
Pruning a poinsettia sounds more complicated than it is. With the right trimming in spring, your poinsettia (also known as Christmas star, Advent star; bot. Euphorbia pulcherrima) will develop into a strong plant you can get to bloom again in autumn. And over the summer? That’s a really fun challenge for anyone who enjoys plant care! This is where tradition meets sustainability and clever care – you don’t have to throw away your plant after it has bloomed.
Cutting poinsettias: the most important things in brief
- The ideal time to prune your poinsettia is spring (after flowering, March/April). A summer pruning in July can promote extra bushy growth.
- You need sharp, clean scissors and gloves to protect your skin from the plant’s milky sap.
- Cut the shoots back by a third to a half. Always cut above a leaf node.
- After pruning, place the poinsettia in a bright, warm place with no draughts but with direct sunlight. Water with lukewarm water, but not too much.
- Start fertilising when the plant forms new shoots.

Contents
- Pruning a poinsettia: The most important things in brief
- Why should you prune your poinsettia?
- The right time
- Preparing for pruning
- Step-by-step instructions: pruning a poinsettia
- Caring for a poinsettia after pruning
- Repotting a poinsettia
- Special case: pruning a poinsettia for a vase or arrangement
- Craft idea for a paper poinsettia (YouTube instructions)
- Frequently asked questions and their answers
Why should you prune your poinsettia?
Pruning your poinsettia is important to encourage healthy growth and prepare it for the next flowering phase. After flowering, poinsettias lose their beautiful leaves and become bare. Cutting back the shoots encourages vigorous growth. This gives the plant lots of green leaves and makes it bushy, which not only looks better but also produces more flowers next year.
Pruning helps remove dead or wilted parts of the plant. This keeps your poinsettia healthier for longer. Finally, trimming back creates an ideal base for the plant to oversummer so it can bloom again in all its glory next winter.
It’s important to know that the colourful leaves of the poinsettia, which are often mistakenly referred to as flowers, are actually bracts. The real flowers are inconspicuous yellow-green and small. In nature, the colourful bracts serve to attract insects.
The right time
The best time to prune your poinsettia is in spring (March/April). By cutting it back, you help it regenerate and encourage strong, new growth.
An additional pruning in summer, around June/July, can be useful if you want your poinsettia to grow particularly bushy and compact. Here, the shoots are only slightly cut back to encourage the plant to branch out.
Preparing for pruning
Before you start, you need the right tools. Have clean, sharp scissors ready to make smooth cuts. Bruising can damage the shoots. You should also wear gloves to be on the safe side, as poinsettias secrete a white milky sap when cut, which can cause allergic reactions such as skin irritation in sensitive people. (This is why the genus to which the poinsettia belongs is called the ‘spurge family’). When pruning, make sure the ambient temperature doesn’t fall below 15°C and that your poinsettia is protected from draughts, as it doesn’t like cold temperatures or cold gusts.
Step-by-step instructions: pruning poinsettias
- Trim shoots
Cut the shoots of your poinsettia back by about a third to half. Make sure to make the cuts above a leaf node – this is the place where a new pair of leaves forms. This will encourage the growth of new shoots. - Remove wilted and dead stems
Inspect the plant carefully and cut off all dead or wilted stems completely. This will prevent diseases or pests from spreading. - Clean cuts
Always use sharp scissors to make clean cuts. Bruising the shoots increases the risk of infection, so always cut precisely.
Common mistakes when pruning
Even though pruning a poinsettia is essentially straightforward, mistakes can quickly happen. Here are the most common ones to avoid:
Pruning too far: If you cut back the shoots too much, the poinsettia may take a long time to recover. Only cut back a third to a half of the shoots.
Ignoring diseased and dried shoots: Dead or diseased stems put a strain on the plant. Always remove these completely so the poinsettia stays healthy and can form new, strong shoots.
Pruning without repotting: After a season in the same compost, it’s important not only to prune the plant but also to repot it. Old soil loses its structure over time, while fresh compost promotes new growth. Ideally do your repotting and pruning together.

