Just a picture of the other lavender in the bottle

Just a picture of the other lavender in the bottle

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I don't think they are getting enough sun.

Lavender won't bloom the first year typically. I grew and bought a bunch for my lavender garden. Depending on your zone it should be hardy outdoors through the winter. I plan on covering the first year myself though.

Don't overwater. Lavender likes it dry. It also prefers poor soil. I wouldn't fertilize either. It does well in a rock garden, along with thyme and rosemary.

Here in NV it is often planted in those dividers in parking lots between rows of cars. It never gets watered unless it rains, which it basically doesn't do around here, LOL! It gets like 3' tall being totally neglected, planted in full sun in basically sand and gravel.

Where are you - general location & zone? Overwintering indoors with such plants is difficult at best and keeping plants in pots on a balcony outdoors during the winter can be equally difficult depending upon the conditions where you live. Can you plant these in the ground?

FataMorgana

I live in an apartment so can't plant in ground. I thought I'd posted my location, sorry, I live in VA/D.C. area. And actually because I'd read they like it dry I kept waiting until at least the first inch of soil was dry before I'd water and they didn't do very well so I started watering every day and they started thriving and perking up and making more stems so I've just been giving them enough water to keep the soil most all the time. When I started watering more is when the sturdier stems sprouted. They get probably about 5 hours of direct sunlight everyday but will be less so in the winter, but I have a grow light for that situation though it's not the most convenient or ideal. I think because this is "true lavender" I've read they're originally from England so maybe that's why they like it a bit wetter and cooler? Are my 9" pots large enough if they do manage to survive?

This post was edited by fzyflwrchld on Mon, Aug 18, 14 at 10:25

The roots go a lot further down than an inch, and it doesn't look like that pop bottle has any drainage holes. I still suspect they are too wet most of the time, and probably are not getting enough sun as another poster noted.

Lavender is originally from the Mediterranean region, along the coast. Yes, they manage to grow a lot of lavender in England - it is still a Mediterranean plant, however, that grows best in dry, chalky, poor soils. I think the Brits just tend to be better gardeners on average than the average 'merican, LOL! Plus they have lots of chalky coastline ... think the White Cliffs of Dover ...

Lavender does NOT do well in soil that is moist all the time. If they are doing "better" since you started daily watering, I shudder to think how they were doing before, because those plants are not doing anything like "well", especially given that you started those plants way back in the spring. Here's a picture of a potted lavender that is doing well:

Potted lavender advice

Lavender needs 8 hours of sun a day, at least. Full sun in the garden is what they are talking about there. I don't think your plants are getting near that on your balcony. It will only be worse sitting near the window there in your kitchen (or where ever you plan to put them over winter).

I understand that you are in an apartment and have VERY limited access to light and space for growing plants. Lavender is a very challenging plant (so is rosemary) for growing indoors. I've never had any luck growing either plant indoors myself. I'm not saying it can't be done; but it is a challenge. Your setup is not adequate to the task at this time.

You're not getting nearly enough light; the soil mix in your pop bottles looks too heavy (lavender does better in a soil-less mix, in fact I think potted lavender may be a prime candidate for some version of Al's gritty mix). There are no drainage holes that I can see in that pop bottle and you are overwatering if the soil is never allowed to dry out. Lavender also like an alkaline soil. Adding some lime could help. ESPECIALLY if there is any peat moss at all in your soil mix, or if you are using pine fines as mulch or a soil amendment.

So - alkaline soil, allow the soil to dry between waterings - not totally since these are first year plants but it shouldn't be wet or even damp all the time; and it loves the heat but dislikes humidity (hence it does pretty durn well in our dry near-desert conditions in N. Nevada).

However at this point in time I hold out little hope for the survival of your plants over the winter, given their stunted condition now.

I'm not trying to be discouraging; go ahead and try, you've come this far with them. But you need to repot them in a soil-less mix more suited to the plant and be prepared to supply extra heat and light, else they will not survive.

Here is a discussion and fairly clear description of how to make Al's gritty mix.

Personally I have found ALL the ingredients difficult to impossible to find. Turface, in particular, I have never been able to lay hands on - and though it is the virtually same stuff as certain types of cat litter or adsorbent, it isn't ALWAYS the same stuff. For instance, Napa Floor Dry has been touted as a replacement - but there are TWO KINDS and only one of them is suitable for this purpose. And I'm too tired to go dig up the links that tell you which is which.

Also, having to screen and discard large portions of your ingredient isn't exactly lending itself to being affordable - let alone easy.

That said - for this particular instance, I think gritty mix is your best bet - if you can only find the ingredients and get them properly screened and mixed.

Thanks for the info... I think I am going to move mine to the dry sandy soils in the front of my house and cover it for the winter with my fig tree.

Peter-- I overwinter lavender in situ outside all the time with no special prep or covering. I live in Western NY State. Lots of cold & snow. I grew only the English types of lavender which are hardy here. What type of lavender & zone are you in? Covering may not be necessary and in fact, may encourage mold. But wherever you do move it, drainage is one of the utmost factors for winter survival. Water cannot pool at all in the location.

Fzyflwrchld-- keeping plants in containers has different rules than keeping something in the ground. In the ground, I never water my lavender. If in containers, especially on a balcony, I would have to water regularly. The conditions are much hotter and drier. Good drainage for containers is a must.

Overwintering containers outside is tricky. You see the ground insulates and has thermal mass that both provides warmth and protection from temperature extremes. Containers don't have that.

Zone hardiness is calculated for plants in the ground. Containers in the summer would be hotter and drier than in ground conditions whiles containers (unless sheltered) would generally be colder and more exposed in winter. If the plant is not especially hardy and the winter conditions are harsh, the plant may not make it if kept outside in a container.

FataMorgana

I have 3 types: Grosso, which I believe is an English/Portugese hybrid, Burpee True Lavender (English Lavender), and some Hidcote or Munstead I don't remember which...

They are in a slightly raised bed of loamy soil currently, which should drain fairly well.

I'm in Zone 6b, though I live in a little valley and I think it tends to be a bit cooler than the weather forecasts.

What do you suggest? Does this sound good or should I move it to a sandier bed that is against a south facing wall?

I've always grown munstead. Does very well here without special winter care. I used to be zone 5 but got rezoned to 6 so I'm kind of a crossover between the two zones. You should do fine in zone 6b without any special placement other than drainage. That is an absolute must. Poor drainage = certain winter death.

FataMorgana

Thanks a lot for the info guys. Fatamorgana, that might explain why my lavender seems to want more water though everyone says I shouldn't water it at all. Even though the soil is a bit damp, the drier it got the more my lavender seemed to wilt but would perk up if I watered it and kept the soil most. Since I have the two plants I can just do a little experiment and keep the one in the pot the way it is and keep treating it like I have been and put the one in the soda bottle in a new pot with suggested soil and not water it and stuff and see which does better, I could even bring that inside for the winter since it's still small, I have a grow lamp I used for my seedlings which I'd started indoors so I can use that for the indoor lavender. Is my pot size of about 9" appropriate though or should it get a bigger pot?

The other thing about the watering--mature lavender plants require drier conditions because they have a developed root system. Your baby plants will require more water--that's why you saw a difference when trying to let the soil dry out.

The grow light may allow you to keep it overwinter if you are careful with the water. I haven't tried bringing my lav in for winter yet, though I am now doing pretty good with rosemary, and it does require very similar conditions. As others have stated, learning to care for your indoor pots is an entire different situation, but it can be done. I went thru several rosemary plants until I hit the stride of what works for me.