After months of care, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Horticulture Club is ready to deliver holiday spirit through its annual poinsettia fundraiser.
The Dec. 5 event includes 1,020 poinsettia plants of varied colors and sizes, all grown by some 30 students in the club.
“Poinsettias are there to bring up the mood,” said William Anderson, club president and a senior plant and landscape systems major from Gothenburg. “They create that feeling of a time to be with friends and family and celebrate good times.”
The club receives small-rooted stem cuttings, which are about 2 inches in diameter, during the summer. The students transplant them into containers and — as counterintuitive as it sounds — trim the top of each plant.
“It signals to the plant that it’s time to branch out,” Anderson said. “It will send the little branch stems outward, and that helps set up the structure for how the poinsettias are going to look down the line.”
The young plants are especially sensitive to pests and disease, so club members create a plan for pest management, which is then applied to the plants mostly by Stacy Adams, professor of practice in agronomy and horticulture and club adviser. They also use fertilizer to get the plants to grow.
“They need nutrients to grow big and strong just like we do,” Anderson said. “We give them a general fertilizer as well as a more specialized fertilizer to get them certain nutrients we want, like calcium. Just like calcium strengthens our bones, it helps strengthen the stems in the plant.”
During the final stages of growth, students take major steps to control how much light the plants get. They cover the plants, mimicking short days, and use artificial light to give them more control over the poinsettias’ environment.
“We use lights on timers to hit them with light right when we want to hit them,” Anderson said.
Although poinsettias are thought of as a seasonal plant, Anderson appreciates when people continue tending to them beyond the holidays. Some people might see one beginning to yellow or wilt, but Anderson said in some cases this is just part of the plant’s natural dormancy period after flowering.
“A lot of people think, ‘What am I doing?’” he said. “It’s not necessarily something you’re doing, it’s just what the poinsettia normally does.”
The bottom leaves will be the first to yellow in this state, he said, and at that point he recommended cutting off the tops just as the club did early in the season and reduce watering.
As they are tropical plants, poinsettias need plenty of light and warmth. They are also perennials in their native habitat, so given proper care, they will eventually regrow.
Anderson said the club is happy to add to the Christmas atmosphere for people who take home poinsettias. Decoration is part of the atmosphere just like time spent with family and friends.
“If we can help bring that to people especially toward the winter season, it’s that much better,” Anderson said.
Proceeds from the sale go to Horticulture Club activities like trips to places like orchards and gardens for hands on horticulture education, and some goes back to the classroom like some furnishings and constructing a cement sidewalk in their greenhouse.
In-person sales are from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 5 in the Nebraska and Nebraska East unions. The Teaching Greenhouse West, 1875 N. 38th St., will also be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the sale.
Pickup for online orders is available from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 5 p.m. on Dec. 4 at the Teaching Greenhouse West. Payment is due at pickup; cash and card are accepted.
For more information on the sale or placing an order in advance.
