Feeding hydrangea

[brstamper]

I have a endless summer that I planted last fall & it is growing well, has lots of green foliage , but only 2 flower buds are forming. I live in Montana & it's been in the 90’s & above for the last 3 weeks. I water daily and the plant receives morning sun & very little afternoon sun. Is it normal for the plant to only start out with a few flower buds and also can I feed it Schultz plant food 10-54-10 to encourage more blooms? I did fertilize early in the spring with a all purpose fertilizer.
Thanks,
Bobbi

[seaellare]

Hello! I, too, have some endless summers - I planted 7 last spring. I think they may just need a season or 2 to become established. Last year, they probably each averaged 2 blooms - till the end of summer. Right before the first frost killed the flowers, I had about 1-2 on each plant ready to bloom - it figures ! Mine sound like they are in the same position as yours - morning sun, very little in the afternoon. They are about 3-4' tall now, and the leaves are looking great! I *try* to water them every day, but I do forget (and they wilt accordingly!!!). This year, out of all 7 plants, I've had 2 blooms . But - we had a late frost that killed back about 6" or so of foliage this spring, so I think they are getting a late start this year - at least that is what I hope it is!

As for fertilizing, last year I fertilized once with a 10-10-10. This year, I got some azalea fertilizer - because last year my blooms were all real bright pink, so I thought that might help acidify them, and make them bluer, without having to do much to the soil - I'm lazy! I did throw down a bunch of pine bark mulch as well this spring. Good luck - I'll be waiting to see if anyone has any advice on fertilizing them too!

[brstamper]

Hello to you,
Thanks for replying to my post. I'm hoping my 2 blooms (also hoping I get more blooms) are pink so I don't need to mess with the soil. Hopefully someone will answer the question on fertilizing. It would seem to me that a plant that has such big flowers and flowers all summer? would need regular feeding. Would peat moss help your blooms turn blue? If I get more blooms I'll post the happy new! lol
Bobbi

Hello! I, too, have some endless summers - I planted 7 last spring. I think they may just need a season or 2 to become established. Last year, they probably each averaged 2 blooms - till the end of summer. Right before the first frost killed the flowers, I had about 1-2 on each plant ready to bloom - it figures ! Mine sound like they are in the same position as yours - morning sun, very little in the afternoon. They are about 3-4' tall now, and the leaves are looking great! I *try* to water them every day, but I do forget (and they wilt accordingly!!!). This year, out of all 7 plants, I've had 2 blooms . But - we had a late frost that killed back about 6" or so of foliage this spring, so I think they are getting a late start this year - at least that is what I hope it is!

As for fertilizing, last year I fertilized once with a 10-10-10. This year, I got some azalea fertilizer - because last year my blooms were all real bright pink, so I thought that might help acidify them, and make them bluer, without having to do much to the soil - I'm lazy! I did throw down a bunch of pine bark mulch as well this spring. Good luck - I'll be waiting to see if anyone has any advice on fertilizing them too!

[dcpinner]

I'm learning about hydrangeas as well, so I don't know when they set buds, but what I do with granular fertilizer is I fertilize in the winter with triple phosphate or something with a high middle number ex. 5-45-5 or something of the sort. I do it in the winter so it will have time for it to be soaked into the soil by Spring. I can tell you it definitely works on my azaleas! I think my hydrangeas aren't getting enough sun which may be the reason that they don't get a lot of blooms....but I would apply phosphate in the winter to allow it to soak into the soil.

I do the same with Aluminum Sulfate.....this makes the soil more acidic and therefore blue flowers. Again, doing it in the winter allows for the Aluminum Sulfate to soak into the soil.

[JPlovesflowers]

Once again, I'm not an expert, but I did have about a dozen of the endless summers and they did not bloom as prolifically as the old fashioned macrophyllas. From what I read online that is uncommon, so I'm assuming that mine had not taken off because they were so young. I moved before the 3rd year which is usually the year that perennials take off and I think they would be classified as a perennial shrub...that may be a stretch. As for the fertilizer, I wrote on another post that I had used miracle gro in the past in early spring to push mine along, but the suggestions of the triple phosphate sound like a much better idea. I am also moving more to a time release fertilizer as I believe that too much nitrogen is a bad thing for blooming shrubs many times...just my opinion after years of watching their response. Anyway, best of luck to both of you.

My experience has been that nature will do as it will, but I certainly wish you luck in your efforts.