Poinsettias, EthylBloc™ and Holiday Shipments

As a division of Smithers-Oasis, a poinsettia connection spurred our first grower-driven innovation more than half a century ago. America’s favorite holiday plant continues to inspire new innovations from our team today.

With holiday poinsettia shipments just weeks away, we’ve been fielding some questions about how growers can best protect their poinsettias. From postharvest treatments like our EthylBloc™ ethylene-action inhibitor to poinsettia shipping protocols, we’re providing some answers in this month’s Oasis Grower Solutions News.

Can EthylBloc™ help protect poinsettia quality during shipping and at retail?

Yes, EthylBloc™ ethylene-action inhibitor can help protect your poinsettias (and profits) from ethylene-induced damage during shipping, improve shelf life and boost retail appeal and sell-through. It’s an easy-to-use, environmentally friendly innovation (invented by our own Jim Daly) that works naturally with plants to protect and extend quality during shipping and beyond.

We want to stress that it’s important to understand that poinsettias overall have relatively low ethylene sensitivity compared to some other plants. Generally speaking, poinsettia leaves and bloom-like bracts exposed to normal ethylene levels can show curl or epinasty. But they typically display minimal leaf loss and little or no loss in color.

However, poinsettia cyathia — the tiny yellow structures that contain the plant’s true flowers — are another matter.

If you grow poinsettias, you probably already understand how important cyathia and their “insignificant” flowers can be. Buyers for retailers from big box stores and independent garden centers to grocery chains know it, too.

Condition and color of poinsettia cyathia are key indicators of the plant’s freshness, potential shelf life, retail appeal and, ultimately, retailer and consumer satisfaction. Today’s sophisticated buyers expect and demand bright, tight, green-yellow cyathia in the middle of those beautiful bracts.

But exposure to the harmful effects of ethylene gas during shipping and after can trigger cyathia abscission and shatter the appeal of the poinsettia crop your team worked so long and hard to bring to market. EthylBloc™ can help prevent that damage and loss.

How does EthylBloc™ help prevent cyathia drop?

All plants, including poinsettias, produce ethylene gas, which is critical for flower deployment. When plants are under stress, as they are in shipping or at high temperatures, they produce even more ethylene. Longer exposure to ethylene gas increases both damage and risk.

Poinsettia evaluations by researchers at our Kent, Ohio, USA, Research, Innovation & Development facility yielded two important findings:

• Cyathia drop increases with exposure to ethylene gas, even at relatively low levels.
• Treatment with EthylBloc™ ethylene-action inhibitor protects against ethylene-induced cyathia drop.

Research revealed that EthylBloc’s positive impact on cyathia retention is especially apparent in the pivotal period corresponding to the second and third weeks at retail. Cyathia on poinsettias treated with EthylBloc™ lasted longer than on untreated poinsettias, enhancing the shelf life of the plants.

The mode of action behind EthylBloc™ protection is especially important for poinsettias, which pop up in all types of retail outlets at holiday time.

From ethylene-producing equipment in and around retailers to ethylene-emitting fruits and vegetables alongside grocery store displays, poinsettias can face very high levels of ethylene gas from the surrounding environment.

While some people think external scrubbers can do magic, they don’t address ethylene production from the plants themselves. That’s not the case with EthylBloc™.

Rather than blocking the plant’s natural ethylene production like some other products, EthylBloc™ ethylene-action inhibitor works with plants to bind their ethylene receptors instead.

The result is dual protection against the plant’s own heightened internal ethylene production and the external environmental ethylene poinsettias encounter at all points along the supply chain. Together, that works to help keep cyathia intact.

What other shipping protocols can help protect poinsettias and profits?

Treating poinsettias with EthylBloc™ to prevent cyathia abscission, extend shelf life and boost retail appeal is only one way to make the most of the season. These research-based poinsettia shipping protocols can also help:

• Marketing stage: Poinsettias are ready for market when uniform and full. Foliage should extend within 2 inches of the soil line, with bracts at nearly full color. Cyathia should be intact and closed, with little or no pollen visible.
• Packaging, care and handling: Poinsettias require indirect or brightly diffused light with cooler night temperatures, away from freezing and hot air vents. Maintain moderately moist soil. Don’t allow plants to stand in water or dry out.
• Ideal temperature: Pre-packaging, storage and transport: 55-60°F
• Ideal humidity: Pre-loading 60%, shipping 70-80%

As consumers choose poinsettias for their homes and businesses this year, there’s an extremely high likelihood their plants started life in OASIS® Wedge® propagation media, the favorite propagation substrate of the world’s finest poinsettia breeders and propagators.

From propagation to postharvest protection with EthylBloc™, we’re here to help ensure your poinsettia crop gets the best possible start and finish.

Reach out to us at [email protected] or +1 (855) 585-4769. Let’s talk about how we can help your poinsettias this year and next.

We’re Oasis Grower Solutions. Solving growers’ problems is what we do best.