If you receive a beautiful Poinsettia as a Christmas floral gift this year, be glad and prepared to witness the enchanting addition of color to your house. But you should know there’s some responsibility under plant care that comes along with the poinsettia plant.
The watering aspect of the poinsettia is the most important element of plant care. This guide is put forward to help you understand how to water poinsettia plants to make your winter holidays the most colorful one.
Watering Poinsettia plants should based on the level of soil dryness. Before you begin watering your plant, it is therefore crucial to check whether it needs water. People often mistake overwatering Poinsettia and regret it later because such a small mistake can kill your beautiful plant.
Develop a habit of checking the soil moisture where your plant is growing. You can simply insert your finger about an inch into the soil and check whether it feels dry. Be mindful to water the soil only if the top layer feels dry.
The container or pot you choose to grow your beloved poinsettia is another very important element that addresses the watering aspect of the plant. A good pot with decent drainage holes is what your plant requires to ensure a healthy root system along with a vibrant display.
You should know that choosing a pot with a poor drainage system won’t help your plant flourish, instead, it will encourage root rot due to the presence of standing water. The container or pot in which your Poinsettia plant grows therefore has to have proper drainage holes.
It is upon you when it comes to giving favorable thriving conditions for your beloved Poinsettia plant. Make sure to pick a pot that has a decent drainage system with proper holes so that excess water flows out of the pot creating a healthy soil environment.
If you’ve purchased a Poinsettia plant from the florist shop or any nearby nurseries, they may hand you the plant with a pot wrapped around in a sheet of decorative foil. Whenever you water your plant, this foil needs to be discarded, or else water gets pooled inside the foil, creating a nightmare for your plant.
Carefully remove the foil covering before you water your plant. The sheet of foil around the pot is primarily for decorative purposes and to hide the pot, you can remove them once you bring the plant home, or you can choose to poke holes at the bottom of the foil to allow excess water to drain.
While watering your Poinsettia, you have to ensure even distribution of the water across the soil. For this, develop a habit of watering your plant rather slowly so that it reaches the root system and gets absorbed properly. Make sure to water your poinsettia until the water drains out of the pot.
Every time you water your plant, you need to make sure there isn’t any dry soil or uneven distribution of water. The root needs proper and adequate moisture for your plant to grow vibrantly. If possible, provide a natural tropical environment for your Poinsettia plant by watering them with lukewarm water.
5. Avoid Standing Water
Poinsettia hates being in standing water. If you do not give proper care in soil and pot selection, your plant can be the victim of root rot. Rotting rot is majorly caused by excess water and it is one of the severe problems in plants.
The only way to avoid standing water is the proper selection of containers in which you grow your poinsettia. A proper container here means one having decent drainage holes. After each watering, you have to make sure the water doesn’t accumulate in the poinsettia pot.
Well, the poinsettia plant doesn’t have any specific watering requirement nor has any predefined watering frequency. This is because the soil moisture level may vary according to the humidity and temperature. Adding more to that, the poinsettia plant doesn’t necessarily require daily watering.
In general, watering once or twice a week is considered ideal for the plant, however, there may occur slight variations for different temperatures and humidity of your house, or the surroundings. The soil dryness level of the poinsettia plant is the ultimate access to know about the frequency of watering.
You should know that both overwatering and underwatering are the enemy of the poinsettia plant. But since it needs moist soil consistently, you need to hydrate the plant skipping a few days. Check for the soil and water the plant right away if the top layer of the soil feels dry, regardless of the time of the day.
Misting of the plant is done to uplift the humidity. In the case of Poinsettia, which is actually native to the humid and warm climatic conditions of Mexico, do they really need misting? This is the question.
Low humidity is indeed unfavorable to the poinsettia plant. Your poinsettia if exposed to low humidity for an extended period may dry out leaves, drop them off, or create a thriving environment for the pests and diseases. Therefore, a balanced humidity level is essential but misting may not only be the solution in the case of Poinsettia.
Potential Drawbacks of Misting Poinsettia
If you decide to mist your Poinsettia when the plant is indoors, the moisture on the leaves may provide a harboring environment for fungal diseases and pests.
When misting, if by any chance you choose to spray impure water, it can induce degrading effects on the poinsettia, diminishing the beauty of their vibrant foliage.
Misting can not ensure raised humidity for an extended period. It may not be an effective solution to address humidity necessity
Benefits of Misting the Right Way
If you find the indoor humidity lower than 40%, misting may prove to be fruitful but make sure to mist your poinsettia lightly. Choose the right water free from harmful additives or minerals to uplift the humidity around the plant as a temporary boost. Do not soak up the whole plant and foliage, make sure to gently spray water over the leaves.
The dust and debris may get blown and washed away if you properly spray water over the plant improving and easing the photosynthesis and transpiration process. Misting in the morning time provides a moist and natural thriving environment for the poinsettia.
Seasonal Watering Needs of Poinsettia
Winter
Winter is the month of poinsettia. During the colder months, these plants will offer their vibrant-colored foliage, perfectly aligning with the Christmas period. The poinsettias are actively growing during the winter, therefore, you need to give proper watering care to them. Learn more about growing poinsettia!
