Hydrangeas can be divided into two categories. Those that bloom on the current year’s growth, and those that bloom on old wood, (last year’s growth).
The Hydrangeas that bloom on old wood are from the macrophylla family. These include Nikko Blue, Endless Summer and many other pinks and blues. When I say they bloom on old wood I mean that they are busy right now setting flower buds for next summer. So next year when they take off growing in the spring, the flower shoots will actually emerge from the older wood, the wood that was produced this year.
The hydrangeas that bloom on new wood are typically the white hydrangeas like Annabelle and Paniculata Grandiflora (PG). They put on new growth in the spring and then later in the summer the flower buds are actually produced right at the end of that new growth. That’s why the Annabelle and PG are such prolific bloomers. They set flower buds and almost immediately those buds produce big, beautiful, abundant flowers. Almost nothing can go wrong with their blooming sequence.
But with the Blue and Pink Hydrangeas (macrophyllas) all kinds of things can go wrong with the flower buds. Since the flower buds are produced in August and September they have to make it through the harsh winter before they can bloom. The flower buds can be damaged by extreme cold.
Pruning? You should prune macrophylla hydrangeas right after they bloom, before they have a chance to start making new flower buds. Annabelle and PG hydrangea and other hydrangeas that flower on new wood can be pruned during the late fall, winter or early spring. Once they start growing in the spring, do not do any pruning until after they bloom.
One of the most popular new varieties on the market is “Endless Summer Hydrangea” and it is known to bloom more than once in a season. It’s in the macrophylla family and sets flower buds on old wood, but it is also known to set more buds and produce flowers during the growing season. It should still be treated as a hydrangea that blooms on old wood.
So . . . with all of that said, if your hydrangea did not bloom then the flower buds might have gotten pruned off, or more likely the flower buds were damaged over the winter.
Hydrangeas like more water than most plants, and at least a smidgen of shade helps them stay healthy and happy.
Hydrangea
I hope this helps you understand the world of Hydrangeas. For even more information on hydrangeas and how to care for these beautiful plants, go to http://freeplants.com/hydrangeas.htm
I pruned my macophyla too early and now this spring it doesn’t have any buds growing, some growth from the bottom. Will growth come back on the old sticks I pruned next year? Or should I cut everything to the base to allow the new growth to grow?
Wait about two weeks and just remove the dead wood. Probably has nothing to do with when you pruned. They just do that sometimes.
I have oak leaf hydrangeas ,cone shaped,shaded where I planted them and still confused about pruning. Get one flowering a year. The flowers are now brown. Is this when I should prune? How far back?
Brenda,
As soon as they are done blooming simply cut them back to where you like. This will make them fill out. I have several right now and and they are all in bloom.
Does a Granny Smith Green Apple Tree need another apple planted near by to
help Granny Smith bare apples. This is second year; other apple tree planted in same area died; so do I need to get another kind of apple tree to replace or can I
just plan on one Granny to bare apples for a home garden.
Kathy,
I don’t know but I think Stark Brothers has that information on their website.
I have old, very established hydrangeas that, for the past four years, developed brown spots all over the leaves. It used to affect only half of the bushes but, this summer, all of them were affected. Many leaves turned yellow and fell off all summer. Since getting these spots, I have less than half the amount of flower clusters on the bushes than I had before the plants developed these spots. What is afflicting my hydrangeas and how can I repair the condition?
Kay,
It’s probably something that has to do with humidity and lack of air circulation. Prune them to allow air to circulate around the those branches.
I had this one hydrangea for 4 years and no blooms and it gets sun and some shade thought out the day but it never blooms what am I doing wrong
Marge,
I don’t think you are doing anything wrong, it could be the variety. I’d replace it with a good bloomer.
Same problem…Endless summer Blushing Bride.
It blossomed the first year after we planted it…the past 5, no blooms just foliage
Sparky,
Endless Summer is usually a really good bloomer. Nikko Blue not so much.
How do I get my climbing hydrangea to bloom? I have had it for several years now, and I only get a very few little blooms on it each year. What am I doing wrong? I gave it some blossom booster fertilizer and that didn’t even help.
Pat,
They can be like that, I think it’s best to just leave it alone and it should find it’s way.
This year the deer ate all my blossoms on my annabelle hydrangea. How can I keep deer out
You can try all kinds of deer sprays. they work to a degree.
I live in Houston and have a 20 feet tall persimmon tree that blooms every year. However, it drops alot of its fruit when they get to the size of a large marble. Even so, there is still a large amount of fruit that gets to grow very nicely but the darn squirrels do a number on them and I don’t get to salvage but maybe 3 or 4 persimmons per year! I don’t know how to handle these critters. They are such cute creatures but oh so distructive! Anybody have a idea how I can handle this issue?
GET AN AGGRESSIVE CAT!S NOTHING IS CUTE WHEN IT STEALS YOUR FRUIT!
TONYS
CROSMAN makes some very good pellet pistols and rifles that can dispatch squirrel pests. Get the .22 cal. 🙂
I trapped the critters and deported them far away!
Sprinkle Blood Meal around your tree. Squirrels don’t like the smell. When I sprinkle it in my flower beds, I don’t see a squirrel.
Repeat after rain & as needed
Sprinkle Blood Meal around your tree. After it rains, sprinkle again
I have had several Hydranges for several years in the same area that grow great but never a flower. I thought they were the pruning type so I did that but since never a bloom I left them alone and still no blooms. I see they grow new growth in the spring so then is when I trim out the old. What can I do to get them to bloom?
Debbie,
Variety matters, some varieties have a difficult time blooming. Nikko Blue is one. Those in the Paniculata family never fail to bloom. I’d consider those.
Whack them with a stick and they will bloom.
Funny you should say that. I had bush that looked great but never grew. Was hit by car and now it’s going crazy with growth and needs regular pruning to keep in shape! Mom had a tree same thing, until it got hit by car. Now most beautiful full height tree!!
So the solution is to plant near or in the street so they get hit by a car?
Plant it where you like and DIY with the car treatment.
My neighbors have very large hydrangeas, about 5 to 6 foot high. Mine die back every winter and form new shoots from the bottom. I have Niko Blue. It had two sets of flower buds on it, but a wild rabbit ate one of the. My concern is that even though I get flowers, the dieback in the winter keps them at only less than 2 foot high..
Steve,
This is really the story of Macrophylla hydrangeas in colder climates. Mine in my landscape do exactly as yours are doing.
