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With good care and placement that provides the basic needs of a poinsettia, the plant should do well beyond the holiday season. But poor care and a poor location will lead to a plant that detracts from the appearance of a room.

Courtesy Meredith Seaver, USU Extension

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If you choose to display your poinsettia in a location that doesn't provide the right conditions for a healthy plant, then you should plan to discard your poinsettia before the plant declines. There is no shame in using a poinsettia as temporary decor that will be discarded after a few weeks but before it loses its good looks.

Courtesy Meredith Seaver, USU Extension

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Now that the holidays have passed, what should you do with your poinsettia?

The simplest thing to do is just toss it out. Most people choose to do this with their poinsettias after the season is over.

If you’re willing to do just a little bit of work, you could choose to keep your poinsettia as a houseplant instead. Whether you want to keep a poinsettia for just a few months or even throughout the year, your plant will need good care.

For the rest of the winter and spring, your poinsettia needs to be in a room with the brightest light available. A room with a south- or west-facing window would be ideal, but make sure your plant isn’t so close to a window that it gets chilled at night. Remember to water your plant and let it drain well whenever the upper soil is dry and the pot feels lightweight. Your poinsettia won’t need any fertilizer until the weather warms up.

You can relocate your poinsettia outdoors once the overnight low temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees. Cut the stems back to remove the faded bracts and put your plant in a bright location out of direct sun for a week or two to let the plant harden off. You can move your poinsettia to a part-sun location after that.

In our hot, dry summer climate, an entire day in the full sun is usually too much for a poinsettia, but several hours of morning sun or bright dappled shade throughout the day is ideal. If you must put your plant in a sunnier location, you’ll probably need to provide a few hours of early afternoon shade.

Don’t forget to water regularly and check frequently for pests like aphids, scale and mites. Insecticidal soap can provide good control for these pests if you catch the problem early. Apply the spray in the evening so that it will be completely dry by morning. You’ll also need to provide fertilizer on a regular basis. If you used a slow-release fertilizer with micronutrients during the winter, you’ll probably need to provide a new application for the summer.

We had a raccoon in the attic. It is gone now and the hole where it got in is patched up. It left feces and urine. It is extremely expensive to have a restoration company come and clean it up. We would like some information on what might be the best way to clean it up without it being too expensive or how necessary it is that we get it cleaned up. Might it be OK just to leave it?

You’ve already taken the important first step: You made sure the raccoon had left and sealed up the opening to prevent his return.

How accessible is your attic? Has nobody been up in your attic for years? Did you only go into the attic because you heard noises or saw the raccoon squeezing out an opening one day? If you feel sure no one is going to have a reason to go up in your attic for many years, and the area fouled by the raccoon is small and contained; you could choose to leave the attic as is and close it up.

On the other hand, if the raccoon latrine is large and heavily soiled, or the attic is sometimes accessed for seasonal storage, getting the area cleaned up is necessary. A raccoon latrine presents a real parasite and disease risk. Even without that risk it could attract other pests. All the feces- and urine-contaminated insulation should be carefully removed, securely bagged and disposed of. Surfaces in the area need to be sanitized once you are done.

You must take steps to protect yourself if you’re going to do the cleanup yourself. You’ll need nitrile gloves, a good mask, shoes or boots you can thoroughly clean or discard. Wear long sleeves, long pants and some kind of hair covering for your best protection. A Tyvek or other disposable suit is an efficient option. Even if you use a disposable suit, you should wash your clothes and shower after you’ve finished.

You should be able to do this yourself if the latrine area is not too widespread. Make a plan, be prepared with everything you need and be methodical.