Hi all.
I have 3 Poinsettias and one is 3 years old, and now 6' wide and 4' tall.
The photo shows my 3 year old plant some months back.
It resides in our garden tub thru the winter.
The other two poinsettias are new.
In spring I want to prune these to encourage new branching.
I've read a lot online about pruning poinsettias but have any of you done it?
To be honest, I'm feeling very reserved about pruning my 'babies' in fear of doing more damage than good.
Were your results what you'd hoped for?
If so, please share your procedure(s).
Thank you!

annectoo, I am sorry I can't answer your question.

But WELCOME to ATP

jvdubb said:annectoo, I am sorry I can't answer your question.

But WELCOME to ATP

Thank you !!!

annectoo
Yes--I have done it. Twice. I did not read anything online about it or consult any great poinsettia oracles so my experience may not be worth much.
The first time I butchered the plant, (cut it back approximately half all over in the spring) it did well to recover and made many new leaves and what would have been new branches... if I hadn't killed it, which I did, by failing to water it after I moved it outside...
The second time, I had another that I kept watered, so it lived. It literally became a shrub poinsettia that consumed too much of my sun room to put up with after a while so I eventually pitched it.
My method? in a word--madness--I just took the pruners and cut everything back to some leaf axils about the height I wanted. I lost a few little wimpy stems, but that didn't matter in the end

Perhaps a real sage will step in with some decent advice for you soon

annectoo, from me too!

Many folks grow Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) in their gardens here in Florida and most prune them drastically after blooming or in early spring after any danger of frost has passed. Pruning does help them become more bushy and shrub-like. Some people prefer to leave them to their own means but they can get very leggy and unattractive if not pruned. To get them to re-bloom next year, around the end of September to the first week of October they should be placed in a location where they get at least 12 hours of darkness.

Scroll down this page to read tips on cultivation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...

I agree with Dirt & Lin. Just prune away annectoo. They are pretty hardy plants in that way.

Ah, I too can relate to the method of madness! So maybe that is what I'll try in the spring. Thank you!
Yes--I have done it. Twice. I did not read anything online about it or consult any great poinsettia oracles so my experience may not be worth much.
The first time I butchered the plant, (cut it back approximately half all over in the spring) it did well to recover and made many new leaves and what would have been new branches... if I hadn't killed it, which I did, by failing to water it after I moved it outside...
The second time, I had another that I kept watered, so it lived. It literally became a shrub poinsettia that consumed too much of my sun room to put up with after a while so I eventually pitched it.
My method? in a word--madness--I just took the pruners and cut everything back to some leaf axils about the height I wanted. I lost a few little wimpy stems, but that didn't matter in the end

Perhaps a real sage will step in with some decent advice for you soon [/quote]

Thank you all - I feel more fortified in my conviction to plant my monster back - it is very leggy and it do want it denser and bushier. I've always kept it in shade outside and watered well, so I'll continue along that manner. Hopefully I'll have 3 much more attactive Poinsettias by mid-summer. I'll post photos then.
Have a great day and stay warm if you're dealing with the arctic plunge!

They can take full sun, and will probably be healthier and less leggy if you move them out of the shade. They're native to Mexico, and you see them there flowering on the roadsides at 12ft. tall, with no care whatsoever.

Just be sure to water a bit more as the plant grows if it's in full sun so it will make big, lush leaves. They grow in gardens here as well, but are subject to some fungal diseases so if they're in a crowded shrub border they tend to die out. Need great air circulation in our humid summers.

Here it is within 7 weeks of the end of our growing period already! An emergency health situation has kept me from doing all I wanted this year in the flower beds and gardens but I did get my poinsettias cut back. Two survived. The younger one (1 & 1/2 years old is growing large leaves and is bushier and the 3+ year old plant is growing smaller leaves - but I really hacked it back. They're both sitting in sun on my front porch and very very happy.