Did you get a plant gift for Christmas?
If you happen to be gifted a beautiful amaryllis, poinsettia or paperwhites, do you know how to care for them? Where to properly place them in your home? Here is some helpful advice for you.
Amaryllis are gaining in popularity even over poinsettias. When your amaryllis arrives in bloom, place the pot in a room with a temperature around 60-65 F. If someone happens to give you an amaryllis bulb to start, then that bulb will need warmer temperatures to get started. This means 70-75 F until you see a flower stalk. As for sunlight, it will need four hours each day. This could mean placing it in a window with a southern exposure or an eastern or western exposure.
With your potted amaryllis in full bloom, water well once a week. If the soil is dry to the touch, water again. Make sure the soil is well draining. While your amaryllis is in full bloom, it only needs fertilization every two weeks or with a slow-release fertilizer once a month. After the flowers fade, cut the flower stalks at the base of the plant. Remove the plant from full sun but do not start on a fertilizer regime until after your bulb has a rest period. Stop watering it and fertilizing it for eight to 10 weeks. This means the old leaves will yellow and wither.
After your bulb has an eight-to-10-week rest period without water and fertilization and you start to see new growth, place it back in full sun and begin watering and fertilizing it again. Remember the temperature now needs to be slightly warmer, from 65-70 F. Next season, the flowering will become more prolific.
Poinsettias make for great gifts and come in so many different variations of pink, red and white — even yellow. Poinsettia flowers are made up of bracts, which look like petals. The bract is a specialized leaf which, in this case, turns from green to red pigmentation based on a period of 16 hours of uninterrupted darkness and then eight hours of daylight. The tiny yellow cyathia in the center are the true flowers. The colorful bracts attract insects to the flowers and will drop after pollination.
Poinsettias are native to Mexico, where they grow wild. In our homes, they need four to six hours of bright light. They can be placed near a south, east or west window. Be sure to avoid drafts because this plant likes neither cold air nor excessive heat. A temperature fluctuation from 65-70 F is an ideal environment. Keep the soil moist but well drained, but if you drench your soil, the roots will rot.
When the poinsettia is in flower, it does not need fertilization. Start fertilizing when you see new stems or leaves. When you apply fertilizer, a general all-purpose fertilizer works well. Use half strength and fertilize every three to four weeks. Follow the directions on the all-purpose fertilizer you use for half strength.
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