Hello all,

Over the holidays I had purchased several poinsettias. I was very excited to get my hands on some pink variations as these aren't common around here. I bought three pinks all of which dropped their flowers and colourful bracts within a week of purchase. I'm still not sure why this happened, it could've been a draft, I'm not sure, but all three dropped like this. Not one to be wasteful, and admittedly disappointed, I kept them all in hopes that I could keep them growing for next year. Regrowth on my largest plant has been ok, the smaller two are very slow, there's been little to no regrowth on them since early December. While the largest Poinsettia has been putting out bracts they're starting to look mottled, some are dying off as soon as they appear while others aren't. Is it possible to bring them back or am I fighting a losing battle? Any tips?

Thanks in advance!

You can't bring back color once the plant 'bloomed' until next year. You need to trim off leggy branches to get new branches going. Post pics of yours, please.
That said i had a plant without color bracts sitting from last year ( fullcyear with me) in the living room thru xmas with lights. It was not coloring.
I put it in the natural light den (sunrise at 7am, sundown at 5pm) after the holidays and by mid-Feb i started getting color, not like you would see in commercially grown plant.. but a few red bracts nevertheless. So it is possible quite late in season, but only if the plant did not color before.
Make sure they do not dry more then half way or even less or they will continue dropping leaves.
Mine do not drop bracts until almost summer , they just darken/green up.

Right now i have a few and they started producing tiny green leaves at the center of bracts and dropping a few lower leaves too. It is a good tome to start trimming some branches. I usually do a gradual haircut so as to still have something to look at and keep it active with some leaves.

Hi, I find them to be attractive even when all green. As said, color is seasonal and not dependable without special care.

If just not growing well. Go back to basics of good light and proper watering.

This is how mine colored up in 6 weeks after NY in the den, no boxing.

And this is the same plant in end of sep 21 (prev year). You can still see a few bracts from 2020. Grown totally indoors part sun in Miami FL. It probably tripled in size from original .
I also think that they make very handsome plants.

I've tried this a few times and always lose them to drying out. Of course "overwatering" could do the same thing, but I'd been so hyped about not doing that and ended up with hydrophobically dry soil, too late, dead plant.

I would try a wick if I try again. Your plants are gorgeous, Skylark! Is that a wick pot? I know you're a wick whisperer.

Poinsettias are likely sent out with spongy soil that can be ignored for days in a store, but can have problems for long term growth. As Tiffany noted.

I have trouble with that peaty store soil. It seems impossibly soggy, then suddenly the next day, it's so dry, it won't get wet again.

But putting a wick in it can make a difference, for what few examples I have so far.

for the first month after purchase i usually let them dry up a bit, since they are always very soggy, or too dry: then i really drench them and then wait a bit for the surface to dry up to touch. Then i water just a bit on the surface, not allowing the water to run thru: that would be too wet!.. and so after a month or so when they start showing little new leaves and i start trimming a branch or two...i stick a thick 1/4 " braid wick from the bottom with chopstick about halfway in , in the center. and that's how they stay from then on wicking.
If they are too small, i just keep an 1" of water under so they can't sopp up too much and watch carefully.
Once the growth starts, no problem! the pots are usually too small for the size of plant, and that's how i get away with peaty original soil mix. Usually they don't live more then 1-2 years though...otherwise they'll need repotting. I never repotted one though...a bit lazy here..
since they are too transient for my efforts.
i like 'wick whisperer'! wIck-ed!

here's my most colorful save: may 2017 from xmas in Miami :). brought it back home. All my Minervas opened up: best bloom! and episcias too. I think i did not start trimming it until august...which is too late, but i didn't care..i had xmas all year :))

Gorgeous!
I've had a Minerva amaryllis, very pretty.

Great info, great display!

these (minerva) bloomed for me ev year for 7-8 years! just from HD.
actually i had even better save of my first standard 'Pick me Pink' point:
it colored up in dark den no boxing! also from Miami.
this is Nov: parting shot, as i couldn't take it to FL : too big! it did not survive the winter...it was a beauty. and still in 6" pot.
That was my first attempt at doing it. and most impressive, never had enough patience since. never found a standard either.


this pic shows closer to true color: very intense pink.

Wow thanks for all the replies! To be clear I'm not expecting colour any time soon, I'm only interested in keeping them alive and hopefully get colour out of them next winter. I've definitely struggled with the soil, I'm trying to keep it evenly moist but not too much. The nursery encouraged me to let them sit in a water tray for a few hours and let the plants soak up what they want. I'm always hesitant with watering, it seems like I buy them practically soaking but if I ever watered them that much they'd die! Likewise they get that little bit too dry and they drop. I don't have the benefits of a greenhouse, though. They're currently situated in the brightest room but only for two hours direct light, it's several hours bright light otherwise. Right now they are twiggy, I'll cut them back as advised. I did that with a red poinsettia a few years ago and it seemed to help kickstart it (unfortunately it succumbed to mites so I didn't have it for more than a few months). The largest plant is doing a bit better right now, knock on wood, I'm going to cut off the parts that look less lively and hopefully it can put more energy into the healthy offshoots.

I trimmed mine today by third: cut off all colored bracts. Mine started growing new shoots from lower nodes. Pics tomorrow.

So this is what they look like now
(Some stems started growing below the bracts a month ago, so this is not 1 week, but closer to 1 month of new growth).
Pots are too big for leaf mass at this point, so i am still watering very little from top when the soil is visibly drying up on top.
Indoors 1 foot away from south window, super bright but no sun (in Miami FL sun is getting very intense now, even my Mandevilla started burning in the afternoon, but it's been out in the sun for 6 weeks now leafing out from bare stems ).