Regularly check for soil dryness and act accordingly based on the soil moisture. If your indoor temperature is high, which is most probably during the winter, the indoor heat can dry out your poinsettia faster.
Summer
Summer season is the season of thirst. The temperature and humidity of outdoors or indoors may dry out your poinsettia pretty quickly. Therefore, during the summer period, you might need to water your plants more frequently to give them proper and required hydration.
You should know that you can make your poinsettia flourish year-round with the right approach to plant care. Therefore, give a bit more attention to watering the plant and your plant can make it through the full year.
Fall
Fall or autumn is the period before winter and during this period, your poinsettia is preparing for the next blooming cycle, therefore, poinsettia care is crucial during this phase. It has been suggested to slightly reduce the frequency of watering during this period and bring the plant indoors. Make sure to place the plant in a dark room, allowing it to experience darkness for about 12 hours.
The water that comes into your tap may contain minerals in excess amount. If you use tap water that has high levels of calcium and magnesium constituents to water your poinsettia, it mightn’t be a good choice in the long run.
The minerals of the water over time may mix up in the soil in a significant amount that can potentially alter the soil nutrients. This way the required nutrients for the poinsettia are disrupted which often causes the foliage of the plant to discolor.
Besides minerals, tap water in many places may also consist of chlorine and fluoride. People treat water with such chemicals to improve the water quality, however, such treated water may not be good for delicate plants like poinsettia. Your plant may experience stunted growth with brown edges on the leaves.
How to Use Tap Water for Poinsettia?
Even though tap water is not entirely safe for your poinsettia because of the additional constituents, you can still make it useable to some extent. Most of the people around the world and household are using tap water to water their plants.
Pour tap water into a large open container before a day of watering your poinsettia. Make sure to allow the water to remain still and exposed for about the entire 24 hours so that chlorine which is a volatile element gets evaporated into the surroundings.
You can also use a water softener to make the water less hardened. This way you can make the tap water less harsh and use it to water your beloved and delicate poinsettia.
Rainwater
Watering poinsettia using rainwater brings the best out of your plant just like it is for other plants. Yes, rainwater is the best and purest water for any plant as it doesn’t possess harmful additions and unwanted elements, but rather it is found to contain a significant amount of beneficial nutrients for your poinsettia.
You can simply collect rainwater during the rainy season using large barrels or buckets. For this, you can place the preferred container outside. Be mindful not to collect contaminated water that comes from the dirty roof or any other medium. Once collected, you can store them in a cool and dark place.
The distillation process ensures the removal of impurities from the water. Therefore, distilled water is considered safe for your poinsettia. If possible and affordable, you can always go for distilled water to water the plant.
The use of distilled water eliminates the possibility of mineral deposition on the soil thereby, lowering the interference of other nutrients and additives during the absorption. You can use distilled water along with an all-purpose fertilizer for your poinsettia if you suspect the leaching process, where the essential minerals of the soil are drained away by the continuous use of distilled water.
Filtered Water
Filtration is an approach to eliminating foreign elements from the water. During the filtration of water, additives and other chemicals get removed without potentially losing the essential nutrients from the water. Therefore, filtered water is considered a balanced form of water for your poinsettia.
Using filtered water may prove to be costly but for a few indoor plants, why not invest to bring vibrant color to your house? Besides, poinsettia doesn’t need heavy watering, so you can choose to employ filtered water for your beloved poinsettia. You can simply install a filtration mechanism in your house and hydrate your plant as per the requirement.
Water is very essential for your beloved poinsettia but if the same water is poured heavily or if you overdo it, the root of the plant may rot, the leaves may turn yellow, or may fall off. Your plant may not survive for long.
Signs of Overwatered Poinsettia
If you notice unusual behavior of your poinsettia with fallen leaves or colored foliage turning yellow, more particularly the bottomed ones, you might have been watering your plant more than required.
When you know you have watered more to your poinsettia, you need to immediately drain the excess water from the pot. If possible, you can also repot poinsettia with a dry potting medium. Be mindful that overwatering is more severe than underwatering.
b. Underwatering
Just like overwatering, underwatering is another mistake people often make while growing poinsettia. A plant with a lack of water and insufficient moisture won’t flourish vibrantly and its foliage may show peculiar signs, asking for the required hydration.
Signs of Underwatered Poinsettia
If you do not provide the required hydration to your poinsettia, its foliage is the first one to show discomfort. Yes, the leaves are most probably dry and get brittle. Further, if you find the leaves of the plant to drop off, it also could be another sign your poinsettia needs water.
c. Ignoring Drainage
As mentioned earlier, the location and the pot where you have been growing your poinsettia have a lot to say when it comes to growing poinsettia in the best natural and ideal environment. You’ve to ensure good soil health and environment for your plant to thrive and flourish vibrantly.
For this, you shouldn’t ignore the drainage aspect of the pot and soil, poinsettia can never survive if the proper drainage is lacking.
