Why don’t plants bloom and how will they bloom again?
Why does a plant not bloom anymore? Why do some flowers lose their blooms and never regain the bloom they had when we bought them?
A common problem encountered by those of us who deal with plants and gardening are plants that show reduced flowering and do not resemble the plant we originally had.
Why does a plant stop blooming? What happens when a plant’s flowers fall?
It is a fact that the rich flowering and impressive colors of the flowers highlight and elevate the decorative value of the plants we have in the garden, on the balcony, in the yard and inside our house.
But apart from the aesthetic part, the flower is the most important part that plants have as it is directly linked to their reproduction and multiplication.
Why does a plant stop blooming? What happens when a plant’s flowers fall?
It is a fact that the rich flowering and impressive colors of the flowers highlight and elevate the decorative value of the plants we have in the garden, on the balcony, in the yard and inside our house.
But apart from the aesthetic part, the flower is the most important part that plants have as it is directly linked to their reproduction and multiplication.
The shape, color, pollen and nectar of flowers attract insects that carry the pollen from one flower to another, completing pollination, fertilization and fruit formation.
So it’s normal to worry about ornamental plants, horticultural plants and fruit trees when they don’t bloom or when their flowers drop and wonder what’s going on. There are several reasons why they do not form or lose their flowers such as due to the planting location, the initial conditions and the cultivation care they receive.
As we see in detail what are the reasons why plants do not bloom, together with useful tips to help our plants bloom again and give us abundant flowering.
- Plants do not bloom due to lack of sunlight
Plants need the sun to photosynthesize, grow and form their flowers. In some cases, horticultural plants and fruit trees do not flower due to a lack of the required sunshine.
In a shady environment, plants usually develop more stunted vegetation and reduced flowering.
In most ornamental plants, the strong presence of light is very important to give us flowers.
If we have a place that does not receive much light during the day, we prefer decorative plants that can withstand shade and give us rich flowering such as geranium, gardenia, hydrangea, camellia, azalea and rhododendron.
- Plants do not bloom due to excessive watering
Water is necessary for plants, but in moderation. In conditions of excessive humidity, when we water our plants too often, in addition to the risk of rotting their root system, the plants do not form flowers or drop them.
This is also observed in ornamental plants such as orchids, but also in fruit trees such as pomegranate cultivation, orange cultivation, lemon cultivation and apricot cultivation.
Many times to induce flowering in plants, a good method is to reduce watering the plants and allow the soil to dry out well.
This stress due to lack of water in many cases prompts the plant to form flowers, in its attempt to create fruits and seeds that will contribute to its perpetuation.
For example, in the cultivation of multi-fruited lemon cultivars, growers tend to cut them short in early summer to induce flowering and fruiting that will give them lots of new production.
- Plants do not bloom due to excessive nitrogen fertilization
Plants balance two basic functions: a) the function of vegetation with the development of shoots and leaves, and b) the function of flowering and fruiting with the development of flowers and fruits. We must be aware that excessive growth of vegetation contributes to limiting the formation of flowers. So if we water excessively or add large amounts of nitrogen fertilizer (ammonia fertilizers and urea), we promote the intense growth of shoots (blastomania) of the plants.
This has negative consequences on flowering and can cause a significant reduction in flower formation.
- Plants do not bloom due to lack of nutrients
Plants need fertilizer. In order for there to be good growth, flowering and fruiting, they need to have the basic fertilization nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
But, in addition to the basic elements, there are also some trace elements such as zinc and boron that contribute decisively to the formation of flowers and abundant flowering.
To address the lack of these nutrients and enhance the flowering of ornamental plants, vegetables and fruit trees, we can water or spray their foliage with water-soluble zinc fertilizer and boron fertilizer.
- Plants not blooming due to improper pruning
We are careful what we prune and never. Pruning is a very important cultivation work for the growth, flowering and fruiting of plants.
In some cases our plants do not bloom due to incorrect pruning. For example, if we prune the white table grape variety ‘sultanina’ very strongly at 1-2 eyes, its shoots will not flower as the first 3 eyes on its shoots are not fertile and do not give flowering.
Similar phenomena can be observed in fruit trees and ornamental plants.
For example, in the case of the olive tree, the olive tree bears fruit on shoots of the previous year. If we prune too low and do renewal pruning, the olive tree will only form shoots this year and will not produce flowers and fruit.