This year, my potted hydrangea had several beautiful heads, just one plant, assorted colors, periwinkle, pink and lavender. The largest was 1/2 periwinkle 1/2 lavender. Thankfully I’d taken pictures! The next morning there was NOT ONE bloom on the plant! All gone. The stems seemed pretty straight, fairly flat as though cut but the patio is not visible outside our yard, we have 6ft privacy fence and locked gate. There were no ‘crumbs’ of petals or leaves Lying about as though eaten by a critter (and we live in an adult community…)
How could this happen?There are squirrels, opossums, rats around but nothing I’ve read states they eat hydrangea blooms. And seriously? Every mophead, no leaves, nary a crumb or leaf dropped? What say ye?
If I had to guess I’d say it was deer who just bit off the head and consumed 100% of it leaving no telltale signs of a flower ever being there.
Can a deer hop a 6’ fence? If it weren’t for the fence I’d agree with deer theory but it seems like a lot of work when I’m sure there are other yards that have easy access
I’ve seen deer easily go over a six foot fence. Run a wire across the top about 2” above the other wire. No problem.
The local arboretum had a collection of fancy hybrid rhododendruns that got eaten every year at the bottom, up to the height of a deer’s reach. They put up an 8′ fence but had to increase it to 12 feet to keep the deer out.
I read something in a book on fences a few years ago about an effective way to keep deer out. It is to put the fence sloping inward on an angle of about 40-45 or lower. They will not jump over the fence because they can’t tell for sure where the top is or what is on the other side. I moved last fall into a house with a 4 foot fence around the whole back yard. The deer don’t eat my hydrangeas but they feast on the hostas in the front yard. When I moved in it was November and the hostas along the front path looked sunburnt. One night the deer ate everyone of them down to the ground. In a week or so, they all came back up and many of them bloomed as if it was Spring although it was December. This year, they have been eating the hosta leaves for several weeks in several places in the front yard. They might come over the fence or through the open gate at the end of the driveway (it is hard for me to close so I leave it open most of the time) but they leave the hydrangeas alone. I trimmed out dead wood in them in the Spring down to the point where there were buds or new branches were growing and they all bloomed. The large light blue one was covered with large blossoms that I have not trimmed off yet. Some were also light purple or pink. The two smaller ones nearby had fewer and smaller flowers. They are all in full sun in the afternoon but the bigger plants did well this year.
Update on my hydtrangea pruning. I cut off the dead old wood down to the highest pair of buds and they did well–all the big ones bloomed. I took a chance because I did not know what type they were when I moved here in November 2021. We had several days in the 60s and 70s this week but the buds started to swell before the warmer days so I’ll prune them the same way this year, just down to the highest (and often biggest) buds near the ends of the old branches. Knew they would not bloom on dead wood so left most of the old wood below those top buds. Did not know if the buds were new wood or leaves or flowers but they grew all of those and bloomed heavily. That large bush is next to my back deck and as high as the top of the deck railing; some of the branches and flowers come through the railing posts. I picked some of the flowers when they were fresh and put them in water in a vase. The water evaporated but the flowers dried blue and still look good. Some I picked in the Fall turned brown within a few days but were not in their prime when I cut them. Most of them still had small hints of color when I cut them but all turned brown soon after. There were too many to put in water so I tied some stems together and hung them up to dry. Will cut some more while they are still fresh and put them in vases to dry this year. I was worried that the afternoon sun was too much for them but it did not interfere with growth and blooming last year. A small one in the other end of the backyard in the shade did not bloom much but that might be because it is still too small. It had a few flowers and new growth of stems and leaves. It gets some midday sun but not the full afternoon sun the big blue one gets.
How so I find out what my gardening zone is? My post office address is for an area that is about a mile south and east of here but I am closer to some other small communities. One large spread out one about 1-2 miles away is in zone 6 but our address is zone 7. Most olants I look at in catalogs give a range (3-9 or 4-9) so either 6 or 7 is in the middle and they should be hardy here. I lived in zone 6 for 32 years, only about 5 miles from here and a lot of the things growing in gardens at my new house are thriving, whatever the zone is. There are irises, daylilies, echinacea, shasta daisies, etc. and the daffodils are already blooming. March can be wintry here in SE PA or warm and it is unpredictable. 3 years ago, I had a fire in my old house and there was fresh snow on the ground on March 3 when we walked out of the house at 5 a.m. Yesterday it was 73 degrees, but that is unusual in mid-March.
Zone map for the United States:
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html
Zone map for Canada:
http://nlwis-snite1.agr.gc.ca/plant00/index.phtml
I have a blue hydrangea bush, with lush leaves, this year. It’s a few years old, and only bloomed once. I pruned it after the second season, because it hadn’t bloomed. It never bloomed again. It has sun most of the day, perhaps that is to much. What do I do now?
I also bought several of the endless bloom variety, which also get a lot of sun. Is it advisable to move them, and when is the best time?
Thanks so much!
I believe endless summer needs morning sun and afternoon shade.
will the endless summer EVER come back since the dead wood was removed not knowing this was the current years bloom?
I did the same thing,not knowing it was to bloom on old wood. The following year I left the old wood until I could see where new shoots were springing from. They’re fine now and in full bloom.
Forgot to mention that up in the mountains down here we have wild hydrangeas. People transplant them to their yards. The blooms are cream in color. Those were the first I ever saw during the 1930s.
Mike..;
Down south we have the kind in which the soil pH determines the color of the bloom
It dies back to the ground during the winter but new stems evolve from the roots in the spring and blooms on new wood. It can be changed from blue to pink if one changes the soil pH.
.
I have imported the Ottawa, On kind which blooms beautiful white blooms profusely. The bushes are everywhere in that area of Ontario and always filled with white blooms. These spread from the roots and eventually a plant will become a mass..These are easy to divide, as I took rootings with stems, year before last, and about 6 bloomed last year in Ontario..
My plant is now showing blooms on old wood and it is still in its container. This must be confusing. I garden in eastern Ontario and NW Georgia.
John
They do very good from cuttings they also sell pretty good.mike how can i take cuttings from a magnolia tree remember i am only 11.
Owen,
You can try some Magnolia cuttings now. If they don’t work try thing again in mid to late June. http://www.freeplants.com/homemade-plant-propagation.htm
HELP! I have a question, my annabelle hydrangea is an out of control monster! 🙂 She is @ 8′ wide now. How do I control her so I can plant others near her? She sends out runners along the top few inches of soil!
