Florida Poinsettia Rooted Cuttings

We ordered 300 poinsettia liners from Knox Nursery in Clermont, Florida; Bill Moore is our rep for Knox. We picked them up on August 25th, picked up the poinsettia potting mix from BWI in Apopka. We spent Sunday putting them into gallon pots with Osmocote fertilizer tabs. We didn’t pinch the growing tips at that time since they were just rooted cuttings. We only had a spot that had high partial shade to put them with one group of 100 getting a bit more sun than the other 200. Scott said they would do better without full sun. I was skeptical since poinsettias are natives of Mexico, but they have come a long way through hybridization since they were first brought to the U.S.


Anyway, the poinsettias that were in more sun are more compact and not as leggy as the other 200 that had more shade. We never did pinch them back, and I think it’s too late to pinch now. I don’t think we have enough growing time between now and when I want to plant them in the yard for the holidays. I am thinking of pinching maybe 10-15 of each of the 3 varieties to see how they react… so more on that to come from My Central Florida Garden.  I will get some pictures and the variety names in an upcoming post.