Your trusted florist assured you that your newly purchased poinsettia te would last until next Christmas, but it didn’t. So today you come across a plant with dry red leaves and a suffering appearance and you are torn: get rid of it once and for all or ask your green thumb an effort?

Poinsettia is a rather delicate plant and it is not easy to make it bloom again because a lot depends on how it was previously grown. Excessive use of a fertilizer to revive its color, for example, could have damaged its resistance capacity. This is the worst. It must also be said that the fact that some leaves begin to fall because they are already dry is a completely natural process. So, don’t give up on your star and give it a second chance. Let’s see how.

prune the plant

Once the Christmas holidays are over, the poinsettia invariably begins to lose its red leaves. Give it a couple of weeks and around mid-February start cutting the bare branches of the plant to a height of about 10cm tall. Then, water the soil a little if it feels completely dry.

keep it in the dark

Once pruned, if you want your poinsettia to bloom again , you must keep it in the dark for at least 14 hours a day, for a period of eight weeks, that is, from 5 in the afternoon until 7 in the following afternoon. tomorrow, you will have to find a completely dark place in the house, and then move it to a bright area of ​​the house the next morning: by doing so, 10 hours of light a day are enough for Christmas Eve, already in early October, < /span>  to the water for flowering indoor plants.fertilizer to quickly change to red, pink or white. In these months, remember to water your plant from time to time and add 

If you want to add transplanting to this laborious operation, you can do it at the end of spring, for example in May: get universal soil , transplant and also leave Christmas Eve outdoors, but always in the shade.

Take care of it in the best way

Now you know how to make your poinsettia bloom again, but you should remember a few small rules to ensure its health all year round. At home, the poinsettia should always be at a point where the light reaches it    but never directly, away from south-facing windows and heat sources , therefore always away from radiators. Always take care to protect it from air drafts and water it only twice a week, avoiding stagnation. a>  on the plate. During the flowering period, water it on average every two days, in summer depending on how quickly the soil dries.