- Plants do not bloom due to weather conditions and temperature
The weather conditions, and especially the temperature, is a very important factor related to the flowering of plants. Several plants may not bloom due to too low temperatures during the flowering period or too high temperatures as they will destroy their flowers.
Also, very strong winds, either cold or very hot, can have a negative effect on flowering and destroy the flowers of plants and trees.
Another different case of correlation between temperatures and flowering, but also quite interesting, is the case of deciduous fruit trees.
In particular, in several fruit-bearing trees, such as in cherry cultivation, apple cultivation, almond cultivation and chestnut cultivation, a period of souls must be completed in the winter in order to form a sufficient flowering in the spring.
- A secret to flowering plants
The development of deep roots in the plants contributes to the delay in the formation of flowers.
For this reason, it is important when transplanting ornamental plants into a larger pot, to choose pots only 1-2 sizes larger. If we choose a much larger pot, this can delay the creation of new flowering for quite some time.
This particular phenomenon is more pronounced and frequent in the transplanting of flowers such as the sympidium orchid, strelitzia and heliconia.
When the sea washes up seaweed, many gardeners and growers collect it to make a natural fertilizer used by everything from vegetables and flowers, to herbs and fruit trees.
Seaweeds contain a range of nutrients, trace elements, carbohydrates and natural growth stimulants such as cytokinins, auxins and amino acids, which strengthen and strengthen plants.
The valuable ingredients that algae contain in gardening to improve the soil, stimulate our plants and help them cope with adverse conditions.
In addition to the seaweed we collect from the sea, in agricultural stores we find organic preparations with seaweed as the main raw material.
There are solid kelp fertilizers that we apply to the soil, as well as liquid kelp fertilizers for root watering and foliar kelp fertilizers for leaf spraying.
As we see in detail what uses seaweed has for plant care and how we can make our own fertilizer and seaweed extract to use in the garden. What are the uses of seaweed in plant care?
Algae is an excellent natural ecological material, suitable for organic farming that helps plants and crops in the following ways:
- Algae are a natural tonic and organic fertilizer for plants
We use algae on plants as an effective biological fertilizer, as they enhance the growth and propagation of the root system in the initial stages of cultivation. In addition, they offer a multitude of useful nutrients to plants.
- Seaweed improves the soil before planting
We apply algae as an ecological soil improvement material together with other natural materials such as manure, compost, peat to enrich the soil with nutrients, as well as to improve aeration and drainage.
- Algae strengthen plants and protect them in difficult conditions
Algae for the protection of plants when they suffer from frost, heat, wind while contributing to the improvement of plants’ resistance against attacks by insects and diseases.
- Algae are an excellent fruit set biostimulator
During flowering, we spray the foliage and flowers of the plants to improve the fruit set of horticultural and fruit trees as well as to improve the quality and taste of the fruits.
- Algae accelerates seed germination
Before planting the seeds of vegetables and ornamental plants in a nursery, we can keep them for 24 hours in a wet cloth soaked in seaweed extract to improve and accelerate the germination of the seeds.
How do we make seaweed fertilizer and liquid seaweed extract?
In order to make use of the algae washed up by the sea during the winter and use them for our garden plants, we follow the following procedure:
We collect the seaweed from the beach that the sea has taken out in early spring.
Rinse the seaweed several times to remove the salts. Alternatively, we can leave them on rainy days in a space for the rain to wash away.
We chop the seaweed and keep it for 2-3 months in a year of composting, stirring every week and let it ferment.
After fermentation is complete, we will make our own seaweed compost and can be incorporated into the soil for soil improvement or used as organic fertilizer.
In addition, we can make algae extract to stimulate our plants by watering or spraying.
a) Algae as a natural fertilizer and soil conditioner: Before we plant, we incorporate the fermentation product of the algae into the garden as a soil conditioner along with any leftover compost or manure we have. During cultivation, we add the product of algae fermentation as a biological fertilizer to horticultural, aromatic plants, ornamental plants and fruit trees.
b) Liquid fertilizer from seaweed extract: We can make liquid fertilizer from seaweed to water or spray our plants by dissolving 1 kg of seaweed fermentation product in 20 liters of water.
We leave the medicine for 48 hours and then it is ready to use by spraying or watering our garden plants.
And a secret about algae in gardening
In potato crops, if we dip the potato tubers, i.e. the potato seed, before planting it in a seaweed extract medicine, we achieve stimulation, improvement and acceleration of bud sprouting.
Read hundreds of articles that will answer any question about #green-masters by clicking here.