How do I keep my geraniums blooming?
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I buy geraniums every summer, but they always seem to stop blooming or have very few blooms. I fertilize, water and give them sun. What m I doing wrong??
10 answers
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The key to keeping geraniums blooming is deadheading the spent flowers. Otherwise it sounds like you're doing the right things. Make sure the fertilizer you're using is not too high in nitrogen, which will encourage leaf growth at the expense of blooms.
Douglas Hunt
on Jun 29, 2013
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What Doug said, deadhead. Check the label on your fertilizer, you want to use one with a n-p-k high p number, like Miracle grow Bloom booster which provides 15-30-15. There are also products available with 10-50-10; I tend to alternate the feedings with great results.
Dianne L
on Jun 29, 2013
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Thanks, Douglas! Do I deadhead at the very bottom of the flower stem or just the very tip of the flower? Or does that even matter?? Thanks! I am using Miracle Gro for a fertilizer.
Mary Ann Boone
on Jun 29, 2013
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Just making sure I'm deadheading my geranium correctly.
Mary Ann Boone
on Jun 29, 2013
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when you bring the geraniums home, how are you planting them? I found that putting them into a new, bigger pot, with amended soil that will hold moisture in, and the fertilizing and the dead heading, all make a big difference... if in the yard, then again, amending the soil, and such will give them more to work with. Deadheading either way is effective. They are a very easy and happy plant to have...good luck with them this year.
Dawn Lam
on Jun 29, 2013
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I always deadhead at the base of the flower stem. I tried it just taking off the bloom, but taking off the whole stem works MUCH better!
Terri Holmgren
on Jun 29, 2013
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maybe a little too much love, they can stand to be ignores once established...I live in Tasmania a temperate climate...Maureen
Maureen Durno
on Jun 30, 2013
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I would take off the whole stem as Terri suggests.
Douglas Hunt
on Jun 30, 2013
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Thank you Terri and Douglas!! I think I will now have some nice blooms!!
Mary Ann Boone
on Jun 30, 2013
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Miracle Gro fertilizer every two weeks. And I save mine over the winter. I put them all in one long plastic planter that I move inside and put by a window in my classroom. I plant them in Miracle Gro potting soil, and cut them back to STUMPS...maybe 2-3 inches long. Keep them watered, they re-sprout, and by spring, they are ready to bloom again and put outside. I live in Iowa. I have made these last of 4-5 years like this. Then they get too "woody" and I start new plants. Saves me a lot of money.
Terri Holmgren
on Jul 11, 2013
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