Joan Swenson: Cut heating your bill while saving your poinsettias
| Tuesday, Dec 02 2008 05:45 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 01:51 PM
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We keep the house chilly in the winter, a battle of the wills between my husband and me: Who will wimp out and turn on the heat? How low can you take it? Sixty-two degrees? Sixty?
It’s great for the winter gas bills, but perhaps even better for my poinsettias.
Poinsettias don’t like to get blasted by the dry heat of the central air, nor do they want to roast near the fireplace. A cool, pleasant house with the plants located near a bright window is just right. The soil won’t dry out, the poinsettia won’t wilt and they will look nice until shortly after Christmas, when I eject them from the house.
When buying poinsettias, buy the freshest you can find. Do not buy a poinsettia with even a hint of wilt. A wilted poinsettia will never improve and once the leaves have drooped, they will drop.
Poinsettias typically are wrapped in plastic or foil, but you should poke some holes to permit drainage, and place the pot on a plate or saucer.
In addition to avoiding heating vents and fireplaces, keep the plants away from televisions and computers.
Let your poinsettia’s soil become nearly dry, just moist, between waterings. Use lukewarm water. Don’t let the plant stand in a puddle of water. Do not fertilize.
I have heard from people who miraculously reconstitute poinsettias from one year to another, but I have never done it myself. The work involved is more than I can take — better to spend a few dollars on a new poinsettia every year than monkey with a plant that needs special pinching during the year and, to start the cycle that creates colored bracts, must be ensconced in a completely dark closet for 14 hours nightly from October to Christmas. And if you blow it and forget to put it in the dark, no colored bracts for you, my friend. Does this sound like fun?
No. Buy a new set of poinsettias and support the poinsettia growers.
Still, you could try growing your poinsettia outdoors in the spring. Put it on the south side of the house where it will get plenty of warmth from spring to fall and see what you can grow. It may be magnificent, like the ones in Southern California that grow lush and beautiful, although a good winter frost will knock it down.
LEARN TO PRUNE
You’ve got fruit trees — and that means you need to prune them. Watch amazing — and free — demos and pick up plenty of free literature at the annual UC Cooperative Extension’s annual deciduous fruit tree pruning demonstration.
Retired farm adviser Mario Viveros and current farm adviser John Karlik will be teaching how to prune from noon to 1:30 p.m. Dec. 16 and again from noon to 1:30 p.m. Dec. 17 at the extension offices, 1031 S. Mount Vernon Ave.
Viveros, who is truly Edward Scissorhands with a lopper, will discuss and show how to prune apricot, peach, nectarine, apple, almond and cherry trees, plus grapevines, at the orchard east of the main building. Pruning is all about making the right choices, and Viveros knows precisely which branches to keep and which should go. He can help the amateur understand better how to prune well. I would advise bringing paper and pen to take notes and a camera to get pictures of “before” and “after” trees.
