Amy Morris

Greenhouse Management: How has your poinsettia production been doing this year?

Amy Morris: Our poinsettia numbers are up, and I assume that either everybody’s numbers are the same or up a little from last year. I see a lot more pinks and whites hitting the market, as well as nice new cinnamon varieties and a lot of new jingles and glitters coming along — different lines from different breeders that are really nice, sharp and beautiful. I’m excited to see all of that happening.

I feel that one of the biggest struggles this year so far has been the heat. I know a lot of growers farther south than us are really struggling. We’re just seeing a little increase in height. To combat that, we’ve been using growth regulators, plus we’re using negative DIF. Now that we’re cool enough, we can use a lot more negative DIF. But earlier in the season, when it’s a little warmer, you just can’t use negative DIF because the temperature doesn’t get low enough to create a difference.

GM: Is that a common challenge? What are some other common challenges that growers face when growing poinsettias?

AM: It really depends on what the weather patterns are doing because 50% of the time, we are a northern grower and then 50% of the time, we’re a southern grower. This year, we’re a southern grower because we have all that heat coming our way.

But the basic challenges are always the same with poinsettias. It’s pithium and fusarium, burning the bracts, and not getting enough calcium in the plants to keep botrytis from setting in. Those are probably our biggest challenges that we face.

GM: What are some new characteristics that consumers are looking for in their poinsettias this year?

AM: One thing that really made a big change this year for us is this is the first year we have sent poinsettias out before Halloween. We did a pre-Halloween, fall-colored poinsettia, which was really strange. In mid-October, we had poinsettias already hitting the market, which is just crazy to me. So I think one thing that consumers are looking for is something to decorate their homes with other than garden walls or the basic fall item. What started this was when my dad passed away a couple of years ago, Dümmen Orange named a poinsettia after him called Norwin orange. And so we did a display last year of fall colors — the apricots, the bronzes, the oranges, the burgundies, and it ended up catching a couple of buyers’ eyes.