20 February 2013

poinsettia

Well, the Poinsettia experiment turned out about how I expected. One bract slowly began turning red, but doesn't look like it will give me any brilliant color. It is still growing new leaves but at the same time dropping lower ones at a faster rate, so I think soon it will be time to go dormant.
For the trouble it is to put the plant in darkness every night with such specific time requirements, the result isn't worth it. Maybe if I hadn't missed two days it would have worked better. I'm guessing the only real way to get nice, red poinsettias is to buy them from nurseries which grow them with timers and lights and whatever else fancy stuff gets them to look nice. But it was fun to try.

I'll probably still regrow this plant after its dormancy stage. I do like the foliage and watching it grow back.

2 comments:

chrisa511 said...

The foliage really is gorgeous!! I tried to grow mine but really didn't take care of it and it died :( I was a poor gardener for awhile, but am getting back on top of things now!

Jeane said...

I have a little one that's dormant right now and I think I might have killed it, let it dry out too much. The pruned stems are starting to look shriveled.