How late is too late to pinch for a decent sized 6.5" poinsettia. We usually pinch this week, but they are a little behind. I don't feel that they are rooted enough and put on enough new growth for a pinch. I'd like to wait at least another week....but I don't want to wait too long. Any advice?

jenny -

It depends on the varieties you are growing and your geographic location. Pinch dates will vary depending on different varieties vigor, their flower initiation date, and where you are located.

Let us know which varieties you are growing and we'll give you some recommended pinch dates. For most varieties you still have plenty of time to pinch and get adequate growth before flower initiation.

Thanks!

We are growing sonora jingle, sonora white glittler, prestige, whitestar, maren, mars, orion, silverstar. The one variety I'm most worried about is the Sonora Jingle Bells. It was the first variety we planted, (8-9) and is still barely showing any roots at the edge of the pot. Everything else is showing good root growth, and should be ready to pinch in a couple days. We are located in Oklahoma.

jenny -

Sonora Jingle Bells is not one of our varieties but thanks for having the confidence in Ecke for technical support.

Sonora Jingle Bells can initiate early if temperatures are cool (62-64F) from September 15th through September 25th. Assuming this variety would initiate early and based on our recommendations for a medium vigor cultivar, the last day Sonora Jingle Bells should be pinched is approximately August 31st.

Prestige and Maren both initiate September 25th so the latest they should be pinched in your location would be approximately September 12th. These are both medium vigor cultivars that require at least 17 days of vegetative growth prior to flower initiation.

Hello I have the same question as Jenny but the variety in question is Freedom.
Another question is regarding the application of iron chelate fertilizer. Do you recommentd the to apply it mixed together with the acid(phosphoric)or in sequence one after the other

I am asking about Freedom , when is the last date for pinching freedom and getting a decent 6" plant?
I pinched my plants on 7th of September I know it is abit late but we couldn't get the plants in to tlebanon any earlier. How shouldI treat these plants regarding spraying of growth regulators and so on...
thank you for your help

Rima, hopefully we can address all the questions you have posted recently.

First, your pinch date of of 7 September should be fine in your region. As you know, the time between pinch and flower initiation influences how large your finished plants will grow.

In your region we expect poinsettias to develop fairly rapidly due to the day temperatures so you should have about 2-3 weeks of good vegetative growth to support your crop. I am not sure how this pinch date compares to your past crops, so look at the records as it will help you determine the answer to one of your other questions...how much PGR is required!

IF your pinch date this season is later than last year anticipate you will not get as much growth and therefore not need the same level of PGR treatment as you had last year. The question becomes if your plants in past years were tall enough, too tall or too short? For fun let us say you had difficulty controling height and they got too tall. A good starting point in this case is to either 1) start and pinch the crop later than the previous schedule, which may be what has happened this year or 2) use more frequent applications of PGR's or higher rates of the PGR's than you did last year. If your plants were too tall last season it may be that similar PGR treatments as used then will be effective given your later start and pinch date. Unfortuntately each year brings different conditions and different growth. Your best approach is to be tracking height development weekly and making your decisions on treatments based on that growth. Keep in mind we would prefer to see as much of the control accomplished prior to mid October so that bract size or timing is not compromised. I wish we could just give you the cook book on how to treat, but mother nature makes that impossible.

Regarding the use of iron chelate, it can usually be mixed with your fertilizers to be applied and does not have to be done counter to the application of your other materials. Hope this helps! Jack