The main decoration of summer window sills and a symbol of a bright and colorful summer, pelargonium is a real room and balcony classic. But to call pelargonium a flourishing culture always and everywhere would be a big mistake. Pelargonium does not necessarily require a cool winter, but is sensitive to lighting and pruning. And without basic care, it can disappoint no less than more capricious indoor plants. Fortunately, the hardy and simple pelargonium requires only basic procedures. And if you do not make really big mistakes, you will definitely be able to admire the umbrellas of fragrant inflorescences.
Why doesn’t pelargonium bloom? Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Svetlana Bahmet
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What does pelargonium want?
With pelargoniums, creating problems and choosing the wrong conditions is much more difficult than finding a suitable place for them. They are hardy and make a minimum of requirements, clearly “marking” the boundaries of what is permissible. Indoor pelargoniums will be comfortable if 5 main factors are provided.
Good lighting
Despite the ability to grow and delight with greenery and in secluded places, pelargoniums for flowering prefer sunny or absent-mindedly bright conditions typical for window sills and balconies. Not only the duration of flowering depends on the intensity of illumination, but also the quality – the size of flowers and inflorescences, their number and color intensity.
Sharp changes in the level of illumination of pelargonium do not like and “welcome” all kinds of compensatory measures on cloudy days, as well as to prolong flowering in autumn and winter. The direct sun threatens the decorativeness of the leaves only at noon.
Special wintering regime
Pelargonium, despite the popular myth, can bloom without a cool wintering, although it is desirable for all indoor species without exception. The main thing for a plant in winter is to change watering, stop feeding and give the necessary “respite” to prepare for the next flowering.
Wintering in temperatures from 10 to 15 degrees will allow you to maintain the shape of the bushes and achieve more intense flowering, but its absence can be easily compensated for by pruning and correcting care.
Fresh air access
It is not for nothing that Pelargoniums are so good on windowsills and balconies: they love fresh air and will enjoy airing. The more pretentious the flowers and the more sophisticated the variety, the more sensitive the plants are to drafts, but without access to fresh air you cannot grow a single pelargonium.
Without access to fresh air, no pelargonium can be grown
No extremes with overflows
Pelargoniums are not afraid of short droughts, they forgive mistakes, but they will not tolerate extremes with overflows. They will prefer classic watering, between which the top layer of the substrate dries out in spring-summer and twice as strong drying of the soil in winter with minimal watering.
Pelargoniums do not require an increase in air humidity and only in the heat will they not give up spraying.
Top dressing only during flowering
Top dressing is also carried out only during the period of active vegetation and flowering. For this, fertilizers are used for flowering plants. The frequency of dressing is 1 time in 2 weeks, the dosage can be specified on the package of the product.
Shaping to keep fit
Pelargoniums need pruning even with cool wintering. They can be cut in early spring (this option is also preferable when wintering in high temperatures), and immediately after flowering in the fall. Simply removing the oldest shoots and shortening all others is enough for a dense crown and lush flowering, and as young branches grow, they need to be pinched, further stimulating thickening.
Pinching, which is carried out after the buds are laid, is one of the secrets that allow you to get irresistibly lush inflorescences.
Transfer
All types of pelargonium are similar in their requirements for conditions and care. But large-flowered pelargonium (the most capricious of the species), unlike relatives, will not tolerate a reduction in lighting, she does not tolerate drought so steadfastly and does not so easily forgive careless care. But even she is not afraid of a transplant, which is carried out as the substrate is filled with roots annually or once every 1 years.
For transplantation, high drainage is required, universal soil – provided it is nutritious, friable and neutral acidity. Oddly enough, the most common reason for the lack of flowering in pelargoniums is associated with transplantation.
Read more about the types of pelargonium in the article Pelargonium – the most hardy of the flowering flowers.
Pelargoniums need pruning
“Wrong” pot – no flowering
In pelargoniums, the most common reason for the lack of flowering was and remains “excess” pot space. If you plant this plant in spacious, large pots that greatly exceed the root ball, then flowering will begin no earlier than the entire space of the container has been mastered. The development of pelargonium will occur only in the form of growing shoots and greenery.
To grow pelargoniums in large containers, several bushes are planted in a group there, reducing the space for the development of each plant to normal. To avoid the problem of excess space, it is enough to transplant geraniums into pots, only 1-2 cm larger than the previous ones.
The opposite problem – the lack of transplantation and filling the entire substrate with roots – can also affect flowering, but it leads to its complete absence less often. But the depletion of the soil and its poor quality will be difficult to compensate even with top dressing.
Much moisture in winter – few flowers in summer
Reducing watering for the winter is one of the two main conditions that allow pelargoniums to go through a normal resting phase. Even if the bushes remain to winter in ordinary living rooms, they still need to reduce watering by an average of half, drying the substrate harder. If you leave the watering the same, you should not count on flowering.
Pelargoniums tolerate droughts, but hate dampness. Root decay, constant waterlogging of the soil, stagnant water in the pallets and the lower part of the substrate affect the state of the plant so much that you can forget about flowering.
Subtleties of dressings
Pelargoniums often mistakenly feed a lot. Applying the usual scheme of feeding for the summer to the plant – weekly procedures – is not the best idea. This plant requires standard feeding, and an excess of both macro- and microelements affects its development.
If you feed the indoor “geranium” outside the phase of active vegetation and flowering, make too intense or frequent feeding, nothing but rapid growth, deformation and problems with stability can be achieved.
The choice of fertilizers does not accidentally reduce all options to mixtures in which potassium and phosphorus dominate. Even the same percentage of nitrogen in fertilizers leads to the growth of lush greenery, which is to say about its excess. Top dressing with improperly selected mixtures often leads to a delay and lack of flowering in domestic geraniums.
Ideally, the percentage of nitrogen should not exceed 11%. When choosing fertilizers, pay attention to the proportion of phosphorus, which is critical for this crop, as well as the presence of iodine trace elements in it.
Read also our article 10 secrets of a lush balcony.
Pelargoniums often mistakenly feed a lot. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Presseportal
Other reasons why pelargonium does not bloom
Other reasons that can lead to the fact that pelargoniums will stop blooming on time include:
- very poor lighting;
- soil salinization as a result of irrigation with non-settled water;
- too high humidity, soaking leaves and buds;
- constant turning and transfer of the plant at the budding stage;
- lack of pruning (excessive thickening) or excessive pruning with too low pruning of branches (below the 2nd – 3rd eye);
- natural aging of bushes (in many varieties, decorativeness is lost from the third year);
- severe pest infestation.
Even if pelargonium is neglected, old and does not bloom for a long time, the plant does not have to be “written off”. Bushes can always be dug in or planted in the garden, giving time to recover. But even easier is to renew the variety using cuttings.
Semi-lignified shoots from the second half of summer to mid-autumn are cut from the heel, slightly dried and rooted in water or soil according to the standard method. Of course, you can grow new bushes from seeds, but cuttings give much faster results.
