How to meet retail specs for poinsettias

Added on 26 June 2023

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How to meet retail specs for poinsettias

Every grower knows the importance of meeting retailer specifications. If crops are delivered that are too tall, too short, or don’t have enough blooms, a retailer could reject the load, leading to a significant profit loss for the grower. Poinsettias can be especially challenging, due to their tropical nature and long crop time.

Mike Gooder, Owner and CEO of Plantpeddler in Cresco, IA, shares some of his best practices with poinsettias. The first step in meeting retail specs, he says, is to identify the customer and understand their needs.

“If you do everything right in advance, then you’re not chasing that spec at the end and doing something dramatic like an application of a growth hormone,” Gooder says. “If it’s a plant growth regulator (PGR) that stops growth, you can stunt bract size. If you use something like a gibberellic acid compound like Fascination, you can get the opposite effect and it affects quality the other way with de-stacked bracts.”

The second step is to choose a variety that is suited for the specs you are trying to meet, says Stacy Bryant, Sales Manager at Plantpeddler. Gooder says this is one of the advantages of modern plant breeding — there are varieties for every slot.

“If you’re trying to hit a 5-inch pot big box spec, you’re probably going to pick a low vigor variety,” Bryant says. “If it’s for a Black Friday sale, you’re also going to choose an early-flowering variety.”

Photo Caption: Growers use various methods, such as graphical tracking, DIF, and variety selection to meet retail specs for poinsettias. Photo: Dümmen Orange.

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