{"id":68275,"date":"2004-12-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2004-12-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-plant-expert-offers-tips-for-extending-the-life-of-holiday-poinsettias\/"},"modified":"2004-12-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2004-12-13T00:00:00","slug":"uri-plant-expert-offers-tips-for-extending-the-life-of-holiday-poinsettias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2004\/12\/uri-plant-expert-offers-tips-for-extending-the-life-of-holiday-poinsettias\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 plant expert offers tips for extending the life of holiday poinsettias"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. — December 13, 2004 — Poinsettias are an excellent way to brighten the holiday season, but their color often fades quickly and many people find that they don\u2019t last much beyond the first of the new year. But a 溏心vlog免费B站 plant expert says that doesn\u2019t have to be the case.<\/p>\n


\n\tRosanne Sherry, coordinator of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Master Gardener program, says that in recent years, better cultivars of poinsettias have been developed so they keep their color well into spring and can even survive through another holiday season if a little care is taken.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cIt used to be that if you bought a poinsettia around Thanksgiving, it would be dead by the day after Christmas,\u201d Sherry said. \u201cBut now people can make them last longer if they treat them right.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tSherry emphasizes that poinsettias are tropical plants originally from Mexico that can be found growing in the ground year round in the Caribbean and other warm climates. \u201cThey\u2019re very sensitive to cold weather and begin to show signs of stress if they\u2019re exposed to temperatures below 50 degrees, even for a short time. So when you purchase one, make sure it\u2019s wrapped in a protective sleeve and take it right home. Don\u2019t leave it in your cold car while you\u2019re doing the rest of your Christmas shopping.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWhile Sherry says it\u2019s important that the plants are watered occasionally to keep the soil moist, too much watering will drown them. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cMost poinsettias are sold with decorative foil wrapped around the pot, and that is often the culprit in drowning them,\u201d she explained. \u201cThe foil holds the water in and floods the plants. So I tell everyone to cut off the bottom of the foil so excess water will drain out.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tAfter the holidays, Sherry says that a poinsettia should be treated like any other houseplant. Place it in a sunny spot away from drafts or extreme heat, and water it once or twice a week.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe plants should keep their decorative color through the winter months and begin to fade in early spring. They should be fertilized once in March, and new leaves should begin to sprout soon after. \u201cIf it still has healthy leaves, it\u2019s still a healthy plant,\u201d Sherry said.<\/p>\n


\n\tIn June or July, the plants should be cut back to about half their former size and fertilized to encourage new growth. They can also be put outside in the summer months, though it should be shielded from the hot sun. The plants should be brought back inside by Labor Day before the temperature gets cool again. <\/p>\n


\n\tThe critical step in getting poinsettias to bloom again the following holiday season, according to Sherry, is to control the hours of complete darkness they get during the fall.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cBeginning in about mid-September, make sure the plant gets 13 to 14 hours of darkness each day in order to set the buds,\u201d said the 溏心vlog免费B站 plant expert. She recommends covering the plant with a box or a basket every night, and then uncovering it every morning so it gets full sun for the rest of the day.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cOnly total darkness will set the buds right,\u201d she noted. \u201cIf you put it in an unused room with the lights off, make sure that a street light or security light outside isn\u2019t illuminating the plant, even a little bit, because the plant won\u2019t respond appropriately.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\tSherry added that it\u2019s a popular misconception that poinsettias should be put in the closet and ignored for several months in the fall. \u201cWithout any sun or water, you\u2019re going to open that closet door at Christmas and find a wilted plant.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tAfter about 40 days of what Sherry calls the \u201cdarkness ritual,\u201d color will begin to return to its leaves and the ritual will no longer be necessary. By Thanksgiving, the plant should be close to full color again.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cAnd then, if you\u2019re lucky, you can start the whole process all over again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n


\nFor more information on this and other gardening questions, go to the 溏心vlog免费B站 Master Gardener website at www.urimga.org.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. — December 13, 2004 — Poinsettias are an excellent way to brighten the holiday season, but their color often fades quickly and many people find that they don\u2019t last much beyond the first of the new year. But a 溏心vlog免费B站 plant expert says that doesn\u2019t have to be the case. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}