Coral Honeysuckle wont Bloom

15 years ago

Coral honeysuckle is a native to san antonio tx where I live. I have 2 in 12 inch containers (roots are not growing out of it yet) they are each about 4 ft long but will not bloom. I fertilized them when they were planted with 19-6-12.

I recently read that a high nitrogen fertilizer will cause plant to grow but sacrifices the flowers....so I pulled out all the granules I could find. Its growing a little but doesnt bloom even though they look healthy. (one has ants living in it)

What should I do?

Also, 1 gets half day of sun and the other gets all day of scorching san antonio sun and leaves get wilted sometimes. How often should I water and how much? I dont want to kill it with my love/water :)

Thanks for your help!!!!

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Comments (5)

mbuckmaster
15 years ago
My coral honeysuckle took 4 months to establish itself before it bloomed. Full sun helps, and they like goo drainage and regular watering (although they're pretty tough regardless).

I think if you really want it to bloom, find a spot in the ground for it if you can! Then it can set down roots better.
penny1947
15 years ago
If you leaves are wilting it is not getting enough water. They will dry out quickly in a container. When mine was in a container I had to water mine sometimes twice a day and I had to really soak it down and I am in NY which doesn't get the sustained heat that you get in San Antonio. If you can possibly put them in the ground I would do so. They can take quite a bit of water especially the first year until they become established.

If that doesn't help and the ants are getting worse you may need to remove them from the pots wash off the soil and repot or replant them with fresh soil. You can save the old soil and poor boiling water over it to kill the ants and whatever they are feasting on in that soil.

Penny
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solstice98
15 years ago
I have a huge coral honeysuckle (in full Florida sun) and even though it isn't in a container, I do grow several things in pots. Maybe some of these suggestions will help.

First of all, most vines have a slow first year so if you've just planted it I wouldn't expect much until next year. Then it should really take off. (First year it sleeps, second year it creeps, third year it leaps!)

Use a little bit of ant killer on the soil surface to get rid of the ants. You'll only need a teaspoon or two so just ask a neighbor for a little rather than buy a whole bag.

If you can, work some water retention crystals into the soil. In hot Central Florida they are a wonderful addition to container gardening and I'm betting in dry San Antonio you need them.

Mulch the top of the pot as deeply as you can. This will shade the roots and also help retain moisture.

Don't feed the vine again until fall. Next year, start using a bloom booster fertilizer mix.

Good luck!
hummersteve
15 years ago
This is the second year for my honeysuckle. The first year I got it late in the season but it still flowered some, but I had it in the ground. C. Honeysuckle are quite susuptable to aphids which I just recently had a bout with, but ordered ladybugs off line and in two days time the ladybugs were gone and so were the aphids. If you have yellow curled leaves that is a good sign of aphids. Otherwise as Penny has said yellow leaves could be a lack of water. My plant looked really bad during the aphids but now its coming back and now starting to throw out clumps of buds and some flowering.
mindysuewho
15 years ago
Here in South Jersey we had an early heat wave a couple of weeks ago. Most of the blooms on my coral honeysuckle just shriveled up. Since it has cooled off, I see quite a few new buds. I have never fertilized and only water when it is extremely dry. Mine gets about five hours of sun daily.