How long does it take to bloom

[TomVa]

I put 7 lilac cuttings in the ground 3 yrs ago this will be 3rd summer.they are about 3 ft tall and they havn't ever bloomed,will they this year..

[thebigtomato]

hey TomVa,

It could be a few things but not enough light or too much nitrogen could keep your lilacs from blooming

[shadowsmom]

Are you trimming them? If so, you may be cutting off next years bloom. My neighbor did this for years. When she sold the house the new owners let them be and the second year they were blooming like crazy.

[rainbowgardener]

It can easily be three or four years before a new cutting is well established enough to bloom.

Is it in a lawn? Sometimes lilacs are planted in lawns that are fertilized. Lawn fertilizer is high nitrogen, because you don't want flowering just leafy growth. That tends to push the lilac also towards growing not flowering, especially when it is young. Eventually it will have roots way deeper than the grass and it won't matter so much.

[mkepat]

I bought this from a reputable nursery, have not fertilized, in a sunny spot, not on lawn
Any thoughts?

[rainbowgardener]

Patience?

Sounds like you are doing everything right.

[thebigtomato]

you might want to try giving them some bloom fertilizer, something with high phosphorus and potassium to induce flowering.

[rainbowgardener]

but not this year. It is already past lilac blooming season. Mine have bloomed and gone and been deadheaded and I am north of OP. Nothing will induce it to bloom out of season.

[roseycheeks]

Hi everyone, I was Paperwhitenewbie, they made me register again and now I am roseycheeks, I have planted about 4 Morning Glories in some soil and have a flourescent lamp on them and also have a plastic cover on it to kind of give it a greenhouse effect. How long does it take a Lilac to bloom, I have had it for about 2 years and this is the first time it has had new leaves. So wish me luck.

[rainbowgardener]

As you see from the rest of this thread it can take several years for a lilac to be well established enough to bloom.

All the other plants you have written in about are indoors. Is the lilac outdoors? Is it in the ground? In full sun? Lilacs are NOT indoor plants and are not good subjects for containers unless you have one of the most dwarf varieties (like Tinkerbelle) in a very large container (like 10 gallons or more) in full sun.

Lilacs need to be at least three feet tall and well established to start blooming.

[valley]

Greetings, I have here at the mountain ranch Lilacs I started from cuttings over 30 years ago. They give a flower or two, starting a couple years ago each year now. The soil is a on the acid side.

We have a ranch in the high desert with Lilacs that bloom in wild abandon ever year like it or not. We love it. The soil is Alkaline.

I think alkaline is what they like. I began breaking up drywall and putting it at the bottom of the lilacs up here and they started blooming { I was told not to try the drywall, that there might be something in it that would kill the bush, you have to decide} but not like down there maybe they need more alkaline or sun, less hours of sun up here.

Good luck with them. Promise you'll come tell us what you do and how it worked.

Richard

[roseycheeks]

The ones we have are at least two years old, they have never flowered or even leafed out. They are outside and I just went out and measured and they are 2ft. and 30 !/2 inches tall. I will show you a picture of the leaves.

[valley]

roseycheeks, I think the amount of sunlight has a lot to do with the speed of growth. If you read my first post, I have some at the upper ranch that are over 30 years old and are about waist high. The ph is, I think, the another big factor.

down the road, here at 6800feet, a quarter mile a fellow has large Lilacs growing and flowering. He gets much more sun and he add to the soil to make it more alkaline.

At our lower ranch at 4300ft we get sun several more hours per day and the soil and water alkaline and the lilacs are tall and are covered with blooms. They are about to bloom now while the lilacs up here have yet to put out a leaf.

How many hours of direct sun does the plant you have in the picture get? Is your soil acid or Alkaline?

Richard

[roseycheeks]

It gets quite a lot of sunlight, most of the day in fact.

[valley]

Then it's amount of water and soil. The place where ours do best is in the high desert. While we give them more water now than they have had for years they have bloomed every year in great puffs. I think, if you have fair drainage it could be a very acid soil. My sister's place is like a meadow, hers are massive and bloom like there's no tomorrow.

Hot tub time.