Thanks MIKE!!
Holly
Holly,
As soon as that Annabelle is done blooming, or anytime this fall, cut it back as hard as you like and it will be fine.
thank for the info MIKE
I have the blue hydrandeas that grow on old wood. Should I trim off the deadheads(October) now?
June, sure cut away those dead flowers now.
The leaves on my hydrangeas have almost all been eaten by a very healthy family of deer, leaving very TALL stalks! Should I just sigh and cut the stalks down to the ground to start again next year? Thank you
M’Lou, you don’t have to cut them all the way down. I’d just trim them lightly as needed, there may be flower buds inside the plant that you don’t want to cut off.
I have 3 hydrangeas that bloom pink and blue. They made beautiful blooms this year, but then the blooms died I guess? and the bloom heads are dark and ugly looking. They have not fallen off the stems. Do I cut them off and if so where? Just under the bloom head? It has been about 3 weeks or so and I have been waiting for them to fall of and no go. They are slowly making a couple of new bloom heads on the plant. Just not sure what to do from here. Thanks Brenda
Brenda, cut them off back to the bottom of the flower stem.
my hydrangeas are prolific with healthy, compact leaves. the buses stems are not growing higher than the leaves. While they appear to be robust plants the flowers are scant to nil and the bloom is more flat on the underneath side, rather disc shaped and pink in color. They are ideally located on the sunny east side of the house and well watered and well drained and mulched. my question how do I get the plants to produce fewer leaves and larger and more blooms.
Kate, if you are fertilizing your hydrangeas I’d stop fertilizing them. Fertilizer produces a lot of vegetative growth, but in order for plants to bloom they sometimes have to slow down growing so they have time to make flower buds. You can fertilize with something that is low in nitrogen and higher in phosporous. Phosphorous helps produce more flowers.
Hi Mike, Love all the information on Hydrangeas. I have white ones out front but last winter I did not cut them back because they look nice for winter landscape and the birds love being able to get underneath and perhaps eat the dried flowers. Now I have this hugh ‘patch’ with lots of little flowers on them. Is that because I didn’t prune? It looks wonderful, however!
hmmm, after reading here that you should cut hydrangea’s back only to shape them, I’m worried. In my old house, i cut it to 3 or 4 inches every fall, so when i moved a town over, i did the same to the bushes here, have I done something very wrong?
Sal
Sal,
It depends on the variety, but no matter what you didn’t seriously harm them. Might have cut off some flower buds if they are in the macropyhla family. I know I spelled that wrong.
Thanks for the great info…your posts seem to come out just when I’m looking for the info. Perfect timing!
Thank you for all your insight on the hydrangeas and everything! I am a new gardener and an excited one. New home and lots of new plants, shrubs and flowers. This winter we got hit by frost and I covered plants but not the hydrangeas. It looks like they may have been hit. Will they return if I trim them back? Should I do it now or wait a little longer. I live in a zone 8 area. Thank you for your assistance.
I have PG’s for about 7 years and lately they are not blooming as well but they face the sun. From reading all the helpful info, I am transplanting them to the east side of the house. Now, my worry are hopefully over . Thnks a bunch!
Shirley
My hyg. plant is beautiful, but 2 years ago I put it on the front porch and the wind here in Ok. like to have blown it to death so I brought it back into the house and for the last 2 years it hasn’t bloomed at all. For about a month now I have been giving it some miracle-Gro bloom booster every other week and I still have no blooms. What is wrong with it? Oh yes and I have pruned it back a little bit. Please give me some info about it. It is red when it bloomed.
It is early Sept, and my hydrangeas have been ravaged by deer. Most of all the leaves have been eaten off. While I know I have to do something to keep the deer away, will these plants recover and hopefully bloom next summer?
As soon as my hydrangea bloomed, the deer ate them up, guess I do not have to prune them
Had a lot about pruning hydro’s. Now can you tell me when to take cuttings from geraniums for new plants?
I have an Endless Summer hydrangea that we planted last early summer and had been doing well with new growth. Sadly, I came home from vacation yesterday only to find our yard mowed by the neighbor in a good gesture but completely mowed my hydrangea down. There is a small stem left, is there any chance it will recover or should I just replace it?
I have not cut my roses or hydrangers should I cut them back now or wait until the weather is a little warmer. I am in Illinois right outside of Indiana. Thank You very much Joyce
Hi Mike
I really appreciate all your advice. I have blueberry plants and I have a boron shortage, what fertilizer can I use for acid loving plants. Everytime I fertilize with 10-10-10 they look sick. Ammonium sulfate works but it doesn’t help the boron problem. Thanks
Aloha Mike and your beautiful wife, I am so greatful to you and your wisdom in plants. However I do have them in my yard, but it is a small bunch. My landlord had them in here already and they are blue and a greenish pink color with a tinit of very light purple. They are beautiful to the eyes. However in different places here on the island on a higher elevartion where it’s temperature is much colder it grows beautiful and humungus. I mean huge and they are very happy there. Temp is about in their 50’s and it’s about 3000ft level high. Beautiful. There are times during the year when it’s pruned back and then later it’s gorgeous, just gorgeous. Well, I will always love those that I have in my back yard, I need to care for them and appreciate them. I live on the big island of hawaii a beautiful place. Well have a great week and god bless you and yours. Regards, Natalie a happy gardener….thanks to you.
Natalie, Hawaii sounds like the perfect place for hydrangeas. I really need to stop by someday.
I work for a landscape company, and to be honest with you. Triming Hydrangias has always been by guess and by golly. Been lucky so far. Thanks for the information now I can skip luck. The bigest problem I have is keeping them alive. Plenty of water. Good drainage. Adequate shade. One hundred fifteen degrees. Watch them melt. Do you have any ideas how I can help them out with that. By the way. Live in Texas.
Thanks,
Glen
Mike, I’m glad you reported on the Hydrangea. I have 3, I cut then back in late fall, 2 of these bloom each year although this year has been hard on them, so hot and dry. I water them at least once a week. I have one that is a pretty as can be with green leaves, but it has not bloomed since I planted it. So I guess it is a different kind, so I will not cut it back this year to see what it does next year. Thanks
Joy (from Bethel, NC)
I have a beautiful white (Bridal) hydrangea that blooms every year — cut it back to about 6 inches in late fall or early spring. Like another person on here, I noticed brown colored spots on the stems. It doesn’t seem to have affected the plant as it has grown HUGE this year. It must be at least 36″ tall and is almost 5 feet wide!
