I don't know why but my lilac flowers are so bad the last few years, I
pruned them and they were a little better.One person told me to get a
fertlizer stick a pound it down in the roots..Anyone know much about them.I
live in wisconsin

Can't say I know much about them but they grow in Albuquerque (zone 7)
really well. We have maybe 10-12 in the yard as does the neighbor.
They do nothing with theirs, not even water them. I water mine and dump
the bagged fertilizer on them annually and they seem to like it. I'm
about to try some fireplace ashes on one to see what happens. Other
than that we do nothing to them, just let them be & enjoy their aroma
when they bloom.

Romy Beeck wrote:

I don't know why but my lilac flowers are so bad the last few years, I
pruned them and they were a little better.One person told me to get a
fertlizer stick a pound it down in the roots..Anyone know much about them.I
live in wisconsin

Greetings

Putting fireplace ashes on your lilacs may or may not be a good idea. It is
about the same as putting lime on them. IMHO if the lilacs are doing good
with your fertilizer program don't use the wood ashes.
Pruning the lilacs. The flowers come from buds on last years growth. So
if you prune them, do it right after the plant blooms. If pruned in the
fall you would cut of all of the buds for spring flowering. See
http://spi8m.com//products.htm they have an excellent lilac how to section.

Gary


"Grandpa" jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message
...
Can't say I know much about them but they grow in Albuquerque (zone 7)
really well. We have maybe 10-12 in the yard as does the neighbor.
They do nothing with theirs, not even water them. I water mine and dump
the bagged fertilizer on them annually and they seem to like it. I'm
about to try some fireplace ashes on one to see what happens. Other
than that we do nothing to them, just let them be & enjoy their aroma
when they bloom.

Romy Beeck wrote:

I don't know why but my lilac flowers are so bad the last few years, I
pruned them and they were a little better.One person told me to get a
fertlizer stick a pound it down in the roots..Anyone know much about
them.I
live in wisconsin

I don't know why but my lilac flowers are so bad the last few years, I
pruned them and they were a little better.One person told me to get a
fertlizer stick a pound it down in the roots..Anyone know much about them.

There are many reasons that lilacs may not bloom. Lack of fertilizer is not
usually one of them. See this article:
http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopE...ubs/lilacs.htm
sed5555

Sorry, the formatting has gone to blazes, but a somewhat irreverant
juxtaposition of some stanzas from T.S. Eliot's 'The Waste Land' might
suggest a solution.
No, Im not serious.

The Waste Land


"Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi in ampulla
pendere, et cum illi pueri dicerent: Sibulla ti qeleiz; respondebat illa:
apoqanein qelw."

For Ezra Pound
il miglior fabbro.

I. The Burial of the Dead
April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
.................................................
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying: 'Stetson!
'You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!
'That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
'Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
'Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
'O keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to men,
'Or with his nails he'll dig it up again!
'You! Hypocrite lecteur!-mon senblable,-mon frère!'



"gary" wrote in message
...
Greetings

Putting fireplace ashes on your lilacs may or may not be a good idea. It
is
about the same as putting lime on them. IMHO if the lilacs are doing good
with your fertilizer program don't use the wood ashes.
Pruning the lilacs. The flowers come from buds on last years growth.
So
if you prune them, do it right after the plant blooms. If pruned in the
fall you would cut of all of the buds for spring flowering. See
http://spi8m.com//products.htm they have an excellent lilac how to
section.

Gary


"Grandpa" jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message
...
Can't say I know much about them but they grow in Albuquerque (zone 7)
really well. We have maybe 10-12 in the yard as does the neighbor.
They do nothing with theirs, not even water them. I water mine and dump
the bagged fertilizer on them annually and they seem to like it. I'm
about to try some fireplace ashes on one to see what happens. Other
than that we do nothing to them, just let them be & enjoy their aroma
when they bloom.

