How Often Should You Water a Gardenia? The Most Suitable Watering Schedule Explained

Gardenia is one of the most famous flowers, also known as yellow gardenia, mountain gardenia, etc. As people's living standards continue to rise, keeping flowers has become an indispensable part of daily life. Among the many flowers, gardenia is one of the more widely grown, but many people don't know how to water gardenias. Let's take a look below at how often gardenias should be watered!

How often should you water a gardenia?

There is no fixed answer to how often a gardenia should be watered, because the climate varies greatly across China, and gardenia watering should be based on your own actual conditions. In spring, water about once every three days, and mist around the potted plant every morning and evening to raise air humidity. After the dog days of summer begin, the weather is hot: water lightly in the morning and water thoroughly after 2 p.m. Soft water is preferable, because hard water contains more calcium and magnesium salts, which is very harmful to gardenia growth - in mild cases the branches and leaves turn yellow, and in severe cases the plant soon dies. In winter, watering should be controlled: do not water unless the soil is dry. Long-term excess moisture easily causes root rot and death.

What happens if a gardenia is watered improperly?

1. Overwatering: Too much water causes the young leaves to turn dull yellow and lose their luster, while the old leaves show no obvious change, the branches become thin and yellow-green, and the new shoots shrink and stop growing. At this point, take the plant out of the pot, place it in a ventilated, shady spot to let the root ball dry out on its own, then put it back in the pot.

2. Too dry: A gardenia being too dry is different from being overwatered. When it is too dry, the leaf tips or edges become scorched and dry, and the old leaves turn yellow and fall from the bottom up, but the new leaves grow fairly normally. In this case, simply water enough and water thoroughly.

How should you grow gardenias for the best results?

1. Potting soil: Gardenia is an indicator plant that loves acidic soil, with a suitable pH of 5 to 6. For growing medium, you can choose leaf mold, peat soil, or composted sawdust mixed with half garden soil. Avoid old wall soil and coal cinder; using commercially available clivia soil is more convenient and practical.

2. Watering: Gardenia likes moist soil and relatively high air humidity. During the growing period from April to September, keep the potting soil moist. Usually, water once the soil surface turns white, and water thoroughly each time. But after flower buds appear, do not water too much, to avoid bud drop.

3. Fertilizing: Gardenia is a plant that loves fertilizer. Add 3% decomposed cake fertilizer to the growing medium as a base fertilizer. During the growing season, water once a week with alum fertilizer made by composting cake fertilizer with ferrous sulfate. During the bud stage, watering once or twice with a 0.1% potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution can make the flowers larger and the fragrance richer.

4. Light: Gardenia loves light. It can also grow in semi-shade for a long time, but the flowering branches will be longer and the flowers fewer. Except for the intense midday sun from July to August, when shade is needed, and the winter dormant period, it generally needs to be kept in the sun to produce abundant flowers and lush leaves.

5. Pruning: After flowering each year, prune the gardenia lightly, cutting out inner branches and diseased or weak branches, and shorten any individual leggy branches. But remember: never cut back the tips of branches in spring, otherwise the gardenia will not bloom that year.

6. Repotting: It is best to change the soil for gardenias in March in spring. After taking the plant out of the pot, cut off some old roots, shake off half the old soil, plant it in the pot with new soil, water thoroughly, and place it in a warm, semi-shady spot. When new buds begin to sprout, place it in the sun for care.

7. Overwintering: Gardenias can overwinter outdoors in the Qinling area of China, but potted gardenias will suffer root damage after a severe winter. You can place the potted plant in a cold room at around 5°C to let it go dormant, protect the root system well, and keep it in a sheltered, sunny spot for the winter; then it will recover quickly and bloom early in spring.