My question has to do with the color. Last year, when the bush flowered, the heads were a light green and then changed to white. Some changed back to a light green. This year when the buds flowered, they were a light green color and then only some of them turned white. Most of the flower heads remained a light green.
I have done nothing different in my treatment of this hydrangea. Does anyone have a clue as to why this is happening?
I am glad to hear about transplanting and how to propogate cuttings. I was going to ask about that, but I don’t have to. I do want to ask a clarifying question about transplanting though. Since my hydrangea is so huge and keeps spreading, how should I go about dividing it?
Thanks,
Susan (in West Michigan)
For the person that wanted to start a lot of African violets….many years ago, just on a whim, I put African violet leaves in each of the holes in a ‘frog’ {glass thingy for arranging flowers in a vase} and had the ‘frog’ in a low bowl in which I kept the water level about half way up the ‘frog’. The holes were just the right size to keep each leaf upright. Since I didn’t really care how many plants I got, wouldn’t you know that every single leaf developed a small plant! Being the ultimate procrastinator, the plantlets eventually died because I never transplanted them to tiny flower pots. Good luck! It sure beat my mom’s method of putting the leaf stem through a hole in wax paper and into a small glass. I guess you would use plastic wrap now.
Hope you and your family have fun with both Weddings…can’t wait to see the pictures!!!!
Sorry, I meant to say cottonseed MEAL, not oil. Got a little carried away there. . .sorry about that. It’s just so danged frustrating. . .
I know how to make the blossoms on my mopheads pink (lime) and I know how to make them blue (sulfur of some variety), but how do I make them dark purple? Several years ago, a neighbor gave me a cutting from her hydrangea that had the most beautiful royal purple blooms. I have made several plants from it (and from the offspring of that cutting) but lavender has been the best I could achieve from the flowers. I really want that dark, rich color that I took the cutting for originally, but it has totally eluded me. She said she put cottonseed meal on her plants, so I dutifully put cottonseed oil on mine, but no dark purple. Wahhhh! (stomping foot) I want PURPLE!
This article from Mike’s website may help: http://freeplants.com/hydrangeas.htm It takes time for the soil acidity to change enough for the blooms to become purple, so keep at it and eventually you’ll have pretty purple hydrangeas too.
Kathy Anderson
Mike’s Assistant
What interesting reading, I have Endless Summer hydrangeas, about 10 of them. I understand they like to remain a bit stressed, therefore, I use Holly tone, just follow directions onthe bag, I use it again in the Fall, about half what is used in the Spring. I understand they grow on old and new wood, what could be any easier? Early in the Spring, I cut them back to about 18-20 inches and will have bushes about 3-31/2 foot tall. When in Italy a few years ago, I was told they put aluminum nails in the hole when planting, and there endless summer hydrangeas had unbelievable color, makes sense, that would be like using aluminum sulfate, which I have used, it is so good for getting (gradually) that pretty blue.
I also have the Limelight Hydrangea that’s a beautiful plant also, it comes on (later August) just as the others are starting to look a bit tired.
Love to hear comments. Linda
good luck with two weddings. feel sorry for you.
We live in Northern California, and I have seen hydrangeas in Golden Gate Park, but they hate my garden. I planted several in a dappled shade with lots of water, but no go. Small plants that died over the Winter. There is an old estate called Filoli where the things are 8 feet tall and covered with blooms. Somebody knows more than I do about them!
Hello all, I have found that hydrangea is probably one of the easiest and most reliable blooming shrubs in the landscape. Here in Eastern Tennessee (Smoky Mountains area), site all macrophylla and arborescens in an Eastern or Northern aspect (morning sun and afternoon shade), with moist, rich, well draining soils. I have found that they are pretty carefree in regards to maintenance. Add aluminum sulfate or soil sulfur for blue hues in macrophylla. Color can not be manipulated in arborescens so don’t waste your money adding chemicals to your soil.
Arborescens can be “mowed” to the ground in late fall-early winter for size control and bloom (new wood bloomers). You can cut macrophyllas to the ground for re-shaping purposes, however, do not plan on any blooms the next season. In the more northern climes (zones 5 and lower), a layer of winter mulch would be recommended. The following season (2nd) they should flower nicely.
I have found that it is always better to fertilize too little than too much. With good soil preparation at planting, your hydrangeas should not need any special fertilizing. Just some grooming from time to time. If you make your own compost (we gardeners all should be), include the hydrangeas in your compost broadcasting. Your hydrangeas will thank you for it!
nothing to do with hydrangeas- enjoy the weddings!
mike,thanks for all the great info,what a great opportunity for folks like me to learn from
Mike, we live in northern Illinois. Should we cover our blue hydrangea in the winter after it’s pruned? Thanks for all your interesting and educational information. Also, can you recommend a hardy shade grass or ground cover to be planted under our apple tree?
Carol S.
I am so amazed at my hydraengeas every stem covered in mo heads.I kee throwing in egg shells and usede coffe grounds,seems to have erked everyone in the garden which is only 10X6,now i want to take them giant bushes to north florida will it suvive,….hilly gardener.
My oh my those hydrangeas – I have a huge one next to my railing going out my front door – lovely green leaves – no blooms whatsoever. I asked my husband to prune them last fall, which he did – only had dead wood this Spring so we pulled everything out and new growth came up and this thing went wild – we need to transplant it elsewhere – when is the best time to do this – this fall or wait until spring?
Love the info, good luck and blessings for the new couple – wish I could be a fly on the wall…..
Nicole
Mike,I enjoy reading all of your emails,I hope the weddings are beautiful and everyone has a great time,just ask “Gods Blessings” and everything will surely turn out fine.May God Bless your family and the new bride and grooms on these special times.
GOD BLESS
Spence T.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge on hydrangea plants. I have the best luck growing hydrangeas since I have decided best to concentrate on one plant family. Growing hydrangeas is good therapy for me especially seeing each plant merging with mopheads!
It is such a wonderful feeling seeing the hydrangea plants pull through the winter months.My Blue Mophead Garden is ready for next blooming season!
Weddings are beautiful!! Enjoy every moment!
Have fun with the wedtdings..No matter what happens before the wedding they still seem to turn out to be happy times in the end…
Hey Mike, do you have any plans to start your message board again? I sure miss it.
