To ask how you look after a Poinsetta plant?

[HippoEvans]

Someone has very kindly bought me a beautiful Poinsetta flower (plant?).

It doesn’t have any care instructions- do I put it on the window sill and water it daily? Really want it to last as long as possible l, I’m really chuffed

Don’t water it daily! They originate from Mexico and don’t need a lot of water. A small amount every couple of days is fine. Alternatively you can remover from it’s pot once a week, soak it and return it to the pot.

They like lots of light and warmth, so a windowsill is ideal. But they don’t like draughts, so not near your front door.

If it’s going yellow it’s had too much water so let it dry out.

Miss my Christmas poinsettias. Not compatible with dogs, sadly.

keep away from droughts but they like the light.
Don't put on the window cill if it's over a radiator, they don't like this.
I had one for about 2 years. I threw it in the end as I'd had enough

I had mine for over a year, definitly dont need to be watered a lot as i frequently forgot

They are really hardy and barely need watered. It’s not Christmas without a poinsettia in my house, reminds me of my gran. 🌱

Do they ever get their red leaves back?
I've had a couple for a couple of years and once they lose the red ones mine never go red again.

Ok thank you everyone for advice

One egg cup of water every day, lots of light, this will keep them with red leaves too for over a year

I've got one that's been going for three years and it goes red every year - last year it was around feb time but this year it's already going red, so festive!! You can apparently time them to go red deliberately by putting them in a certain amount of darkness per day - I've never done anything that convoluted.

Mine seems to like sun and I water it about once a week. This very hot summer heatwave we've just had I gave it a summer holiday in the garden for a few months, but brought it back inside as soon as the temperature cooled down outside.

I also chop it back quite a bit every spring. It's massive now.

Mine lives in the kitchen window but has never turned red again

We’ve had one for four years which my husband nurtured like a bonsai for two of them. He now neglects it utterly and it’s still fine. Healthy neglect- go for it.

Just don’t over-water it! I make that mistake every year and drown them!

Snozzlemaid ours didn't turn red again either so we did as squidkid said and put it in the dark. Every night we stick it under the stairs and it's working, plenty of the leaves are turning red. It was more an experiment to see if it worked we aren't losers with nothing better to do and it definitely does. I usually kill them before the end of January but this one is going strong over a year later

I’m not some sort of gardening whiz btw. I’ve had ones since that died within a month! Ironically my mega-poinsettia was one I got for 10p in a bargain bin, neglected and sad!

I bought one as a decoration 3 Christmasses ago after assurances from my colleague they always die - still going strong in the original pot on a windowsill over a radiator- gets watered once a week at most and leaves do periodically turn red. Think I got the hardy variety and rather fond of it now!

If you are me and a nightmare for houseplants... give it to a friend

The label on mine days it needs 12 hours a day darkness to keep its red leaves. So far it's working, it goes in the cupboard under the stairs in the evening/night.

Google tells me they're mildly toxic for cats & dogs if they nibble on them. Any thoughts on /experiences with this? We have a cat here now this Xmas.

I have two cats and it's never been a problem

my MIL has bought me 1 every year for last 20 or so years - I killed them all!

This year DH chucked it into an empty outdoor pot and its doing really well, much prefers outside to in.

Wow - You are all amazing. Mine never seem to last until Xmas. I seem to be able to kill all indoor plants. I have even managed to kill a cactus