New Guinas stop blooming

by Peggy
(Bismarck, Mo.)

It has been very hot and I've tried to keep our plants watered. However, I've noticed that the New guinas have stopped blooming. The foliage is beautiful and they look healthy but no blooms. These are in hanging baskets.

Doug says that his best guess is that you're not feeding the plants - or not enough.

That's assuming the plants are in part-shade. Put them out in the full hot sun and they'll reduce blooms no matter what you do or the advertisements say.

Or if they're in a smallish pot - anything less than 14-16 inches, the root zones will get too hot and blooms are the often the first victim.

A lack of blooms means stress. End of story. :-( So the deal is that you need to identify the source of that stress. Too much heat, not enough soil volume, not enough plant food, combination of the above?

So - I'm not really able to give you a definitive answer on this one but rather point out that the lack of flowering is invariably caused by too much stress. Reduce the stress and away you go! :-)