Thanks, Cat
Cat, No, I really don’t intend to start the message board. I just can’t keep up with it. We have a very busy message board for our Backyard Growers. The growers board does not have moderated controls like the public board did so you can post questions and often get answers in minutes. The growers board is a wonderful place where people treat you like family. I spend so much time on that board that I can not possibly spend time on a public board. http://freeplants.com/backyard.htm
Thanks for the tips on hydrangeas. I was given one and bloomed extraordinarily. Deadheaded, and luckily not much more, as I don’t know what type it is. Let’s see next year. Will put it in the greenhouse for the winter, as it can freeze during the winter. Winters can be tough here in Madrid (Spain).
all my best wishes for the 2 weddings!!
I no longer have to worry about such things. Not for at least 15 years anyway. All my kids are married and I have 14 grandkids 1/2 girls, the oldest is 12 so maybe 10 years, but that is half a lifetime away. I’ll be collecting social security by then I hope. Maybe you should buy a farm here in North Carolina, I’ll bet the growing season is long enough to grow them here, then you just have them harvested here and shipped to you. I’ll bet there are people here already that would have them in abundance and be willing to sell them to you. DRINK SQUIRT! g
Weddings should be a happy time. I’ll be praying all goes well and everyone has a wonderful time at both special events! Fingers are crossed, too 🙂
I love hydrangeas, but unfortunately I can’t grow them here in Nevada. I do enjoy them when I buy them and keep them in the house, though….
THANK YOU MIKE FOR ALL YOUR INFORMATION…. YOU REALLY HELP ME A LOT. I APPRECIATE ALL THAT YOU REVEAL TO US…GOD BLESS…
HI MIKE @ FAMILY, In joy all of your news letters, photos, keep up the nice site. looking forward to seeing the wedding pictures also……
I have the white Annabelle hydrangea; it gets huge, forms lots of heads but they never culminate into blooms. What could be the problem?
Vickie, Don’t fertilize your Annebelle. If the plant is growing too much it can’t slow down long enough to make a flower.
Mike,
I do not fertilize it at all. Now, what?
My hydrangea started out with beautiful blue flowers. The next year the flowers were pink. This year all the blossoms are an off white shade. What gives?
You can learn why some hydrangeas change flower color here in this article from Mike’s http://freeplants.com/ website:
http://freeplants.com/hydrangeas.htm
Kathy Anderson
Mike’s Assistant
Mike, you of all people should know when you sow seeds that you don’t always control what happens and when… So goes the weddings and the dresses and female “growth patterns”. Good luck.
Personally, I would rather deal with deadheading, and analyzing lack of blooms on my Hydrangeas. Thus my questions…Have had weak blooms this year on this little plant put in 6.5-7ph soil. Not blue but definitely not pink. Seattle is really cold this year. Neighbors have delightful blooms, think mine need viagra. Did you ever put out a hydrangea check list???
Yeah, so the dahlias are wimpy too. One bulb didn’t even put out a shoot. Usually by August they are 4-6ft tall.
I have a climbing hydrangea petiolaris, should I prune it? And if yes when and how? Thank you in advance for helpful advices
Giovanni family from Italy, only prune your climbing hydrangea as need to keep it on the arbor or trellis or to keep it under control. Pruning really isn’t essential for the plant to perform perfectly.
Thank you for the easiest to understand article about Hydrangeas, Mike! I shared it with our garden club members- I hope you don’t mind.
Best wishes with the weddings and the accompanying excitement!
Jale, Of course I don’t mind, I really appreciate you sharing my information with others.
This is what I really needed to know. Thanks
I have two hydrangea plants. One plant had one bloom then turned brownish.. spotty. The other is in a different location, same side of the house. it is nice and green but did not bloom at all. I have not fertilized them at all.. is that why they arent blooming? That same plant did not bloom last year either. i have not trimmed either plant either. any suggestions??
Mike,
When is the appropriate time to move hydrangea? We are getting ready to clear the land next to where mine are shaded from the afternoon sun and I know I will need to move them?
Thanks for your helpful tips!!!!!!!!!!
Transplanting is best done while plants are dormant. Wait until the fall, after the trees have all dropped their leaves, before transplanting your hydrangea or any other plant.
Kathy Anderson
Mike’s Assistant
Trim hydrangeas after they bloom. What is the time frame for blooming because the flowers seem to last a very long time. Maybe a better question is ‘How long after they bloom do they start setting buds for next year?
Thanks
I am in southern Indiana and the heat here has disrupted the normal cycle of plants. I have watered daily and yet the plants do not do well. Pumpkins did not set on, tomato plants look awful and tomatoes rotted on the vine, when they even set on. My strawberries had an early short production period. Blackberries also had a short early season. Young fruit trees did not set blossoms or the blossoms just dried up in the hot air. Few people planted any kind of flowers, trees, shrubs, etc. Hydrangas that did well last year looked like rejects this year, blooms small, dry, and not many on plant, leaves dried and curled. Temps reached as much as 105 with a heat index of 115. If winter is as bad as summer, we are in for trouble.
Harriet, I had the same problems with everything here this year. Even the surrounding forrest is looking like it’s well into fall already. Leaves have truned and are starting to fall.
My Hydrangeas bloomed blue in early June, but soon after began to dry up. They’re along the east side of our covered deck. Seems the only plants that did well this year are the Marigolds! Didn’t even plant them, they just came back in full glory!
My Hydrangea trees look really sick, have lost all leaves up to near the tops. They’re now 2 years old and are around 20 feet tall!
We’ve had 100+ temperatures with 115 to 120 heat index for almost two months. Finally has cooled into the mid 90’s now, but heat index still over 100. Humidity has been horrendous!
I pray for strength for you all durin these 2 weddings our prayers are with you. God Bless
Hi everybody, Just thought that I’d add that there are certain nurseries selling macrophyllas that they call “annabelles” . These are definitely NOT arborescens species type, as such they bloom on old wood where the arborescens or “smooth” hydrangea bloom on new wood.
A couple of years ago, I purchased two very sad looking hydrangeas from a nursery I buy many of my plants/trees from. These sad looking plants were 50% off since it was at the very end of the season and I wasn’t sure they would survive, but had not invested much money in them. We were having some landscape work done at the time and the landscaper tossed my newly purchased plants in the yard until he was finished with what he was doing, saving the planting of these hydrangeas til the very end. I knew then they would not make it since they had been lying in the yard, all dried up and in the heat of late summer for some time. Lo and behold, the following spring these two plants bloomed and bushed out to my delight. I have never pruned them at all and this spring, once again, they were the best looking flowering plants I had in my yard. One is in full sun and the other is in mostly sun with late afternoon shade.
