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In this article, we will list out 10 Gardening Tips to Increase Flowering in any plant whether Rose or Hibiscus. These tips are really easy to follow and you can maintain blooms throughout the year.
Well, Lets list out the 10 tips on increasing blooms and know what to do in brief. Always Remember one principle for blooms – the plant performs better when its free from stress.
- REPOTTING: This is generally your first task as soon as you bring your plant home from a nursery. Do not repot immediately, Allow your plant to settle for atleast one week to its new environment. During repotting, you need to mix some important ingredients into the potting mix like for a 12 inch pot, roughly about 1 tablespoon of steamed bone meal powder. Optionally you can also mix the mycorrhizae fungi – the beneficial fungi or even pseudomonas and Trichoderma powder. You can check my detailed video on Mycorrhizae and other important videos related to this topic from links in description of this video.
- CONTAINER SIZE: The concept here is: if you choose a deeper container, it will focus more on root development and less on flower production. The best one is a container that is wider than the usual nursery pot, but still not too deep. This way you will make your plant strong and make it produce more flowers.
- LOCATION: Keep your plants away from the traffic and pollution. Also in a location that’s not disturbed by frequent movements from people or animals and even your pets.
- SUNLIGHT: Place your plant in a location where you get adequate sunlight. Atleast 6 hours to 8 hours DIRECT SUNLIGHT is compulsory for flowering plants. If its too hot like in summer, protect them from noon sunlight using a green shade net.
- WATERING: If you are growing in containers, daily watering is must specially in summer season. Do not worry about over watering if are using a well draining soil.
- PEST CONTROL: Controlling pests is very important step to keep the plant healthy and blooming. Examine the plant closely for pests and insects including underside of the leaves. Common pests like whiteflies, aphids, mealybugs can be easily eliminated using neem oil + liquid soap in water. Or adding oils like Clove Oil or eucalyptus oil increases the efficacy. I have one very important video on pest elimination using one powerful method. You can check these related videos from card links at top right corner or in description.
- RAKING THE SOIL: This is anther important step before applying any fertilizer or manure to your plant. Raking the soil is recommended once every 15 days. Make it a habit to rake the soil and then apply your fertilizer every 15 days.
- SOIL: Here you should remember few important points like:
- a) PH of soil , b) How to make the best potting soil for flowering plants c) Keep the soil well draining. The First factor is PH. Plants like Rose and Hibiscus prefer slightly acidic soil like around 6 to 6.5. If you have a PH testing meter, you can accurately use this hack to use Alum powder to make your soil acidic. Even if you do not have this meter, you can roughly add about 5 to 10 gms of alum powder in one liter of water once every 15 days to maintain this acidic level, which is very important for absorption of nutrients you add to your plant. You can also use 1 – 2 teaspoon of white vinegar per liter of water to make your soil acidic. Again you can watch my related videos on these topics from links in description.Now When you make a potting mix, you can add extra 10 percent additional compost like decomposed cowdung powder. And also bone meal powder as discussed earlier.
- FERTILIZER: In this video, I will be talking only about organic fertilizers and not chemicals like NPK or DAP.
Add a handful of decomposed horsedung or cowdung powder or vermicompost on the top layer of the soil once every 15 days after nicely raking the soil. This should be the minimum fertilizer use and frequency. You can also use compost tea sprays or even mustard cake tea and other foliar feeds if you want better results. What I use once every 15 days is My Cocktail Fertilizer Powder. You can check a detailed video on how I prepared this mixed fertilizer, from a link at top right corner of this video and also from description links. - PRUNING: Yes this is most important step which many of us neglect or some newbie gardeners think like – its plant cruelty. But this is not the truth. Pruning or pinching and also deadheading of the flowers from time to time is the most important step for maintaining blooms.
Generally Pruning which is of two types Hard Pruning and Soft Pruning. Hard Pruning is done in early spring that’s in Feb end or March beginning. If you missed that, No Worries! You can still perform Soft Pruning or Trimming. Trimming sparks new growths specaily in rose bushes.
So that was our episode on the 10 surefire ways to increase blooms. If you have any other hacks and tips, please share in the comments section below.
