I thought I had the perfect conditions to get my last year's poinsettia to 'bloom', but I'm not so sure now.
I have kept it very much alive and healthy in our office in a north window. It is bushy, not leggy, and the dirt appears find with no mold. At night, there is no light, it is pitch dark. Two weeks ago, I moved it into the restroom on the vanity, which is an interior room with no windows. When I came in in the morning, I would put on just one light, which is a very dim, ceiling light - not quite a night light, but close. I turn off the light by 4:00, and then it is pitch dark until 8:00 a.m. It is a controlled climate - 70 degrees. There is an air conditiong vent on the ceiling, but the ceilings are 9'. There are a lot of new growth leaves and the plant still appears very healthy - on the whole. In the last two days, however, I have notice that a few of the brand new leaves - the real tiny ones are curling and drying up. There is no brown, white or any other odd color to them, they are just curling. I picked off the ones I saw, and I noticed that no "milk" came off of the stem/spot from which they came. Not all of the new growth leaves are doing this. I only water it once a week, and after two hours, whatever is not soaked up, I dump out of the drainage plate. Does anyone have any idea of what is happening? It is a one person office, so no one else has been in there. Today, I shut the a/c off - it's cooler around here anyway - to see if that was the cause.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: rcksmom,

It may be reacting to the move. This plant needs enough sunlight during the day in order to bloom. I have one variety (orange)now blooming in our garden now.
Blessings! Jayna

From the articles that I read, I thought that come the end of September, poinsettia's needed total darkness? Is that not true?

I found this on a google site. You may want to try going there as there are lots of sites with info on 'reblooming poinsettia'. That's what I typed in. Here is info from one site:

quote:

Winter (After Christmas until late April)
Light Bright Indirect Light
Water Allow the surface of the soil to dry out slightly between waterings. Water thoroughly, but do not allow the plant to sit in water.
Fertilizer None Needed
Spring (May to Mid-June)
Light Bright Light or Filtered Sunlight
Pruning Cut stems back by one third. Repot using a pot that is one size larger than the current pot.
Water Reduce watering. Water only often enough so that the soil does not become bone dry.
Fertilizer Plant Prod 20-20-20 once a month
Summer (Mid-June to September)
Light Bright Light or Filtered Sunlight
Water Allow the surface of the soil to dry out slightly between waterings. Water thoroughly, but do not allow the plant to sit in water.
Fertilizer Plant Prod 20-20-20 every 2 weeks
Fall (September to November)
Light Bright Indirect Light
Darkness 14 CONSECUTIVE hours of TOTAL darkness for 10 weeks. Start the darkness treatment September 15th to have the poinsettia in full color by November 25th.
Water Allow the surface of the soil to dry out slightly between waterings. Water thoroughly, but do not allow the plant to sit in water.
Fertilizer Plant Prod 20-20-20 every 2 weeks

Hope it helps.

good info there, mgt...absolutely no light during its' blackout time or your flower initiation will be off...

Thank you to all of you; and your advice is right on track. I took a chance and called one of the more prominent nurseries here. I didn't call them earlier because I figured that they just import them anyway so maybe they wouldn't give me any information. But the man there told me what you all have. My problem was the lighting, and the artificial lighting I was giving it wasn't what the plant needs. He said to follow the natural lighting for winter. That is when the sun goes down (which around here right now is 7:00) and after that no light at all. I couldn't put it in the north window that it has been in since last year because there is security perimeter lighting right above it. So I've put it in a window in the back of the building which is a south window, but it doesn't get any light at all after sundown since there is a big open field in the back of the building. I'm guessing that I probably messed up the scheduling for flower initiation, but I'm still hoping to have a nice red poinsettia for the Christmas season. The nursury guy also said he is interested in knowing if I get it to 'bloom' since his understanding is that a poinsettia needs to be outdoors in the summer. So I might be defeated from the start since it has been indoors in a controlled climate. We shall see......