I planted 3 lilac trees and although they bloomed each year, the deer tore all the bark off the trees and they finally died a slow death. We had to have them dug up and had an oak tree put in the yard in their place but this time we put some protection around the trunk of the newly planted oak tree along with our other fairly young trees. The deer have no mercy on trees and plants and everyone needs to put something around each tree trunk to save them if you have a deer problem.
Thank you for this information, it is very helpful. I cut a few slips of very healhy hydrangeas and placed them in a cup of water. This was 5 weeks ago and still there is no root growing, but they are very healthy, can you recommend something that will start the root. Thanks so much for your information.
Some plants will root in water, but not all of them. You’ll have better luck rooting your plants in the homemade plant propagation system.
Details are here: http://freeplants.com/homemade-plant-propagation.htm
Kathy Anderson
Mike’s Assistant
I purchased a hydrangea from Home Depot several years ago around Easter time. I planted it in my flower bed shortly after I purchased it but it has never bloomed since. After about 4 blooming seasons I read up on the old growth, new growth info. I had never pruned it so at the end of the season 2 seasons ago, I cut it back, thinking it was needing new growth to bloom. It had several years to bloom from old growth so I assumed it needed new growth to bloom. However, it still has never gotten another bloom. I have no idea what type or variety it is. The bush itself is now huge and healthy. Do you have any suggestions what to do to get it to bloom?
I have an endless summer hydrangea that bloomed for the first time this year. It’s 3 years old and I planted it as a twig from a catalog. It has bloomed all summer and is still in bloom, so when do I prune it?
Just wanted to thank you for the information on hydrandeas. I love them and have several plants in my yard. They are so beautiful in July and early August. I just hate when the summer season turns to fall and I have to wait for another whole season to watch them bloom again.
So I don’t actually know what type my hydrange is, but I prune it back to the ground and I will get blooms again the following year. However they are getting sparce, the plant is in the shade in a pot on the north sise of my house, I add new potting soil every year, and lift the crown, but the blooms and the leaves just look leggy. Besides pruning it back, what should I be doing for the plant so it will get a little bushier, and have bigger (and more) flowers?
I had no problems with my Hydrangeas. Mine grew like crazy and then bloomed real nice. I had deep blues and purples. I had to cut some of it back early because it grew so much that it was leaning over the walkway and you really couldn’t get thru.
My hydrangas bloomed but hardly had any color. They weren’t really blue, pink or white–just a blah kind of beige…is there something I can supplement the soil with so I get prettier blooms next year?
I had the same issues and tried a product called Hoffman Blue Magic aluminum sulfate. I put it in the soil in the spring every other week for about 2 months and my hydrangeas bloomed like never before. They were beautiful! I stopped doing that and the blooms turned that blah beige again so I started putting the product in the soil again and now the new blooms are a deep sky blue. The directions say to keep hydrangeas blue mix 2 tablespoons of product in 2 gallons of water and apply every 2 weeks.
Do you have any knowledge on African Violets? How to produce many more, when is the best time to water them, etc.
I was given a violet start and watered it once a week. It loves getting coffee pot rinse water and has been blooming quite a bit this year (it’s going on 2 yrs now). Don’t get the leaves wet when watering. Deadhead old blossoms when dried up.
African Violets are so easy to start. My mother taught me how when I was a little girl. Take a leaf cutting as long as you can off one you want to start. Cover a small drinking glass – clear so you can see it – with aluminin foil and cut a small slit in it. Put the stem cutting into the slit so the water covers and inch or so of the stem (add more water if you see it is getting low). In about two or three weeks you should see roots coming out. Then it you leave it long enough – a month or more – a small plant will grow underwater. Simply take it out and root that into some African violet mix and cut the top cutting off. You can stick that in water again if it’s still long enough and do it over!
Hi Mike, I have Hyg. that are supposed to bloom on the old wood. You can see the straight
spikes with fat bugs in the late summer, but no matter what I do to protect them, the frozen snow and the deer ruin them and by spring all I have are cute little green leaves coming up that grow bigger and bigger with no flowers at all. I’m up 2,000 feet high – in Peru, MA. So the cold winter is no friend to my hygrangeas. All the other houses around have the type of hyg. that grow flowers at the end of the new wood stems. Loads of white puffy flowers….. for my neighbors but not for me. I think I’ll change my plants to the kind that flower on new wood!
Well, I figure since I have cut my Hydrangeas down every year hoping to get them to bloom. I would try leaving them grow for a few years and see what I get! I figure it cant hurt. I have always know it as a beautiful bush. So if this works, I just might have a beautiful bush with flowers!
Thanks for the tip!
Joe
GOOD LUCK WITH THE 2 WEDDINGS MIKE
thanks for answering. I have hundreds of hydrangea cuttings that I rooted in May and June. What do I do with them over the winter months. Do I need to bring them in or just let them stay outside.
Hydrangeas, like many other plants, need to go dormant and get some rest over winter. They can’t go dormant if they’re kept in a warm house all winter. It’s best to leave them outside in their natural environment. Give them some protection from the drying effects of cold winter winds.
Kathy Anderson
Mike’s Assistant
I have both kinds. Believe me, I needed this article. Thanks so much.
Usually I cut my white Hydrangea to the ground after the foliage has died at the end of October and in the Spring the plants start anew and bloom beautifully by the end of July. This year the plants only reached a height of 18 inches and had only about half (or less) of the normal amount og blooms. Any ideas on what I am doing wrong? Linda in Northern NH.
Hi Linda, I’m going to assume that you have an arborescens hydragrangea. Where you live the climate is very similar to mine here in mid-minnesota. It may have something to do with the weather this year, or, when was the last time that you fed them ? I recommend a bi weekly feeding with a water based plantfood like Miracle grow. Use a higher phosphorus content (the middle number of the total yield) it will make a difference. Don’t exceed the recommended dosage. Your practice of mowing them to the ground is a sound practice that many people utilize with excellent results, especially when they’ve gotten out of hand. Good luck, and, good gardening !
Hi everybody, The practice of mowing a hydrangea to the ground should only be used on the arborescens species !
