By Dan Rahn
University of Georgia

You’d think growing crops indoors would protect you from the
whims of the weather. You’d be wrong. Among the crops hit hard by
the uncommonly wet, warm fall in Georgia is a holiday favorite:
poinsettias.

“Growers have been struggling with a series of weather-related
issues this fall,” said Paul Thomas, an extension service
floriculturist with the University of Georgia College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The Georgia greenhouse crop hasn’t been pounded as badly as
outdoor crops like cotton, peanuts and tobacco. But it has been
hurt. And shoppers are accustomed to getting “perfect”
poinsettias.

Perfection?

“I’m afraid perfection isn’t going to be commonplace this year,”
Thomas said.

The problems have to do with heat and light levels. In August,
the poinsettia cuttings struggled in the heat and grew too
slowly. Then in the fall, under persistent heat, the plants began
growing faster and plants wound up ahead of schedule by
mid-October.

Then it turned cloudy and rainy. October and early November are
usually dry, cool and sunny. But this year it was warm, wet and
cloudy.

This caused the poinsettias to stretch and become a few inches
taller. “It was the very thing growers all over the state were
afraid might happen,” Thomas said. “Growers needed cool, sunny
days to slow plants and produce strong stems. They got the
opposite.”

South Georgia hit hard

The untimely weather hit particularly hard in south Georgia,
where fall greenhouse temperatures remained 5 to 7 degrees above
normal well into October.

The hot greenhouses had dramatic effects on poinsettias’ growth,
said Bodie Pennisi, a UGA horticulturist specializing in
greenhouse flowers.

“Most growers are actually grateful for the rain which has helped
reduce the effects of the five-year drought. However, the relief
came at a bad time,” Pennisi said.

“The heat caused a significant delay in bract color development,”
she said. “The bracts will be beautiful by Christmas, but perhaps
not perfect by the time they need to be in the shops and
stores.”

You may not notice

The average shopper may not notice the difference this year, she
said, because the plants will likely catch up by Christmas. To
growers, though, not making that mark of perfection on schedule
is a huge disappointment.

“They really try hard, and poinsettias are one of the toughest
crops to grow in a greenhouse,” Pennisi said. “This year will go
down as one of those things that happens to all farmers at some
time or another. Sometimes things don’t work out perfectly, even
though our growers have tried to do everything right.”

Georgia-grown poinsettias will still look fine by Christmas,
Thomas said, and will be arriving in flower shops and garden
centers in the next few weeks. Some may be a week or so late
arriving.

Not a new trend

“If they look a bit taller, it’s not a new trend,” Thomas said.
“Blame it on the weather.”

Being a little taller will put poinsettias in need of more
careful handling. “Red ribbon tied midplant-high will keep stems
from falling over and breaking,” he said. “Most growers will be
tying them up.”

You may need to be a little more careful, too, as you take your
poinsettias home from the store and otherwise move them
around.

After all the trouble the weather has caused, these gorgeous
plants should still brighten the holidays enough to make Georgia
growers’ struggles worthwhile.

And there is a bright note for shoppers. “Being a little later
will make poinsettias ‘fresher,’” Thomas said. “They should last
a bit longer after the holidays.”