I sure wish my learning curve for growing Poinsettias was more like the growth curves I’ve seen. I posted one message under “Growing Freedom at School”, but quickly realized that I didn’t know enough to ask the right questions. I have tried to read everything available in the last couple of days to get some semblance of a schedule to work from. As my earlier post noted, I am new to Poinsettias, and inherited a delivery in mid-August of 700 Freedoms. I now have control of my greenhouse temperatures (65-80), have planted 3 plants per 8” pot, and realize there are several steps I need to take to insure a November 27 sale date. I hope the following questions can be addressed to help our school be more successful with this sale.
1) First, we received our Freedom shipment in mid-August and planted them on August 30 (90 days before the sale date of November 27). I believe we can use the sample growth charts and growth regulators to keep the height controlled. However, I am concerned about the plants maturing too early.
a. Is there a proven growth control product and sequence to use that will fit this scenario?
b. Is it necessary to pinch as I had planned and can that be used as a growth inhibitor? Should we pinch once or twice? When?
2) I am not able to control the temperature as closely as I would like. I can keep it between 65 and 80 degrees, but am using lots of moisture on some days.
a. Is that going to be a problem in terms of initiating more growth?
3) Currently I am using an old greenhouse that has the yellow fiberglass top and sides, along with a shade cloth. I have no way to measure light intensity as of yet. I also have nearby night lights and am adjacent to a football stadium.
a. Am I going to encounter some problems with daytime light intensity as the plants mature and coloration begins?
b. Can I use black plastic to shade the plants at night? Is this necessary with Freedom? If so how many hours of dark per nigh are required, and when should I begin?
4) I have not yet used fertilizer or fungicide, but realize through this forum that these will be necessary.
a. Please provide details about fungicide(s) to use.
b. Is there a recommended insecticide schedule for the region?
c. Will 20-10-20 liquid feed at 300 ppm suffice?

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

I am a grower in KS, here is how I would handle your questions....throw them away and don't grow poinsettias...Just kidding, they aren't easy but this might help you...

1. Pinch them now, leave 5-7 leaves. Plot them on the growth curve weekly after the shoots emerging are about 1-2" long. Only apply growth regulators (for simplicity I would use Cycocel) if you are above the curve. 1500ppm if you are close to the curve, 2500ppm (yes I know this is high but in KS I use it all the time and don't see bract size reduction) if they are too tall, but stop the 2500 ppm the last week of September. Use NO more Cycocel on Freedom in your area after 10/15.
2. They initiate flower by the start of short days in about 2 weeks. They won't mature too early. You are going to have some trouble with that stadium, however. Yes, hang some plastic but be sure it doesn't affect your ventilation and get too hot in the greenhouse.

3. Do NOT let it get below 64-66 degrees at night, try to keep around 75 in the day. In KS, and I am sure Micheal can say the same in TX, it will still get into the 90s in late October. Just try to keep them cool, they will be ok.

4. I would pull the shade off in another 2 weeks, but Micheal in TX may offer another suggestion because he is so far south as you are.

5. For simplicity, yes, feed them 20-10-20 at about 200ppm until the last week in September, then move to 200ppm 15-5-15 Cal Mag product to slow the ammoniacal N down. You must add some Molybdenum to the feed tank as well.

I am sure Ecke can give you more exact instructions, as a grower this is what I would do....Good Luck!

Here are my suggestions based on raising poinsettias in a school greenhouse:

I would pinch now. Leave 5-6 nodes.

You might want to try a couple of pots that are unpinched straight ups. You will probably have to use growth regulators to control the straight ups if you chose to try this. A straight up is a plant that is unpinched that is allowed to grow a very dominate and showy bract or bracts.

How are your plants spaced? Pot to Pot?

What growth regulating chemical have you used? Bonzi? Cycocel? A-Rest? B-9? Florel?

At school we use Florel and Bonzi, because Florel is dirt-cheap and Bonzi goes a long way. We use the Florel sandwich early in the crop cycle and finish out with Bonzi toward the end. With Freedom I have found that you need to use Bonzi in order to combat the late season stretch of Freedom.

If you can keep your greenhouse between 65 and 80 degrees you are doing just fine. The week we planted our cuttings averaged 105, and we haven’t lost one yet. You will get more rapid growth to a point. Sometimes with extreme temperatures we have experienced leaf distortions that eventually get covered up by new growth. I doubt that you will have many problems.

From what I have been told light pollution is not a big factor with newer varieties as with the older varieties. The rule of thumb that was passed onto me is that if you can see the veins of the leaves in the dark it is too bright.

As far as fungicides go we do not use chemical fungicides. Last year I switched over to using biological fungicides. We incorporate Actino-Iron into the soil and then drench with Actinovate a couple of weeks later. We have had good success with this. If you haven’t applied a chemical fungicide yet you probably could do so now. As the days get cooler the soil will remain a little too moist at times, which could provide an environment for disease. We have used Banrot with good success as well as drenched with Zerotol.

