How poinsettias grow and get to market

November 19, 6:16 PMGardening ExaminerRobin Ripley

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Growing more than 50,000 poinsettias for staged
delivery during the holiday season involves careful
planning, computer monitoring and lots of expense.

Those poinsettias we see at the grocery store, nursery, Target and the local convenience store don’t just sprout there. Growing poinsettias is a huge—and sometimes risky—proposition.

Homestead Gardens, one of the U.S.’s largest independent retail centers with a wholesale operation, grows more than 50,000 of those poinsettias. During the holiday season they offer 40 established cultivars plus more than 20 trial cultivars. 

There is great variety in the coloring of all these poinsettias, ranging from traditional red poinsettias to white (really, almost a yellow or lime green color), pink, marbled or “jingle bells”—a poinsettia with a speckled coloring. 

Although consumers may prefer this cinnamon
poinsettia, most often they will buy what they
know and are familiar with--red.

Even the shape of the leaves on the different poinsettia cultivars can vary. Some poinsettias, such as the winter rose varieties, have curving leaves. Growers also can vary the size of the bracts, the modified leaves that we usually think of as the flowers, by pinching back the plant during development or allowing it to grow.

Despite all these choices, Oliver Storm, Homestead Garden’s head grower, says that most people still choose red poinsettias.

“What people like and what they buy are two different things. People may choose other poinsettia colors during trials,” said Storm, “but they when go to buy, they go back to what they know. And that’s red poinsettias.”

Poinsettia growing can be an expensive gamble for growers, according to Storm. A cold snap can increase the costs to heat greenhouses to the 65 degrees the plants require.

“The cost to grow can quickly exceed what you can sell the plant for,” said Storm. 

What we usually think of as the flowers of the
poinsettia are really just modified leaves. The
true flowers, the cyathia, are the small cluster in
the center of the colorful leaves.

In addition to the expense of housing and heating, growing more than 50,000 plants for fresh delivery during the holidays is a highly strategic operation. Each poinsettia cultivar grows at a different rate. What’s more, the growing must be staged to ensure there are always plants at their peak available.

To accomplish this logistical feat, the poinsettias’ growth is carefully tracked using measurements analyzed by a computerized graphical growth monitoring program.

Homestead Gardens starts most of their poinsettias in July with two-inch cuttings shipped from four major poinsettia breeders. Growth regulators or other strategies are used to ensure that the growth for each cultivar is tracking on time to be ready for delivery at regular intervals during the holidays. This type of attention to the plants’ development allows Homestead to have a variety of poinsettias in peak blooming condition throughout the holiday season.

With all this poinsettia expertise, Storm says the two most mistakes people make in caring for poinsettias are over-watering and exposing them to drafts.

“More poinsettias are killed by over watering than from any other cause,” said Storm. “Drafts from opening doors or windows can also shorten the life of the plant.”

What is Storm’s advice for what to do with the poinsettia after the holidays?

“Throw it away and buy a new one next year,” he laughs.

Homestead Gardens is located in Davidsonville, MD.  Their Poinsettia Showcase, complete with voting on the various cultivars, is Thursday through Sunday, November 20 through 23, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call (443) 607-1930.