Aug 2, 2019

‘Tis the Season … for Poinsettias By Tim Hodson

Even though we are only in the first full week of August, I know that many of you are already thinking about the holidays because it is time for poinsettias!

In the August issue of GPN, Paul Fisher at the University of Florida and Jim Faust and Michael Tierney at Clemson University have written an article on how poinsettias are impacted by the summer and fall temperatures in the greenhouse.

In the article, “Heat Delay in Poinsettias,” the authors take a look at the physiology of heat delay, temperature conditions that affect risk and strategies to cope with this issue to grow profitable poinsettia crops.

Fisher, Faust and Tierney discuss their research from the 2018 poinsettia season to help growers produce these long-term, lower margin crops and manage greenhouse timing for shipping salable plants to market at the right time.

The researchers analyzed historical fall weather conditions in their region to illustrate how climate is changing, and to show how temperature data can be interpreted in terms of heat delay risk on poinsettias.

They also present different production strategies as well as discuss specific cultivar performance to help minimize the risks of heat delay.

The authors say it is critical to keep a close eye on crop development and temperatures in August and September, so you can evaluate the risk of delayed shipments from heat delay in November and December.

So even though it is only Aug. 5, if you are growing poinsettias this summer you are going to want to check out this article. Click here to read all about it.

‘Tis the season …

— Tim