What if the leaves of poinsettia are not red? how to fertilize poinsettia?

Poinsettia, with bright colors and a long flowering period, is loved by everyone. Red leaves are one of its biggest features, and few leaves are such colors, but when poinsettia leaves are not red, it shows that there is something wrong with it and needs treatment. Here are some tips to solve this problem.

What if the poinsettia leaves are not red?

1. The growth of stems and leaves is not up to the climate: sufficient sunlight is needed during the growth period of stems and leaves to promote the rapid growth of stems and leaves, and only after luxuriant branches and leaves can the bracts turn red.

2. Excessive waterlogging or drought: poinsettia is sensitive to water. During the growing period, if the water supply is sufficient, the stems and leaves grow rapidly, sometimes the internodes elongate and the leaves are narrow.

On the contrary, the lack of water in basin soil or sometimes dry and wet will cause yellow shedding of leaves and uneven growth of branches. therefore, water control is directly related to the growth and development of poinsettia.

3. Too much light: poinsettia is a kind of short-day plant. If the sunshine time is too long, the leaves will not turn red. If you want to make the bracts of poinsettia turn red ahead of time, it is necessary to control the daily light within 12 hours. Only in this way can flower buds differentiate.

If your poinsettia has not been red, you can try to light only 9 hours a day, so that the bracts will turn red after 5 weeks.

4. Insufficient potassium and phosphorus fertilizer: in the growing and flowering season, liquid fertilizer is applied every half a month or so. After autumn, more fertilizers rich in potassium and phosphorus should be applied to promote flower bud differentiation and ensure the purity of bract leaves. If you do not pay attention to fertilization, too much nitrogen fertilizer, insufficient phosphorus and potassium, the color of bracts is not pure.

How to fertilize poinsettia

Poinsettia likes rich sandy soil. In addition to adding organic fertilizer and horseshoe slices as base fertilizer when potting and changing pots, sesame paste residue liquid fertilizer diluted 5 times and fully mature should be applied every 10 to 15 days during the growing and flowering season. After entering autumn, 0.3% compound fertilizer can be applied once a week for 3 to 4 times in a row to promote bract discoloration and flower bud differentiation.

When is the flowering period of poinsettia?

The natural flowering period of poinsettia is from December to February of the following year, and short-day treatment can bloom ahead of time. To make the bracts turn red ahead of time, the daily light should be controlled within 12 hours to promote flower bud differentiation.

How to manage the flowering period of poinsettia

1. Temperature: poinsettia has weak cold resistance and must be moved into the greenhouse before frosting. Its suitable temperature is 18 ℃ ~ 28 ℃, and the room temperature in winter is 16 ℃ ~ 18 ℃, no less than 15 ℃, otherwise the bracts will turn blue, the basal leaves will turn yellow and fall off, and the phenomenon of "peeling" will occur. Temperature has a great effect on flower bud differentiation.

2. Light: it is a very important factor for plant growth, because it is related to plant photosynthesis. Poinsettia likes a warm, sunny climate, and the light intensity during flowering is generally 20,000 lux.

3. Flowering regulation: poinsettia is a typical short-day plant, and flower bud differentiation is greatly affected by sunshine time. When the night temperature is lower than 21 ℃, the critical day length is 12 hours and 20 minutes, which means that the flower buds stop differentiation when the sunshine time is longer than 12 hours and 20 minutes.

In the south of the Yangtze River, the critical day length is in late September, while in the north of the Yangtze River, the critical day length is in mid-September. Under natural conditions, poinsettia begins to differentiate from flower buds in autumn, and the exact date of flowering varies slightly from environment to environment.

Therefore, the florescence can be regulated by the requirement of the day length of poinsettia.

4. Moisture: poinsettia is more sensitive to water, depending on the cultivation substrate. In general, when the topsoil is dry, it should be watered.

5. Fertilizer: Huaduo No. 3 should be irrigated with 1000 times of liquid during the flowering period, once every 10 to 15 days. If nitrogen deficiency occurs in this period, if the leaves are light green or yellow and become small, Huaduo No. 8 should be replenished with 600 times 800 times liquid in time.

Poinsettia can watch both leaves and flowers, and its flowering period is in the cold winter, which undoubtedly adds a trace of color to winter, so the management of flowering is very important to it, and it needs to pay attention to the control of temperature, light, water and fertilizer, otherwise it will affect its flowering, so we should pay special attention to these aspects.