Ever had a plant sold to you because of its stunning flowers then to have it produce only leaves and no flowers ?
That is a common situation, but is easily remedied.
|
Symptom |
Cause |
Remedy |
|
Excess foliage |
Too much nitrogen in fertiliser |
Stop using current fertiliser and switch to a high phosphorus and potassium formulation |
|
Surrounded by other plants |
Needs more sunlight |
Move plant to new location or prune surrounding specimens |
|
Flowers fall
Leaves not solid green |
Lack of micro-nutrients |
Add trace element mix |
|
Flowers fall with jagged stalk
Leaves healthy |
Insect attack |
Spray in insecticide |
|
Flowers fall before opening (Hibiscus) |
Hibiscus beetle |
Confidor spray |
|
Flowers fail to open but look mushy (Azaleas) |
Azalea petal blight disease |
Spray with fungicide - Bayleton |
|
Flower petals blackened |
Dew stains |
Protect buds from early morning sunshine and hose plant down in morning |
|
Failed to flower (Mangoes) |
Mangoes need a dry autumn for flower initiation…. But it was a wet autumn |
Too hard to stop rainfall but you can manage irrigation. Restrict hosing in autumn to encourage flowers next season |
|
Wisteria did not flower |
Usually either bad pruning
Or warm winter |
Bad pruning will result in removal of flower buds – next time only prune in summer.
Warm winter will not give Wisteria the needed chill for roots – either choose another site of wisteria; water it with chilled water; or move to a colder district. |
|
Pineapple/Bromeliads will not flower |
Ethylene is needed to initiate flowering |
Place plant and a ripe apple in a plastic bag for a few days. |
|
Camellia drops flowers |
Too many buds for the plant to handle. |
Remove a few buds from each cluster. |
