Skip to Content

How Often To Water Poinsettias?

Poinsettias, also known as the native flower and the Christmas flower, can be kept year-round indoors if they care correctly. They are short-day plants, and they establish their beautiful leaf colors on short winter days.

You can see them in the Christmas period and help to make popular gifts and decorations. What many people call poinsettias blooms are colorful leaves known as bracts.

The flowers have small yellow dots in the center of the bracts, and they are not very noticeable. Whatever the name of these brightly colored leaves, you may help them look good for long by caring and watering for your poinsettias.

Poinsettia varieties

Solid colors

These are plants with solid red leaves that are more popular during the Christmas period. However, you’ll find more fun colors like pink, orange, white, purple, and even yellow in this period.

Marble poinsettias

These crops have beautiful two-tone bracts, which are dark in color. There is pink or red color in the middle and can be blended into lighter tones, like cream or yellow around the edges.

Jingle poinsettias

These varieties, also called glitter poinsettias, have bracts, which are solid colors such as pink or red, with lighter dots, such as cream or white. In addition to the classic red poinsettias, these plants are desirable.

Rose poinsettias

Instead of the usual straight, pointed bracts, rose poinsettias have leaves, which slightly curl back and forth, making them look full-bloom of roses. These species are more likely to be found in the traditional red poinsettia, but there are also pink, and white rose bracts.

How Often to Water Poinsettias?

How often to water poinsettias depends on your house humidity. For example, in the south, the plants may not need to be watered more than every two weeks.

In arid areas in the west, water your plants when the soil is too dry or weekly. Never leave poinsettias in water. In short, when the soil is dry, water it sparingly.

How Often To Water Poinsettias
via Pxhere

When growing poinsettias, root rot is a common disease caused by soaking them in water. Usually, if you put poinsettia near the window, you can apply one cup of water for 1-2 weeks, even if it’s a small plant.

It is important to note that you must wait for the soil to dry out before watering the next time. For some newbies, you need to water them daily to make the soil moist.

In winter or shortly after the holidays, the leaves will start to fall, so don’t water them more. Instead, trim the poinsettia and shade them until spring.

These plants have become the beautiful symbol of the holidays, but people discard them because they do not know how to maintain them after the holidays. Also, poinsettias do not like air movement either, so ensure they are not close to the window where the wind can get in during the day.

Because poinsettias are considered tropical plants, planting them outdoor is limited in South Florida. However, you can plant a potted poinsettia outside the northern areas when the danger of frost has passed, and the temperature outside is very warm.

If it is warm, place the potted plant in a shady location to get used to the temperatures outside. In the shade for a few days, it should now be safe to plant in the sunny area. If you’re in the north, reschedule the plant for September one and bring it back indoors.

How to Water Poinsettias?

Once you bring the poinsettias home, check for the drainage holes in the bottom of the pot. If you find them, don’t worry; however, the water will not drain if there are no holes.

This can lead to rapid root rot. Remove the decorative film, give that there is any. Otherwise, this can retain water, and the plant may end up rotting. However, if you need to remove the shiny wrapper, ensure the water is drained entirely after each watering.

How Often To Water Poinsettias

Placing the plant in a kitchen sink becomes the best way to water poinsettias. But be sure to drain all water via the drainage holes.

Leave the pot in a sink until excess moisture drains off and ensure the container is not standing in water. When you water poinsettias, you need to ensure the water drains well until it is out of the holes in the bottom of a pot. Therefore, you should always look for a pot with drainage holes underneath.

Excessive And Insufficient Watering of Poinsettias

If you discover the soil is medium brown and lightweight, the reason is watering the plant with insufficient water. However, the ground does not always have to be almost dark black and heavyweight.

These are symptoms that indicate that you have watered your plants a little. However, if the soil is very dry, the lower leaves will also fall off. Even in the absence of water, the leaves and flowers fall off.

These incidents can happen when there is too much or too little watering. If any of these events happened to you, you now know the culprit.

Poinsettias Care Guide

1. Provide adequate lighting

Since poinsettias come from Central America, they love warm weather that has enough sun. Therefore, place the potted plants on the east-facing windows to receive enough shade during the afternoon and light in the morning.

If you live in an area with a warm climate, you should be able to plant poinsettias directly in the ground. Also, find a place where you can get enough sunlight.

2. Temperature

The right temperature for the poinsettias is between 65F and 75F. Store the flowers in the warm room, which will mimic the tropical climate they’re from. Try very hard not to expose them to a drastic drop in temperature as this will cause the leaves to wither.

3. Keep the poinsettia plants moist

Poinsettia plants need to be moist all the time, and you can create these conditions by spraying them. Just sprinkle the leaves using a fine water mist to keep them moist.

Also, you can keep them moist with the pebble tray. Get a tray or plate larger than the poinsettia plant and fill it with the small pebbles in it. Pour water over the gravel to slowly evaporate and create a moist environment for the poinsettia plants.

4. Propagate and prune new plants

Pruning poinsettias is essential to keep them compact and bushy. Pinch the small growing buds together from time to time during the growing season.

You can use the shoots you prune to plant new poinsettias. Plant cuttings only in fertile soil and monitor their growth. During the late or fall winter, you need to cut the old growth to encourage vigorous new growth during the following spring.

5. Fertilize

Poinsettia plants require liquid fertilizer in the ratio of 20-20-20 or 12-12-12. Fertilize monthly and stop when fall comes.

It would help if you did not fertilize them during the flowering period, which is expected during the Christmas holidays. However, if you don’t want to keep the poinsettias after a holiday, there is no need to fertilize them.

6. Care for them after Christmas

Poinsettias can be planted year-round until the following Christmas and even more if you take good care of them. So, you need to take care of them even after Christmas.


Conclusion

How often to water poinsettias is not as difficult as you can think. It only requires the experience, that is all, and knowing their varieties to understand the interval of watering.

Read this article carefully to learn more. You can then water the plant if necessary, which helps it grow and enhances its beauty.