Thank you for your help. I now know why I got 3 blue blooms this year very low on the back of the bush. Last night the deer arrived and ate the whole hydrangea bush down to 20 inches! They took next years blooms overnight. Must taste like cheesecake to them!
Thank you for your help. I now know why I got 3 blue blooms this year very low on the back of the bush. Last night the deer arrived and ate the whole hydrangea bush down to 20 inches! They took next years blooms overnight. Must taste like cheesecake to them!
I love Hydrangeas. Mine is beautiful this year – two different colors on the same bush. Amazing. It has been in the ground for 7-8 years. Not huge. Poor thing does not get much care, water, sunshine. I don’t know how it does so well. It MAY get pruned occasionally – if it is lucky. Maintains itself. I want to get a tree, but do they require a lot of care? I love them too. Did a wedding with fresh and dried several years. Beautiful. Wish I could give you some hints, but less may be better.
Great article – I live in Puyallup, WA and my Hydrangeas are absolutely gorgeous this year – all except my Oak Leaf – I only had 2 very tiny blooms this year –
I have heard so many conflicting stories on the correct time as to deadhead Hydrangeas –
When should it be done??
Good Luck on teh wedding(s)
-Thanks for the hydrangea info. I have the Pink variety so I assume they are setting their buds now for next year. Can I ‘dead-head’ the old flowers while not adversely affecting next year’s bud?
Thanks for the info. Can I use gopher bait in a veggie garden to get rid of voles or will it contaminate the produce?
Check the label for the product you want to use. It should say whether or not it is safe to use around food crops.
Kathy Anderson
Mike’s Assistant
I have seen this info before. I found it very specific. My problem is I was given a Purple Hydrangea in June. I am not sure I know which category it falls in. It was in full bloom when I got it, and the blossoms died back in early August. Do I cut the dead flower off now?? It is nearly Sept. and I tend not to cut things back. Love the look in the snow, being from Vermont.
I understand about the differences and how to change the colors etc. but my problem is more basic that that! I bought a blue hydrangea 8 years ago and planted it in my flower bed near the house. The following year it greened up beautifully but alas, no blooms! I left it in that bed for 3 years with the same results and then moved it to a large circular bed about 10′-15′ from the house. It has been there ever since and makes a beautiful 4 1/2′ tall bush but never blooms. It has very little if any dead wood that needs to be cut out. I have given it every kind of chemical recommended and even tried a lot of the “”old timers” tricks used 100 years ago but nothing worked. My grandmother used to put egg shells and coffee grounds on hers to make them blue! Some said to bury old iron nails around the bush but NOTHING has worked . It never has bloomed. Is it possible there are some bushes that are grown and sold that will never bloom again no matter what you do? I live in Maine but I do not believe this is winter damage as my son’s blooms every year and he is farther north in Maine than I am. Both of ours are planted in about the same type area as far as protection from winter elements. HELP??????
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT HYDRANGEAS IS THEY ARE VERY EASY TO GET STARTED JUST TAKE A CUTTING AND PUT IN KEEP WET I USE OLD ICE CHESTS.YES THEY NEED LOTS WATER BEEN DRY IN LA. MUST WATER OFTEN.MY WIFE LOVES HERS.
THANK GOD FOR THESE PLANTS.
my little hydrangeas look dead they had way to much sun, is it possible to dig up transplant and see if they might make it, if so should i do that now I live in Tennessee
Thanks hope the weddings go off without a hitch
Tina
Transplanting is best done when plants are dormant. Wait until after the trees lose their leaves in the fall and then transplant your hydrangea.
Kathy Anderson
Mike’s Assistant
I moved my hydrangeas a couple of times this past summer due to blight. I potted a couple and moved a couple and they have all been resurected. I move mine atht he end of the season when they didnt do as well as I had hoped. Once they are established of course I no longer move them. Just make sure when you move them remeber to water daily and put in some good soil.
Is there a way to tell what type of Hydrangea a plant is by looking at it? I got the plant from a neighbor, nursed it back to health and don’t know if I should prune it now. My neighbor doesn’t remember what kind of Hydrangea it was.
I clipped an 8″ cutting of my neighbors hydr. and stuck it in a shady corner of my front patio and it blooms great all summer. It still has one huge bloom on it. I tend to cut it back at Christmas time. It’s a soft pink. It’s a keeper.
Hi how do you cut or where and when to get a start off these beautiful plants i have bought several and for some reason they don’t live in ohio for me,,but i do have 2 in KY that are growing great they are blue and pink so i thought i would try and get a start off them to bring back here with me!!!
Thanks!
My grandmother gave me a start of hydrangea which for her, had blue blooms one year and pink ones the next year. I couldn’t get them to grow let alone bloom until I moved them next to an outside building and now they are tall and have blooms big as my childs head.
I have three different kind of Hydrangeas: Lace cap, Forever Pink, Forever & Ever and Endless Summer. What I noticed this spring was the older canes didn’t look healthy and by that I mean they had an odd brown spotting up and down them. It took a long time for the leafing to begin (I wasn’t sure if they were even alive). Is there something wrong with my plants and if so is there anything I can do to help out my plants? Also, I did have a lot of the flower buds die off from the harsh winter. Do you prune these tips off?
Thanks,
Marge from Pennsylvania
Mike,
I read all your E-mails and really you have given me good advice on plants and flowers.
I hope you will always keep up your good articles.
Looking forward to wedding pictures.
Thanks again for your articles.
okay my paniculata’s did not bloom well this summer. My oakleafs were beautiful. The paniculata’s have bloomed in past years. Do you think they may need more sun.? Maybe the trees need some limbing up. They have always done well in dappled sunshine. Should I fertilize them with something. I live in the jersey pinelands. I was up in northwest connecticut recently and they are all over and just beautiful. Definetly thinking they need more sun.
Do you recommend covering Hydrangeas in order to protect from winter kill? I live in VA and it does not get terribly cold, but think I have been cutting off new buds when I remove witner damage.
I also live in Va. I have never covered m Hyds, I live right along the coast in Yorktown. I have cut mine back already and have fresh leaves and shoots and have already snipped the V shape and am making “babies”, have 5 new plants from doing that last year.
Eileen – What do you mean “snipped the V shape”? I also live in Va. (Chesapeake) and don’t cover my hydrangeas either.
