Poinsetia belongs to a huge family of Euphorbiaceae, numbering about 2 thousand species. Known primarily as a Christmas decoration in homes. In order for the plant to please the eye for as long as possible with its decorative appearance, you should find out which punch is preferred in the house.
Origin and name
οΏΌThe star of Bethlehem (Euphorbia pulcherrima), also called the Christmas star, nativity scene, in fact, the most beautiful euphorbia. This plant has become an integral part of the Christmas holiday. This type of milkweed is native to Mexico. The name poinsetia was given to the plant in honor of the first US ambassador to Mexico, J. R. Poinsett, who in 1822 sent it to Washington. Since then, the popularity of this flower began to grow.
Description
The flowers of the Christmas star are small, nondescript. Poinsettia leaves are a real decoration - these are colorful bracts that form a large rosette around the flowers. If you look at the plant from above, beautifully colored leaves look exactly like a star. The most popular varieties have red bracts. They contrast beautifully with the dark green color of the leaves. However, there are varieties that have white, cream, yellow, or pink bracts.
Like any euphorbia, it contains white, caustic juice, which can cause allergies in people with sensitive skin. Therefore, you should remember to wash your hands after contact with the plant.
Buying and transporting a flower
Poinsetia requires a lot of heat and does not tolerate frost. The plant should be bought on warm and calm days, as it is very sensitive to cold and drafts. Because of this, it is not recommended to buy a Christmas star sold on the street. It is also worth paying attention to the seller wrapping your flower tightly in paper for further transportation.
Poinsetia releases a large amount of ethylene. In open space, this gas quickly dissipates in the air without causing any harm to the plant. However, if the plant remains tightly packed in a film for several days, a high concentration of ethylene accelerates the aging of the flower, which is manifested by a decrease in the decorativeness of leaves and bracts. It is worth paying attention to this fact when buying poinsettia, especially in supermarkets, where plants often stand wrapped in film.
Poinsetia - Care
After buying and transporting home, you should immediately remove the Star of Bethlehem from its packaging. If you buy a plant as a gift, then you should pack it again only on the day of delivery to the owner. Poinsetia is sensitive to gases and tobacco smoke. A few weeks in a room with polluted air causes shedding of leaves at the star of Bethlehem.
In the apartment, the plant requires a warm and bright place (but not near radiators), where the temperature is 18-21 Β° C, and constantly humid air. Lowering the temperature below 10 Β° C can cause damage to the leaves, which leads to their mass falling.
Star of Bethlehem reacts poorly to drafts. Both gusts of cold and warm air can harm her. As a result, the leaves curl and eventually fall off. Therefore, poinsettia in a pot should always be installed in protected places, far from windows and entrance doors.
Do not allow the base of the plant to dry out, as you will not be able to restore its former beauty later. But do not forget at the same time that excess water may be more harmful to the flower than its lack. So it is better to water the plant in moderation, once every two days, preventing the water from remaining on the stand of the pot for a long time. You can use ordinary tap water to water the Star of Bethlehem. But it is best that it be standing, with the temperature prevailing in the room in which the poinsetia is grown. When the room is dry, you should spray water around the flower or use a humidifier.
Poinsetia care does not need frequent fertilizing fertilizers. During the growth period, the Star of Bethlehem should simply be fed with fertilizer for flowering plants every two weeks. Moreover, with the dressing of plants purchased before Christmas, one should not rush. As a rule, the dose of fertilizers in the substrate is enough for the plant until mid-January.
How to winter the star of Bethlehem?
Many periodically flowering plants in apartments quickly become less attractive. Poinsetia also belongs to them. After several weeks, the colorful bracts fade, and some of the leaves fall off. This is a normal phenomenon, because after flowering, these plants in nature pass a short break in the vegetation.
Even proper care of the poinsettia will not protect against loss of leaves at the end of winter. Then you should shorten its shoots. Dense forms are cut so that no more than 3-4 buds remain on the lateral branches (they are always in the axils of the leaves). After pruning, the plant is placed for a period of 4 to 6 weeks in a cool room with a temperature of 12-15 Β° C, stopping watering and fertilizer. Access to light during this period is not very important for the flower.