Romy Beeck wrote:

I don't know why but my lilac flowers are so bad the last few years, I
pruned them and they were a little better.One person told me to get a
fertlizer stick a pound it down in the roots..Anyone know much about
them.I
live in wisconsin

as others said. prune while in bloom (bring in the flowers) or right after they are
done. I trim off all the spend panicles as well so they dont waste energy on seed
cases. I am in Milwaukee. Ingrid

"Romy Beeck" wrote:

I don't know why but my lilac flowers are so bad the last few years, I
pruned them and they were a little better.One person told me to get a
fertlizer stick a pound it down in the roots..Anyone know much about them.I
live in wisconsin




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

I don't know why but my lilac flowers are so bad the last few years, I
pruned them and they were a little better.One person told me to get a
fertlizer stick a pound it down in the roots..Anyone know much about
them.I
live in wisconsin

Probably the biggest issue with non-blooming lilacs involves pruning at the
wrong time -- it's a common mistake. To say the least, you do NOT want to
prune lilacs back in late autumn or early spring -- they bloom on the
previous year's growth so you might just be cutting off the soon-to-bloom
stems. Instead, prune after the bloom period.

Fertilizing can be helpful but before you fertilize you need to ask
yourself -- WHY am I fertilizing? Is the pH off, does the soil lack certain
essential nutrients? The way to get the answer to this question is
simple -- a soil test. This will let you know where your soil may have
deficiencies. The solution is frequently to amend the soil with fertilizers
or organic material/compost -- whichever you fancy.

If you find the pH is off (another common problem) you may want to simply
add ash from burned wood. Be certain that the wood you burn is not
chemically treated or otherwise contaminated -- chemicals have a nasty habit
of sticking around even after burning. We've found that our soil is a bit
acidic and over the last couple of years we've added a decent amount of lime
to the soil in an effort to balance the pH a bit. This has been very
effective and I have a great cool-weather lawn growing right now. My lilacs
are somewhat separated from the rest of the plantings by virtue of their
beds, so in their case I added ashes from our cookouts (campfire style --
NEVER use charcoal ashes) and they liked it lots.

FWIW, HTH....

James

I've had very good luck with adding liberal amounts of composted cow manure
and bone meal in the fall, along with a generous layer of mulch and watering
deeply. As others have suggested, deadheading the spent blooms, as well as
cutting out a third of the very oldest large canes, works wonders.

Dave

"JNJ" wrote in message
...
I don't know why but my lilac flowers are so bad the last few years, I
pruned them and they were a little better.One person told me to get a
fertlizer stick a pound it down in the roots..Anyone know much about
them.I
live in wisconsin

Probably the biggest issue with non-blooming lilacs involves pruning at
the
wrong time -- it's a common mistake. To say the least, you do NOT want to
prune lilacs back in late autumn or early spring -- they bloom on the
previous year's growth so you might just be cutting off the soon-to-bloom
stems. Instead, prune after the bloom period.

Fertilizing can be helpful but before you fertilize you need to ask
yourself -- WHY am I fertilizing? Is the pH off, does the soil lack
certain
essential nutrients? The way to get the answer to this question is
simple -- a soil test. This will let you know where your soil may have
deficiencies. The solution is frequently to amend the soil with
fertilizers
or organic material/compost -- whichever you fancy.

If you find the pH is off (another common problem) you may want to simply
add ash from burned wood. Be certain that the wood you burn is not
chemically treated or otherwise contaminated -- chemicals have a nasty
habit
of sticking around even after burning. We've found that our soil is a bit
acidic and over the last couple of years we've added a decent amount of
lime
to the soil in an effort to balance the pH a bit. This has been very
effective and I have a great cool-weather lawn growing right now. My
lilacs
are somewhat separated from the rest of the plantings by virtue of their
beds, so in their case I added ashes from our cookouts (campfire style --
NEVER use charcoal ashes) and they liked it lots.

FWIW, HTH....

James

Grandpa jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message ...
Can't say I know much about them but they grow in Albuquerque (zone 7)
really well. We have maybe 10-12 in the yard as does the neighbor.
They do nothing with theirs, not even water them. I water mine and dump
the bagged fertilizer on them annually and they seem to like it. I'm
about to try some fireplace ashes on one to see what happens....

Do they lack potassium?


J. Del Col

J. Del Col wrote:

Grandpa jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message ...

Can't say I know much about them but they grow in Albuquerque (zone 7)
really well. We have maybe 10-12 in the yard as does the neighbor.
They do nothing with theirs, not even water them. I water mine and dump
the bagged fertilizer on them annually and they seem to like it. I'm
about to try some fireplace ashes on one to see what happens....


Do they lack potassium?

No idea, I just though I'd give the ashes a try and see what happens,
although our soil is quite alkaline,as is our watersigh.