Rhodedendrons - but no flowers!!
 

Hello,

I'm new to this.. Iv'e inherited a garden with these bushes, but they never
flower! 6 years now, and maybe these were planted 7 years ago. No hint of
a flower on any of them. Is this normal? If now, what can I do? They've
never been fed or fertilized - nothing except cut back.
Can anyone point me in the right direction before I pull them up?!!!!

Tks

Nichollette

derek wrote:
Hello,

I'm new to this.. Iv'e inherited a garden with these bushes, but
they
never flower! 6 years now, and maybe these were planted 7 years
ago.
No hint of a flower on any of them. Is this normal? If now, what
can
I do? They've never been fed or fertilized - nothing except cut
back.
Can anyone point me in the right direction before I pull them
up?!!!!

The problem may be the cutting back you mentioned. Rhodos form buds
this year for next year's flowers, so you may have been innocently
destroying them. Try leaving alone for a year or two and see what
happens.

--
Mike.

On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 11:52:02 +0100, "derek"
wrote:

Hello,

I'm new to this.. Iv'e inherited a garden with these bushes, but they never
flower! 6 years now, and maybe these were planted 7 years ago. No hint of
a flower on any of them. Is this normal? If now, what can I do? They've
never been fed or fertilized - nothing except cut back.
Can anyone point me in the right direction before I pull them up?!!!!

Tks

Nichollette

Cut back? When? If you do it annually at the wrong time (like in the
autumn) you could be cutting off the embryonic flower buds.

But somehow I doubt it. I have no good answer. Do you keep them
watered in dry summers? They set their buds in late summer/early
autumn ready for next spring. If they get dry at this time the buds
can abort. Do you mulch the roots to help retain moisture? Leafmould,
pine needles or peat are all OK. If you give a potash feed about now
it should encourage flower bud set.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

Generally, I don't do anything to the ones up the side of the garden. They
seem to bud, but all that happens is no flower, but looking at the plant,
you would think that it had flowered, and all the petals had fallen off.
Just a hard green nobbly thing appears. It's unlikely they dry out in the
summer, in Ireland.. an no, potash has never been used. I'll try the potash
now. Thanks for the advice, all.
"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 11:52:02 +0100, "derek"
wrote:

Hello,

I'm new to this.. Iv'e inherited a garden with these bushes, but they
never
flower! 6 years now, and maybe these were planted 7 years ago. No hint
of
a flower on any of them. Is this normal? If now, what can I do? They've
never been fed or fertilized - nothing except cut back.
Can anyone point me in the right direction before I pull them up?!!!!

Tks

Nichollette

Cut back? When? If you do it annually at the wrong time (like in the
autumn) you could be cutting off the embryonic flower buds.

But somehow I doubt it. I have no good answer. Do you keep them
watered in dry summers? They set their buds in late summer/early
autumn ready for next spring. If they get dry at this time the buds
can abort. Do you mulch the roots to help retain moisture? Leafmould,
pine needles or peat are all OK. If you give a potash feed about now
it should encourage flower bud set.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 20:50:48 +0100, "derek"
wrote:

Generally, I don't do anything to the ones up the side of the garden. They
seem to bud, but all that happens is no flower, but looking at the plant,
you would think that it had flowered, and all the petals had fallen off.
Just a hard green nobbly thing appears. It's unlikely they dry out in the
summer, in Ireland.. an no, potash has never been used. I'll try the potash
now. Thanks for the advice, all.
Just another thought. Rhodie buds can suffer from a fungus, 'bud
blast', that kills the buds as they develop and you end up with dead,
brown bud-corpses in spring. A characteristic is that the bud is
covered in black 'hairs'. It's thought to be spread by sap-sucking
insects, thrips in particular are blamed. The remedy is said to be
spraying regularly with a fungicide after flowering and through the
summer (but as you don't get flowers, then from late spring onwards!).
This catches the fungus at an early stage and stops it slowly
spreading through the bud as it grows.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

derek wrote:
Hello,

I'm new to this.. Iv'e inherited a garden with these bushes, but they never
flower! 6 years now, and maybe these were planted 7 years ago. No hint of
a flower on any of them. Is this normal? If now, what can I do? They've
never been fed or fertilized - nothing except cut back.
Can anyone point me in the right direction before I pull them up?!!!!

Tks

Nichollette


It may be the soil.Rhododendrons are lime haters and require ericaceous
soil. Try adding some sequestered iron,and do not trim the
bushes.The narrow buds that wiil develop are for leaf growth, the plump
ones for flowers, but you will have to wait until next year for them to
open.

In article , sam
writes
derek wrote:
Hello,

I'm new to this.. Iv'e inherited a garden with these bushes, but they never
flower! 6 years now, and maybe these were planted 7 years ago. No hint of
a flower on any of them. Is this normal? If now, what can I do? They've
never been fed or fertilized - nothing except cut back.
Can anyone point me in the right direction before I pull them up?!!!!

Tks

Nichollette


It may be the soil.Rhododendrons are lime haters and require ericaceous
soil. Try adding some sequestered iron,and do not trim the
bushes.

If that was the problem, you would see it in the yellowed leaves.

--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"