EasyBloom Forum

Why do I not have flowers on my Hydrangeas, the leaves are a beautiful green but no flowers how can I boost the flower growth???

No response, I need help with this plant I don't know what is going on I am in Massachusetts

Hey Linda...I wrote an article ('Why Won't My Plant Flower?') that you can find on the Plant Library Page, or by copying and pasting the following link: http://easybloom.com/plantlibrary/care/why-wont-my-plant-flower. This article covers some basics of what we as gardeners do to prevent our plants from flowering. I would definitely peruse the article. Having said that, I am curious to how much nitrogen has been provided to your Hydrangeas. Often times plants that receive a lot of nitrogen fertilizer will go into a "vegetative mode". The word vegetative means something different for plants. Basically, it means that it won't produce any reproductive parts (i.e. flowers) and will only produce more leaves, stems and roots. The fact that you mentioned that the leaves are very green also makes me believe that you have a lot of nitrogen in the soil. You can try to leach some of the nutrients out of the soil by watering with clear water (tap water should suffice). When you water with clear water, you want to be sure that there's enough so that the water moves through the rootzone and will drag with it any nitrogen that is sitting in the soil. In other words, if the water just sits there and it doesn't drain well, it won't leach much nitrogen. After leaching I would reintroduce nutrients, but at a much lower concentration and possibly one that is higher in phosphorous than nitrogen, or at least equal. You may want to use a fertilizer that is 5-10-5 or 10-10-10. (FYI those numbers refer to the 3 different macronutrients in the following order: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). Also, you may want to simply use a slow release fertilizer, which simplifies the process. You probably will not want to fertilize after August or the beginning of September. I hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any further questions. Happy Gardening!!! Robby

Hi Robby. I actually have the opposite problem with my hydrangeas as Linda. I have a couple different varieties of Hydrangea macrophylla (mophead and lacecap). This year I got amazing blooms on my plants, but the flowers are actually to big for the stems. It's as if the opposite of what Linda described happened to my hydrangeas: all the energy went into flowers and the stems are not strong enough to support them. This has never happened before. I usually get a nice amount of flowers on strong stems. This year the flowers went berserk and the stems can't support them. The stems are bowed down nearly horizontal. What do you think happened? Do you think it was bad pruning or more of a nutrient imbalance? I know nothing about either. Thanks! --Heidi

Hey Heidi...I am actually curious about another environmental factor. This to me sounds like you are just on the verge of too little light. It would be interesting to see what your EasyBloom Plant Sensor has to say about the light conditions around your Hydrangeas. My thinking is that your Hydrangeas are stretching for light, which means that resources are pouring into the heights of the stems and not the strength and girth. This is not uncommon. I hope this is helpful. --Robby

I would also like to write a quick post about pruning Hydrangeas, specifically Hydrangea macrophylla. Hydrangeas will bloom on last year's shoot growth (this is of course unless you are growing Reblooming or Remontant H. macrophyllas; Reblooming/Remontant H. macrophyllas produce blooms on the current season's shoot growth). Knowing that Hydrangeas mostly bloom off of last season's growth, you should only prune the stems that have flowers on them. Some people argue that you should only prune right after the blooms are spent. I would actually prune once per year in early or midspring. Prune off the blooms from last season to just above the topmost pair of buds (I say pair of buds since Hydrangeas have opposite leaves). If you are pleased with the overall size of the plant and the plant is established, cut back one-third of the blooming stem. This will promote replacement growth. In the most drastic of cases, you can prune the whole plant down to just above the soil level. This of course will result in no flowerheads the next season since you removed the stems that had the flower buds on them. I hope this is helpful. --Robby

Hi Robby. I just took a Monitor reading on my hydrangea this weekend. I got all 'thumbs-up', including light. The light reading said partial shade. Thx. Heidi