrats on keeping your Point alive for 4 years.... A photo would help me out re thing out of Flower
Thanks

I'll second that congrats on 4 years! Nice job! Mine is over 3 now. I wouldn't bother with the seed. Cuttings work a LOT better! Take 3-4 inch cuttings and root in well draining potting mix. Keep moist. Bright, indirect light. It's fun!

Tom

I would love to post a pic but I don't know how to reduce the size of the pic to 61kb or less. Any ideas?

ezeitner Try Photobucket, it resizes for you that's what I've use on these Photos....
Hope that Helps
NC

Well, tell I figure it out...is that a poinsettia seed in Ninecrow's pic above? Also, I did provide a link to show something coming out of a gland on a flower.

Here is a link that might be useful: poinsettia seed

Can't see your Photo ezeitner it asking for Username and Password....

Sorry, I finally figured out how to take a picture with my camera that I can use in this forum. However, I still cannot get the pics I already have small enough.
I did today though trim most of the ends of all the branches on my little poinsettia tree. I am hoping to keep it tree-like but more growth in the center areas. I check in here now and then.

Bump! Just did the second cut back, photo later!

Tom

Hi Tommy *Waves*
Draven's second cut will be done soon.... Probaly at the begining of August....

Wanna Know how all of yours are doing....
Thanks
NC

Well I'll start my dark treatments tonight. She's doing well otherwise! I'm going longer this year than 40 days....

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Draven all boxed up....

Hi Nine!
I have to go buy a big box today, been using a black plastic garbage bag. Will take a pic of mine today to post.

Here we go, a quick shot taken this morning:

Couldn't find a box big enough yet. The stake is to hold the bag off of the leaves at night. The plant is almost 4 years old now.

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Looking Good tommy...

The idea is to imitate nature by allowing the plant to have total darkness for an uninterrupted span each night, just like it would if it were growing in the wild without human interference by light.

Many people find that they can give their plant the dark treatment by leaving the plant in a room they'd not normally light at night, as a spare bedroom. Also many folks also don't know that not only does the plant need X hours of dark that they still need light during the day. That's why it's helpful to leave the plant in one location because those stuck in closets at night sometime get forgotten until they die.

There isn't any magic date to start the dark treatment. It just depends on when you want the bracts to turn. I've grown them under different schedules depending on the cultivar (some initiate bloom response in a shorter amount of time, like six weeks, and some need nine weeks treatment) Also some initiate at X number of hours a night and others need more or less hours of darkness or light each night.

I no longer hold them back by artificial lighting since so many varieties are offered now to the grower. I just pick out the varieties over a spectrum of early to late bloomers. They are grown on a greenhouse bench and I let nature do the light treatment.

When they are in the long night phase, you need to not let them be subjected to stray light. It can affect how perfect the blooms are. Once the bract does colour up, you should withhold fertiliser while you display it.

I started Light Control for Draven on the 25th of September, He gets boxed at 5pm and get put back on the windowsill in the morning.... This is my 4th year of doing this with him calliope

I got hooked on Poinsettias a long time ago. When I was at college I had to grow a cash crop for a mark... The only thing I wasn't allowed to do was the PGR's
NC

It was obvious to me you have it down to an art Ninecrow. Draven is a very healthy looking subject. Points are my signature crop. I've been growing them for 22 years and have done tens of thousands of every shape and size. I mostly just volunteered my thoughts on them, because some people find them intimidating and you cannot believe some of the methods I've heard (mostly unsuccessful) on how to save them from the compost and make them bloom on the next year. By the end of each season, I'm so sick of looking at them I don't want to see them until the next fall. LOL.

I have saved them over on occasion to make poinsettia standards of them. They are an easy plant to get into tree form and make a nice unusual display around the Christmas holidays.

Thank you Calliope for your thoughts on Draven, 22 YEARS... Wow!!!!

Have you done poinsettia Wreaths? I've see them on the Ecke Ranch website. Would LOVE to try one of those, but as I don't have a Greehouse or whatnot only windsills and a Big Box......

No, I haven't seen them. I have, however, made "living wreaths" of sphagnum moss wound with fine wire over frames and then planted with ivy or another mounding or creeping plant. It's very easy to work in small rooted cuttings of assorted blooming plants into this type of wreath, and certainly a very small poinsettia could be. I have normally made these for exterior use in warm weather, as watering is best done with mist and it would be messy with interior use. That's why I've not done them with poinsettias.

Poinsettia Wreath link for you you look at
http://www.ecke.com/html/tibs/tib_poin_wreaths.html

Thank you for posting that link. That's a very novel idea. It's very like a topiary actually. I've done similar things with chrysanths, you train them to cascade like a waterfall over walls using poultry mesh as a base.

You're Very Welcome re Link
Are you grow a crop of Points this Year if so which ones?
Thanks

I'll be selling them, but not growing any myself. I have some maintenance to do on the g'houses and want them empty up until the last possible minute. When I do points, I start them in July. We've been in a draught all summer and that's played into it as well. I cut down my on-bench inventory to the minimum early. We use our own spring and well and don't have access to main. In years like this when I had a large summer/fall crop I sometimes had to have water hauled in. So, it worked out well.

