Even if poinsettias can be bought very cheaply during the season, it can be worthwhile to propagate particularly beautiful varieties yourself. However, you should only choose very healthy, vigorous plants as mother plants. The offshoots of weak, sickly poinsettias take root very poorly.

The poinsettia is best propagated by cuttings

Cut several cuttings

To propagate a poinsettia, take cuttings. The propagation of poinsettias from seeds usually does not work, since no mature seeds are formed in our latitudes. Poinsettias are only grown from seeds when new varieties are to be created.

Since not all cuttings will sprout roots, cut off more shoots than you actually need. The best time for propagation is spring after flowering.

Place the lower ends of the cut shoots in hot water for a short time. This closes the interfaces and no more milky juice can escape. If the ends are not sealed, the cuttings will bleed and dry out.

Set cuttings correctly

  • Prepare pots with potting soil
  • Remove the leaves from the cuttings below
  • Halve top leaves if necessary
  • Coat the ends with rooting powder
  • Keep substrate moist but not too wet
  • possibly cover with plastic foil
  • Keep pots warm and bright

You only have to halve the upper leaves if they are very large. Otherwise, the cuttings will evaporate too much water over the leaf and dry up.

The right location for cuttings

Place the pots with the poinsettia cuttings in a warm, bright place. Temperatures above 20 degrees are ideal. Avoid direct sunlight as the shoots dry out quickly.

Nurture cuttings until they root

Keep the soil well moist, but make sure that no waterlogging can occur. If you have covered the pots with foil, you should air them regularly so that the cuttings do not become moldy.

As soon as the poinsettia sprouts again, you will know whether the propagation has worked. Plant the offshoots in larger pots when they have developed at least two pairs of leaves.

Mossing off the poinsettia

A poinsettia can also be propagated by removing moss. To do this, a wedge is cut into a strong shoot. In this wedge you put a cutting that you have cut diagonally at the bottom and treated with heat.

Wrap the area with crepe paper or other absorbent material and keep it moist.

Make poinsettia offshoots bloom

In order for the new poinsettias to turn red, you must first put them in the dark for several weeks. The poinsettia is a short-day plant that only develops its colored bracts after a dark phase.

The plants need a location where they get less than eleven to twelve hours of light for six to eight weeks.

tips

So that the young plants branch out better, cut them back more often. Then the plants become bushier and form more shoots with colored bracts.

Category:

Indoor plants