The Market Bulletin: Perfect Poinsettias
The Market Bulletin | December 2019
West Virginia Department of Agriculture
Christmas comes just once a year, but for Scott Barnitz, it lasts nearly six months. The Vice President of Bob’s Greenhouse and Market in Mason is in charge of the poinsettia crop at the family business – all 80,000 of them!
“My dad started this business 50 years ago. We’ve been growing poinsettias for about 41 of those years,” according to Barnitz.
After four decades in the poinsettia business, the family has growing the plants down pat. The work got underway at the beginning of summer when they received cuttings from Central and South America.
“We start with an unrooted cutting in late June/early July. We stick the cuttings under mist and grow the roots on those young cuttings. Once they get roots, we pot them into a specific size and then start the growing process. It takes about six to eight people here to get the plants spaced and on the drip irrigation system. Since September, we’ve had two to three people just taking care of the poinsettias. That number will increase when it comes time to start shipping,” explained Barnitz.
Growing poinsettias isn’t easy. They need plenty of fertilizer and just the right amount of sunlight.
“The biggest thing you have to consider when you’re growing poinsettias is getting them to bloom on time. It all depends on the amount of light they’re exposed to,” stressed Barnitz. “Starting the first day of fall, from that point on, the plant will initiate its flower response. It will bloom on time as long as it doesn’t get any artificial light at night. It’s extremely sensitive to light. It confuses the plant if it gets artificial light.”
That means as soon as the sun goes down, the lights go off in the greenhouse and there’s no ambient light shining in from outside sources for the next seven to nine weeks. Once the poinsettias start flowering, there’s no stopping them. By early to mid-December, you have flowering plants ready to grace homes, offices and churches.
The vast majority of poinsettias grown at Bob’s are what they call traditional.
“Over the years, we have settled into a very comfortable position of growing almost 80 percent traditional red,” said Barnitz. “The second most popular color is white. We do about 10 to 15 percent white. Our third most popular color is pink. We’ll do 5 to 8 percent of those. The rest are specialty colors including: marble, ice punch, red glitter and winter rose. But those specialty colors make up a very small percentage of our poinsettias.” During the rooting process, each plant is assigned a pot.
“The six and a half inch pot has a single stem or plant. Once it gets its roots to the outer edge of the pot, then we will pinch the top out and give it enough inner-nodes that it will have anywhere from five to eight blooms out of that single stem,” explained Barnitz. “Then we have an 8-inch pot that we put three plants in. We’ll pinch all of those heads and have anywhere from 12 to 16 blooms. With our 10-inch pots, where we put four plants in, they’ll create anywhere from 15-20 blooms.”
Bob’s poinsettias will never see the inside of a chain store. A majority of the plants will be shipped off to the company’s warehouse in Pittsburgh’s Strip District for retail sale. The rest will be sold at Bob’s Greenhouse and Market in Mason and two other locations in southeast Ohio.
However, before any poinsettia leaves the greenhouse, workers make sure it’s ready for its debut.
“We’ll put the poinsettia in a pot cover, a decorative shiny foil. It will go into a protective, clear sleeve. Then we’ll place them in cardboard boxes on pallets, so when they get to where they’re going, regardless of the weather, they’re protected.”
One huge pet peeve for Barnitz is to see a beautiful poinsettia killed before its time.
“Something that makes me just crazy is when I go to my local box store and it’s 20-degrees outside. Somebody will purchase a poinsettia and that consumer comes out with their shopping cart and the poinsettia doesn’t have a protective sleeve. They’re pushing that cart to the far end of the parking lot with the poinsettia blowing in the breeze and that 20-degree temperature is killing that plant. It’s literally dying in front of the customer’s eyes!”
Barnitz said no matter who you’re buying your poinsettia from, always make sure it has that protective sleeve and get it from the store to your car to your house as quickly as possible.