In order to be able to further grow the plant, in March or April it must be transplanted into fresh, nutritious soil with the addition of 15% expanded clay granules and coarse sand. Soil pH from 5.8 to 6.5 is ideal. It is usually sufficient to replace the ground without changing the pot for the plant.
After transplanting the poinsetia, it is set in a bright (but not in bright sun) and warm place, with a temperature of about 20 Β° C. Abundantly watered to stimulate the plant to grow. Fertilizers begin to be introduced when new shoots reach a length of several centimeters.
Shoot pruning
Another important procedure for caring for a Christmas star is to trim the shoots during the summer months. So that the plant is not too violent and has a beautiful, compact habit, the producers cut the central shoots.
How to trim a poinsettia? The dense habitus of the plant is cut in July, all new stems are shortened by about 2 centimeters. After a month, the procedure is repeated.
Attention! When trimming milkweed, pay attention to the milky juice flowing from its shoots. Contact with this juice should be avoided, as it can cause skin irritation and allergic reactions. In case of contact with hands, they should be washed with warm water so that the remaining juice does not remain on the skin.
What to make the star of Bethlehem bloom again?
In order to get a good coloring of the upper leaves of the flower at Christmas, from the second decade of November, a special light regime should be observed for the Bethlehem star. For about 4-6 weeks, leave the plant in complete darkness for 14 hours a day. The easiest way is to cover it with a lid.
Recall, however, that beautifully blooming and pleasantly colored poinsetia, which are bought in stores, are grown in greenhouses, where there are ideal conditions for them. It is difficult to create these conditions in the house, and not without reason, most people refer to the Star of Bethlehem only as a one-time decoration for several weeks.
Breeding
The star of Bethlehem, as a rule, ends its life immediately after the holidays. However, if you decide to grow it the next year, you should get new seedlings from the old plant.
Propagation of poinsetia in the house is, indeed, a rather difficult process, and the resulting plants are not as beautiful and large as those bought in the store, but you can still try.
Euphorbia propagates vegetatively by apical cuttings. For this, plants that have passed the dormant period after flowering are used. Typically, from April to July, cuttings can be cut. Usually from one flower it is possible to get from 3 to 6 good seedlings.
The apical fragments of the shoots are cut off with a length of 15-20 cm. Each of them should have 2-3 fully developed leaves. Cuttings are inserted into water so that milky juice stands out from them, and then placed in a mixture of peat and sand mixed in a 1: 1 ratio. Instead of sand, perlite can be used. Before planting in the ground, the ends of the cuttings can be immersed in the root. Pots with seedlings should be placed in a bright place. Plants should be watered regularly to prevent the land from drying out. You should also take care of high humidity, reaching 90%. For this purpose, the plants are covered with a film or halves of plastic bottles that form something like miniature greenhouses. Once a day, covers must be removed to ventilate the seedlings.
If everything is done correctly, small poinsetia will take root within 3-4 weeks. So that they grow well and bloom profusely, it is necessary to feed them with liquid fertilizer for flowering plants. In autumn, preferably in October, you need to begin to cover the flowers so that in complete darkness (for example, under a cardboard cover) they spend 14 hours a day. The remaining 8 hours need to provide an abundance of sunlight. Under such conditions, after 4-6 weeks, the bracts of the poinsetia become bright red. Thus, you can get at home a poinsettia before Christmas.
Flower decoration
In the end, it is worth adding that the poinsettia for the holiday period can be further decorated. To this end, it is worth studying the arrangements made with the help of florists. It is possible to create an interesting composition by placing a pot with a Christmas star in wicker baskets and decorating with natural additives such as moss, fir branches, small "paradise" apples or cones. If you want to keep the composition in a modern style, you should take candles, taffeta bows, ribbons, metal and simple, smooth pots.