Caring for poinsettias after pruning
With the right care after pruning, you can make sure your poinsettia grows strong and healthy and is ready for its next flowering. Place it in a warm, bright location, but without direct sunlight. It needs light now, but gentle, indirect light. Make sure the ambient temperature doesn’t fall below 15°C. After pruning, water the poinsettia so the soil is slightly moist, but not too wet. Waterlogging can lead to root rot. Always wait until the top layer of soil has dried out before watering again.
When the plant forms new shoots, start fertilising to encourage growth. Use a liquid houseplant fertiliser. Feed your poinsettia following the instructions on the packaging.
Poinsettias are sensitive to draughts. Make sure they’re kept in a quiet, wind-sheltered location.
➡️ Learn how to manage oversummering in our instructions Oversummering poinsettias and getting them to bloom again. It explains step by step how to get your poinsettia through the summer after pruning it and how to encourage it to bloom.
Repotting poinsettias
The ideal time to repot your poinsettia is in spring, immediately after pruning, so the plant can start the growth phase with fresh compost and a larger pot.
Choose a pot one or two sizes larger than the previous one so the roots have enough space to spread out. It shouldn’t be too big. Cactus compost is ideal, or alternatively high-quality potting compost that you make more free-draining with aggregates, such as coarse sand or perlite. A drainage layer of gravel or clay shards at the bottom of the pot prevents excess standing water. If you see black, rotten roots when you take the plant out of its pot, carefully cut them off with sharp scissors. Place the poinsettia in the new container so the plant is no deeper than before. Don’t forget to water it lightly.
Special case: Cutting poinsettias for vases or arrangements
Sometimes you may not want to decorate with the plant itself. The ‘flowers’ – or more precisely the shoots of the poinsettias – with their colourful bracts make ideal ‘cut flowers’ for vases or arrangements in winter, if you keep a few things in mind:
1. Cut the poinsettia stems on the diagonal and remove the lower leaves. Choose firm, non-woody shoots.
2. Dip the stems in hot water (approx 60°C) for about five seconds. This will stop the milky sap flowing.
3. Then place the cut poinsettias in cold water. This will keep them fresh for up to two weeks.
4. Change the water in the vase regularly. If you add a flower food suitable for poinsettias, this can extend their vase life even further.

Sometimes you will find advice to briefly hold the cut surfaces of a stem in an open flame to stop the sap. This method is now considered outdated.
➡️ What do you think of our Ideas with cut poinsettias for vases or flower arrangements?
Craft idea for a paper poinsettia (YouTube tutorial)
If your search for creative craft ideas has led you to this page, we have something for you too. Poinsettias are not only great as houseplants, they can also be beautifully folded and cut out of paper.
We have a simple, step-by-step video tutorial explaining how. There are also many other DIY ideas on our YouTube channel mypoinsettia and in our decoration blog. Check them out and you too can conjure up atmospheric, homemade Christmas decorations in just a few minutes. Enjoy crafting! We wish you a wonderful festive season.
Frequently asked questions and their answers
Why do poinsettias sprout again and form new flowers after pruning?
Poinsettias grow in the wild as evergreen, perennial shrubs, even if the cultivated ornamental plant is often treated as an annual in our country. By pruning, you help the plant to regenerate. It promotes the formation of new shoots and, with proper care, your poinsettia will again produce its characteristic coloured, classically red bracts in winter, in the middle of which the inconspicuous, actual flowers sit. These vibrant bracts make the poinsettia popular in many households, especially during the festive period, and create a Christmas feel.
How much should I prune my poinsettia?
Ideally, cut the shoots back by about a third to a maximum of half.
What should I do if my poinsettia doesn’t grow after pruning?
Check its location. Is it getting enough light? Is the temperature right? It shouldn’t be below 15°C. Poinsettias are tropical plants. Also make sure you don’t water too much or too little. Repot your poinsettia in fresh compost and make sure it has enough nutrients by fertilising it.
Can I also prune my poinsettia in autumn?
Yes and no. A light pruning in autumn, for example in September or October, is possible, but not a great idea. For your poinsettia to bloom in Advent, you have to give it a darkening phase from the end of September. If you cut off the shoot tips beforehand, it can’t form its colourful bracts and won’t bloom from November to February.
How do I spot diseased or dead stems?
Diseased or dead stems are usually brown and dry or soft. Remove them completely to keep the plant healthy.
Can I prune my poinsettia outdoors?
Pruning outdoors is possible as long as the temperature isn’t below 15°C and the plant is sheltered from draughts. However, it’s usually more practical to do the pruning indoors.
What can I do if my poinsettia has suffered from care mistakes?
If your poinsettia has suffered from overwatering, drought or an incorrect location, pruning can help it recover. Cut off all dried, diseased or weak shoots and lightly prune healthy shoots to encourage new growth. Then ensure it is watered evenly – the soil should be slightly moist but not wet – and place the plant in a bright, warm place without cold draughts over the summer. It’s important not to place a poinsettia touching a pane of glass indoors in summer. It can get very hot there, which leads to burns. Outside, poinsettias in the UK can withstand high levels of sunlight if they are slowly accustomed to life outdoors. However, they don’t like rapid changes of location from indoors to outdoors with large temperature differences. With patience and good care, your poinsettia can recover.
➡️ Find out which tricks for caring for poinsettias the experts at Stars for Europe recommend.
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