I've usually had a large corner of the wholesale trade in seasonal flowers in my area, and haven't done much in retail for the last decade. But, a new box store decided they wanted a piece of that market as well as the retail market. I'm too unsure of the market share I'll be getting this year to chance investing my time and money to growing the traditional numbers I used to grow. It'll be more cost effective for me to order them in so there is no waste. The profit margin on them is very slim.

There are so many new varieties out anymore, the choice is staggering. I like the freedom series as they have a good post-production life and bloom early enough to catch everything from Thanksgiving onward. Then I'll also hit a mid-season variety to catch the late orders. Reds here account for at least 80 percent of the sales on a wholesale level anyway. When I grew for florist shops, that was a different matter. I moved everything from tangerine to yellow then and pinks accounted for half of my inventory.

The newer varieties have so many good characteristics bred right into them it's made it possible to grow great ones routinely. When I first started growing points, it was all about skill and scheduling. You lived with growth retardants and the old reds would bleach out on you if you had a sunnier than usual winter or get four feet tall, lol. But grown well, they were breathtaking. My favs were from the Gutbier Angelikas and also the Lilos.

If anybody doesn't have more to do with their lives than be a slave to a plant, then there is no reason whatsoever to attempting to bring back a poinsettia to its former glory....with no guarantees.

Taking a plant from sunlight, to darkness, on a daily basis, without fail, has got to be one of the worst drags on human activity known to mankind.
But, if that is your test in life, then ......

GO FOR IT!

That's a bit rude jeannie7 as This Thread was/IS done for educational purposes....

That's All I'm going to say on this matter as I don't want to be kicked off this site

Hi,

Great Pictures of your poinsettias by the way. I live in Florida and I just wanted to share these photos of my Poinsettias that I kept from last Christmas, I am also trying to get it to re-bloom. Hope it works. Good luck to all...
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Wow puglvr1 Good Looking Point you have there....
What Colour, how big, and does he have a name? LOL

I have a Friend in Tampa Bay and she has a Massive Point too.... LUCKY you Guys in Florida....

Thanks so much ninecrow, yours is really pretty. The big one is in a 13" pot and the green pot is 10 1/2". They are both red when I bought them. Now I just hope it will color in a couple of months?? Show us pics when yours turn color.

Hi,

Just thought I would post a pic of an update of one of my poinsettia that I am trying to re-bloom, I think it is starting to get a little bit of color? If you look three posts above it is the one in the green pot. What do you think?? Seems a little early to me, my other two has no change...

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Hello!
I'm growing my first crop as a Greenhouse/Nursery student this year and we do Point Trials for some breeders. Thought maybe you'd be interested in seeing some new cultivars and their progress so far, so I'm posting a link to our site. Never was much of a fan of points to be honest, but I'm having TONS of fun with this!!! I've developed a huge appreciation for them, it may not develop into a passion for me, but I am enjoying it for now. I'm also very excited to see your drive (and success!!!) to do this from home!!! Kudos you guys!!!

The "Pointsettia Trials" Tab at the top of the page takes you to the list of what we have. Each cultivar has weekly photos every Friday and we will write up bios on each one here pretty soon. You can also look at completed trials from '05 and '06. Feedback is welcome!

Janelle

Here is a link that might be useful: SCC Greenhouse/Nursery Program

Hi Janelle,

Thanks for posting the link, there's a ton of great pictures in there, I knew there's a lot of varieties and colors available, but I had no idea just how many. Great website...

LOVE Enke's "Shimmer surprize"!

Hey you're all very welcome! I was hoping someone would enjoy it!

puglvr: Yes, TONS of varieties, and new ones all the time! We're one of only a handful of Community Colleges that perform these trials, which I think is very cool. We track their progress closely and give the breeders detailed feedback.

tommyr: Yeah, that was the first to catch my eye (not her best plant in her photos either, they're WAY cooler!). I've been obsessing over Fischer's "Cortez Burgundy" and Ecke's "Freedom Early White" (which are both another woman's crop) all week though. And Fischer's "Sonora Marble" is my favorite that I'm growing.

Hi ninecrow. I've enjoyed this thread about Draven and everyone else's 'pet' poinsettias, and would love to continue reading more...but this thread is getting quite long, and even with high speed, I find it takes some time for everything to load up. Would you consider starting a new thread for Draven, maybe Draven's 4th Year, or Draven 2007, or however you wish to title, with links to this older thread? If not, I bow to you anyway, takes a lot of patience to get these guys to re-bloom (I'm just thinking of in the box at night, out the box in the morning ritual - something I would not be able to be consistent with, but I am finding the itch to try this with the poinsettia I will receive this Christmas). Thank - you.

Yeah this thread IS getting a bit long huh?! Maybe we could call the new thread "Poinsettia update V 2.0"? With a link at top for this thread.

PLEASE Post all new Replies in New Thread
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/houseplt/msg1115562429336.html

Thanks
NC

HELP
My Poinsettia is 7 years old this Christmas and has taken over my dining room table. She is lovely and produces beautiful red flowers and bright green leaves all year round. I really need to prune her but I am scared of killing her. She has been re potted 3 times now. Any advice would be good please.

I have a poinsettia that dropped ALL of its leaves. I checked, and the roots are not dry... Is it worth keeping it around to see if it will revive?

Theresa if its dropped all its leaves its had a major shock - cold draft, over watered etc. Most people would just dump it if its that bad but you can trim them back and carefully bring them round with careful watering and a reasonable temperature inside.