Great article – simple, concise and to the point. Any special advice on pruning for lacecaps? Or, are they treated the same as macrophylla?
Your post about the Hydrangeas came just in time. I had severely pruned mine for the first time. And they did not bloom this year. Thanks to you I now know why. Thought I had done something terrible to them. Looking forward to next years blooms.
Thanks
I live in South Africa and currently we are almost in Spring, but with seasons not being how they should, I am going to prune my hydrangeas now. Mike, is that the way to go? We are still experience a lot of cold weather. Usually by now things should have warmed up.
Regards
Belinda
People have been asking, “How do I prune my hydrangeas?”
The answer is simple. Just prune them to the shape you desire. Do not cut them all the way to the ground unless you want to completely reinvigorate the plant. But if you have blues and pinks, (macropyllas) that will cost you all of your blooms for next season. If you have PG or annabelle that probably won’t hurt a thing.
But don’t do that kind of heavy pruning until after Thanksgiving.
For general pruning, just prune them to the shape and size you desire. They’ll love you for it.
-Mike http://freeplants.com/wanted.htm
I’m Miriam.
Mike, I appreciate this information on hydrangeas. I am happy to know what to do with my different ones. I enjoy all your newsletters – very informative. Thanks. BTW: will you please post pictures of your son’s wedding? I’m sure all of us would like to see them.
Great idea Miriam,
I would like that too.!
Yes, I have to put some photos of the wedding up. Remind me to do that! Okay, I better get back to the family stuff, I just stole a few minutes here in the hotel lobby. Have a great weekend everybody!
Endless Summer help!
Everyone in my zone 3-4 has had many problems with the Blue Hydrangeas blooming. They have lush leaves but no blooms. I have 4 bushes and had 2 blooms on them this year. Last year I had a few more blooms but two years ago I had many many blooms. This year I was the only person who had Hydrangeas for our two flower shows
After asking someone on a forum at gardeners site he said they have to be fertilized many, many times to get them to bloom. Well, I only did the Aluminum Sulfate on them early spring and fertilized then and expected some blooms. I guess I should have used Miracle grow acid fertilizer every week as this person suggested. Up here I leave the old canes on my bushes and use them to trap the straw covering, in the Spring I cut back the old canes to new growth which is usually down to the crown of the plant… since we have hard cold winters up here. Right now they have lush leaves and no flowers! When we bought these they were said to bloom on old and NEW wood. !!
It looks like I’m not the only one having trouble with hydrangeas. I have planted 17 this year throughout my landscape. Ughh! I had the biggest lavendar blooms, on the north side of my home and they lasted a few months and then they almost died as the summer took off and the thermometer climbed. I’ve fertilized with miracle grow and special fertilizer especially for these plants. It is as if the forces that be are not working with me. I have raspberry parfait hydrangeas on the west side and they have lost all leaves and look like they are dead to the bone. The white and pink hydrangeas planted as small about 4″ have all died to nothing. I had 9 blue hygrangeas planted on the north side of a building in the south lawn. Wouldn’t you know it they all died but one! I am so frustrated I could scream! I spent far more than I want people to know on my landscape just to have these plants up and croak or almost croak. I’ve given them plenty of water and fertilized carefully. Yikes!!!! I’m up for any and all advise I can get at this point.
Some of my roses, well that’s another for the HELP category.
Judy,
The basics of hydrangeas are pretty simple. Good rich soil that drains well, some sun but not full sun, adequeate amount of water and a minimal amount of fertilizer. When in doubt, use no fertilizer at all or just miracle grow mixed with water. Miracle grow is really safe, but with all other fertilizers you must be really careful. Plants that are under stress really should not be fertilized. It’s more important for them to establish themselves before they are fertilized. With the really young, small plants more shade would be helpful.
Roses? Same advice except the shade, roses like more sun. But they do need to be treated for insects and disease. Bayer three in one rose and flower care has worked really well for me and it contains just enough fertilizer. It’s also systemic so it lasts longer.
Good luck Mike with all your family events! You’ve got your handsful. I do have a question: this past week we’ve had lots of rain in Boston and the Pink Diamond hydrangeas that I planted in early July were doing just fine until this rain….they’ve lost all of their leaves and I don’t know what’s to become of them.
OK i get the pruning and caring for. Now for the big one. I want to relocate two large big leave Blue Hydrangeas from my parents to my house. When sould I plan on digging them up and what precautions should be taken?
Thanks Mike Your Information is the greatest and i have been a faithful follower for three years.
Good Luck with the Weddings.
need to know when I can divide hydranges , and how to go about doing it.
Jackie, Hydrangeas are not really a plant that can be divided. They are a single crown plant. You can make cuttings in the http://www.freeplants.com/homemade-plant-propagation.htm
Mike, My mom received a white lace cap hydrangea 2 years ago I took it and planted it after its blooming cycle.It grew out nicely from its 8″ root ball size and 18″ high to about 26″ over the summer.No blooming of course.I pruned it back to about its usual height it was at 18″ at the end of august and it filled with buds all down the stalks. Last year…when the darn thing bloomed..it was the blue hydrangea ! I was sick about it. I can have all those darn things I want…the white lace cap was special..it was from my moms sisters funeral. It had 3 small blue blooms the size of an orange. The plant grew out nicely. Surely when I cut off 8″ it didnt affect its white blooming glory? I was wondering if the grower had grafted the thing to a blue hydrangea to get what HE wanted and it lost its DESIRE to bloom white.
Any suggestions?
Edward (Feb, 2011) Your problem is probably your soil. A few years ago I accused a nursery of mislabeling a hydrangea because the flowers were blue, not pink. What I learned is that hydrangeas react over time to how acidic the soil is…particularly the aluminum ions in the soil. I live in the NW and our soil is very acidic! The hydrangea simply adapts to its environment. If you are fertilizing yours, be sure you use very low or no phosphorus or sulfur.
It is very difficult to change soil properties permanently and you can shock or harm your plants messing with PH, but you may add some wood ash and rich organic matter….but be careful; it is a slow and persistent process to change natural soil PH. I can’t guarantee this will push your bluish flowers back toward white, but it may. You might be better to enjoy the plant as it has adapted to your environment and cherish the memories associated with it.
My lace-top hydranges look ill. Is there any plant food I can give them? I did prune them. Maybe I was overly ambitious?
Lauire,
It’s possible that they suffered some frost damage. I’d just give some time. Fertilize with Osmocte, it is a slow release and safe.