There are plenty of reasons why your hydrangeas may not be blooming as much as they once did. Conditions like extreme heat, drought, or excessive sun exposure can all impact how many flowers your shrubs produce. Pruning is also an important consideration.
The primary reasons hydrangeas don't bloom are incorrect pruning, bud damage due to winter and/or early spring weather, location and too much fertilizer. Hydrangea varieties can be of the type that blooms on old wood, new wood or both. Old wood is the current year's growth and new wood is next year's (spring) growth.
Hydrangeas need regular water to thrive. Too little water can result in stunted growth and failure to develop flower buds. A drought in the previous growing season can also affect flowering the following year. Plants need consistent moisture, about 2 inches of water per week.
Coffee grounds add extra acidity to the soil around hydrangeas. On a chemical level, this increased acidity makes it easier for the plant to absorb naturally occurring aluminum in the dirt. The effect is pretty blue clusters of flowers.
Miracle-Gro Performance Organics Blooms Nutrition
This is an all-purpose blossom booster that's suitable for use on a wide variety of perennial and annual blooming plants, including hydrangeas.
Start adding coffee grounds to the soil surrounding your hydrangeas in late fall. Sprinkle them around your hydrangeas, but be sure to work them into the soil to help eliminate any off-putting smell. You do not need to do this process often–just two to three times per year should be sufficient.
To stimulate hydrangeas to bloom, it is important to provide the plants with plenty of sunlight and water. Make sure that the soil is well-draining and fertilize regularly in spring and summer. Prune each year in the summer after the flowers bloom, and avoid winter or spring pruning.
It takes perennials years to reach maturity,' says Standard. Depending on the type of hydrangea you have, it can take 2-5 years to bloom after it's planted. If your hydrangea gets plenty of sun, and it's at least a few years old, it's time to look further into the reason it isn't blooming.
If you don't prune hydrangeas then they can eventually resemble a tangled mass of woody stems, and the flowers will become smaller and less showy.
This common household item is surprisingly effective at helping perk up plants and brighten blooms. For hydrangeas specifically, adding baking soda helps the plant retain more moisture in the roots. When this happens, the result is bigger blooms with more vibrant colors that last longer than they would otherwise.
Make a vertical slit in the incision and hold the stem upright in the boiling water for about 60 seconds. Place the hydrangeas back in your floral arrangement and they should revive themselves in an hour or so.
By altering the soil pH with vinegar, you can actually turn your pink-flowering hydrangeas blue! For this trick, simply dilute your vinegar in water before pouring it around the base of your hydrangeas, and within just a few weeks you could have fresh and bountiful blue blooms.
You can use vinegar to lower the pH of your soil, but be aware that in order to achieve blue blooms, you will need both an acidic environment and aluminum ions. The acidic environment will also need to be a sustained over a period of time, which could be hard if rainwater is washing the vinegar away.
Use vinegar diluted with water in a ratio of 20 parts water to one part apple cider vinegar. Water the plants along their base. Try not to get the vinegar-and-water solution onto the leaves, because it can burn the foliage.
Homemade compost is a great source of slow release nutrients for hydrangeas. Either top dress the soil beneath your plants with your compost and water well or brew up a batch of compost tea and give your plants a deep drink of it. You can repeat your application of compost tea in 2 to 3 weeks.
Yes, you can use many types of all-purpose balanced Miracle-Gro on Endless Summer hydrangeas.
Fertilization. Fertilize your Endless Summer Hydrangeas in the spring with Holly-tone for blue flowers or Plant-tone and granulated lime for purple to pink flowers. For best flowering we recommend fertilizing in April, May and June with 1 cup of fertilizer for each foot of branch spread.
Water at a rate of 1 inch per week throughout the growing season. Deeply water 3 times a week to encourage root growth. Bigleaf and smooth hydrangeas require more water, but all varieties benefit from consistent moisture.
Some gardeners report success in turning their hydrangeas blue by applying coffee grounds to the soil. The coffee grounds make the soil more acidic, allowing the hydrangea to more easily absorb aluminum. In addition, fruit peels, lawn clippings, peat moss and pine needles, are thought to have a similar effect.
Water your hydrangeas in the morning before the heat of the sun is strong enough to quickly evaporate soil moisture. Try to avoid watering at night, which can encourage mold and mildew as the moisture sits through the cool night. Water your hydrangeas through the growing season as well as in late fall.
Also, when you do water, after a week or 10 days, water with a water soluble fertilizer such as Miracle Grow, Rapid Grow or Peters 20-20-20. Apply this water soluble fertilizer every second or third watering and see if the plant doesn't do better.