Poinsettia Information

Growing Poinsettias

Ever wondered what it takes to grow poinsettias...here is a true story from a legendary lady who cares for poinsettias over 20 years....
by Cathy Ganske

The month of August is unquestionably the hottest month of the year in our part of the world. So it seems odd to be thinking about poinsettias, our most popular Christmas plant. And not only thinking about poinsettias, but planting them by the thousands. Right now, the propagation and care of poinsettias consume the biggest part of every working day for me. The stock plants (from which we take our cuttings) fill an entire greenhouse and have been on the benches since March.

Caring for poinsettia cuttings is like taking care of premature babies. They are terribly susceptible to the least of plant infections, and they need to be "fed" with a mist every four minutes on extremely hot days right after the newly cut tips of the poinsettias have been planted. They have to be watched carefully, and any leaves that show the least sign of distress or disease must be removed daily because some diseases can ruin a cutting and its nearest neighbors within 48 hours. A few of us are the cutters. We use plastic aprons, disposable gloves, razor-sharp scalpels and a bucket of disinfectant. Our average speed for cutting is about 400 cuttings per hour.

Generally, we start cutting early in the morning when the plants are crisper, and quit cutting soon after lunch (if we haven't finished our daily quota before). A couple of team members are the "stickers". They work under a mist spray every four minutes, so they are almost always soaking wet. They stick the cuttings into special growing medium strips or directly into pots of soil. They, too, wear plastic aprons and disposable gloves. While the gloves help protect the hands from the milky sap that oozes from the cut ends of the poinsettias, the use of disposable gloves is especially important to prevent the spread of disease from the person's hands to the fragile plant cutting.

It is imperative that smokers wash their hands thoroughly after cigarette breaks even before they don their gloves. Why? Because cigarettes are not only harmful to human health; they can be lethal to plant health through the spread of tobacco mosaic disease and possibly other diseases. This disease is sort of like cancer or venereal disease. It doesn't show up immediately, but when it does show up, it has already spread to nearby plants through leaf or soil contact.

Poinsettias are without doubt among the most beautiful of all winter-blooming plants. But the full attainment of their beauty takes its toll on its caretakers during the growing season.

First, there's August to contend with. Temperatures in the stock plant greenhouse often reach the high 90's or even 100 degrees or more in certain areas of the greenhouse. Then there's that milky ooze from the cut ends of the poinsettias. The stock plants are generally tall enough that a cutter's arms come into contact with the sap constantly when reaching across to take cuttings from plants on the middle of each bench.

It's really sticky stuff, once it's on a person's arms, very hard to wash off. The easiest way to get the stuff off is to spray WD40 on one's arms, and then wash thoroughly with hot soapy water.

And, now that you know more than you ever wanted to know about poinsettias in August, think about us working in this month's heat when you purchase your beauties in late November or December, and leave us a tip. Okay?