We used Marathon for 2 years and have now switched to Tristar by Cleary. This stuff works great and now comes in smaller containers for mixing in small quantities. I rotate Tristar with Tame/Orthene followed by Preclude aerosols developed by Whitmire. Put up a couple of sticky cards to monitor pest populations. We usually spray or release the aerosols once a month. Rotation is the key to keeping pest populations supressed.

The only fertilizer that we use is a Cal-Mag blend 15-5-15 w/STEM added for the trace elements. I would also purchase calcium chloride to spray towards the end of the crop cycle. This stuff is great. We used it for the first time last year and little to no bract edge burn.

Again, this is what we do. I am not saying that it is 100% bullet-proof, but it works for us. Remeber that this is a learning experience not only for the kids, but for you. I takes more than one season to get everything just the way you want it.

I like the title of your question; it would make a good Lynyrd Skynyrd or Allman Bros. song (I’m an AL native). You have gotten some good suggestions above. I use poinsettias as a model crop in my greenhouse production classes and tell the students that it is a good crop to learn on because everything is important and you can mess them up every week. A couple of keys is to pay attention to the details, which you are doing, and then try to keep it simple. Major issues are fertilization, whitefly control, size control, not over watering and then getting them to finish about on time. From your description I see 2 significant concerns. First is the lights at night. Tracey’s suggestion of using leaf veins is good. There can be enough light that you can see the plant and can walk around. All varieties can be effected, but early flowering varieties like Orion and Freedom are less sensitive then later flowering varieties. Then an issue may be the yellow fiberglass. Your light levels may be too low. Have good quality poinsettias been done in this house in the past year or two? If the light is marginally too low the plants will be weaker with smaller leaves and bracts. Your temps now are typical of the south and you are OK. A key later is whether or not you have adequate heating to keep 65 nights in November. You only need to use black plastic at night, if you have too much external light. If needed, I suggest starting about Oct.1 – 3 and doing it for 7 weeks. If you can not keep heat up later in crop maybe start covering Sept. 28. In your previous question you indicated you are in 8” pots. Your plant date and pinch date are a little late for typical 8”. This means the plants will probably not finish as tall as typical and the normal 8” growth curves will not work. I suggest planning on producing nice plants that are a little short. Your schedule is closer to a 6” schedule for a crop that would finish at 15-18 inches. Good luck! Jim

Thanks Greenthumb, Tracy, and Jim. When I first saw the condition of the greenhouses I inherited and saw the delivery of Poinsettias, I almost did toss my hands up and sell them to the highest first bidder. I have already learned growing Poinsettias are not for the weak. The suggestions you all provided seem very much on track, and should help with each specific aspect of the task at hand. I look forward to implementing what I have learned here. I will try to keep you updated. I do have one other question. I have done business plans before, complete with flow charts, market surveys, etc. Looking at this endeavour right now, I'm afraid to calculate our profits. The question: Is there actually any money to be made here, with Wal-Mart 1/2 mile away selling nice Poinsettias for less than $5 (so I hear). Never mind that, the hands-on science will worth it all. Thanks a lot for the great info.

eteacher,
Poinsettias like any other Horticultural crop have very tight profit margins these days and any major mistakes in production can cost you your income for the season. I thought I had seen everything that could go wrong in my 33 years of the Nursery business on Poinsettias until this week! In one overnight period I lost over 30% of this years crop from "army ants" that completely stripped the Poinsettias in the back end of one greenhouse. I have never had these ants in any of my greenhouses and did not know they would attack Poinsettias so passionately. All foliage, even the tiny side shoots, were completely removed and carted off. I was amazed when I entered the greenhouse last Wednesday morning to see row after row of empty containers. Now I think I can really say I've "seen it all" in 30+ years of Poinsettia production.
...Michael Pawelek (Pecan Hill Nursery)
PS- Those of us that are independent growers also have to include cost of land, greenhouses and local taxes into production overhead!

Wal-Mart doesn't sell nice poinsettias!!! No, you probably won't make money, but the education you and your students get will be priceless. Poinsettia production makes you appreciate other things in life!

Whoa! do you have any pictures?

Mark, Sorry no pictures of the destruction. I have already cleared the empty containers off the benches,rotated Poinsettias and filled in the empty portions of the benches, and will now use the empty bay to start production of my larger plants for the Spring crop of '2007. I see no need to heat a whole empty bay so I'm taking the high road and using the extra space for bigger and better Spring sales. I did find the nest in the neighbors field across the fence and have permission to destroy the colony though they are underground. Next year I'll survey the adjoining property before and during the Poinsettia crop to insure this does not happen again. These are very interesting ants. As I understand from some reading on the Internet they do not eat the foliage themselves but collect foliage and ferment it underground and then feed it to aphids they have collected. The aphids are then "milked" like cows for the sugary "honeydew" extract they exude. The ants live off the sugary extract!...Michael Pawelek

I finally started reading the Ecke Poinsettia Handbook it is very informative and good reading. I recommend it if you do not have it. This is my first year as well. I should have read the book before I ordered cuttings but now it makes more sence because we have been making many of the mistakes that the book discusses.

Victor Noble