pointsettia drying up after pruning
 

hi there,
i tried pruning away the leaves from my pointsettia left over from
christmas.
the plant consisted of 5 stalks with large leaves (green/red) at top
and some small buds lower down. i made the cuts around an inch higher
than each bud.

the buds developed into leaves 5mm across while the incision points
started drying up.

now a month later the "drying" has progressed an inch downward along
the stalk, and shrivalled the new leaves too.

only 1 stalk still has leaves. these have grown a bit.

what went wrong?should i have made the incision higher up? did i
amputate too many of the original leaves and maybe the plant went into
shock?

thanks,
Sam

pointsettia drying up after pruning
 

On Sat, 19 Jun 2004 07:54:59 -0700, Sam wrote:

hi there,
i tried pruning away the leaves from my pointsettia left over from
christmas.
the plant consisted of 5 stalks with large leaves (green/red) at top
and some small buds lower down. i made the cuts around an inch higher
than each bud.

the buds developed into leaves 5mm across while the incision points
started drying up.

now a month later the "drying" has progressed an inch downward along
the stalk, and shrivalled the new leaves too.

only 1 stalk still has leaves. these have grown a bit.

what went wrong?should i have made the incision higher up? did i
amputate too many of the original leaves and maybe the plant went into
shock?

thanks,
Sam


Hmmmmm, did you keep the soil moist during the recovery period? I usually
prune 1/4 inch above a leaf node personally with just about all plants. I
also provide bright light but no direct sun for the first month or so.

Normally, what is done is you trim the whole plant back about a half
way and repot.

pointsettia drying up after pruning
 

did i prune too much? here is a link to a small pic of the plant

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/p...5454830467.jpg

Sam

Tom Randy wrote in message ...
On Sat, 19 Jun 2004 07:54:59 -0700, Sam wrote:

hi there,
i tried pruning away the leaves from my pointsettia left over from
christmas.
the plant consisted of 5 stalks with large leaves (green/red) at top
and some small buds lower down. i made the cuts around an inch higher
than each bud.

the buds developed into leaves 5mm across while the incision points
started drying up.

now a month later the "drying" has progressed an inch downward along
the stalk, and shrivalled the new leaves too.

only 1 stalk still has leaves. these have grown a bit.

what went wrong?should i have made the incision higher up? did i
amputate too many of the original leaves and maybe the plant went into
shock?

thanks,
Sam


Hmmmmm, did you keep the soil moist during the recovery period? I usually
prune 1/4 inch above a leaf node personally with just about all plants. I
also provide bright light but no direct sun for the first month or so.

Normally, what is done is you trim the whole plant back about a half
way and repot.

pointsettia drying up after pruning
 

On Mon, 21 Jun 2004 12:49:01 -0700, Sam wrote:

did i prune too much? here is a link to a small pic of the plant

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/p...5454830467.jpg


The plant looks shot to me. Prune the branches back about half way just
above a leaf node, keep it in bright light, no sun and keep the soil moist
for the next month or so. No fertilzer. If you see no new leaves emerg
after a month or month and a half toss it.