What to Do When Flowers Won't Bloom? A Few Practical Methods to Force Flowering

We often run into the problem in daily life of growing flowers that simply won't bloom. People ask: why won't my flowers bloom? Below, the editor introduces the 6 main reasons flowers won't bloom and several methods for forcing common flowers to bloom:

Forcing flowering means promoting blooming, and it is generally used on fruit trees and ornamental flowers. The goal is mostly to make them bloom earlier in the season or out of season; in forest tree breeding it is also used to promote flowering in young trees, and in fruit tree production it also increases the number of flowers.

There are many methods of forcing flowering, including controlling temperature, light and humidity, as well as girdling, ring-barking and heading back, and spraying plant growth regulators and so on.

I. Why Flowers Won't Bloom

1. Insufficient or excessive water and fertilizer

We all know when growing flowers that seedlings and flowering plants need fertilizer, but too much water and fertilizer causes excessive vegetative growth in the branches and leaves, leading to a strong root system but no flowers. If nutrition is poor, it can also stop the flowers from sprouting or blooming.

2. Unsuitable light and temperature

Because flowers come from different places of origin, their ecological habits differ. Some like light and heat, some like partial shade; some like warmth, some like coolness. If the living conditions each one needs are not met, it can easily cause flowers and buds to drop, so you need to understand these needs in advance.

3. High salt and alkali content in the soil

Most flowers prefer slightly acidic and neutral soil and dislike salt and alkali. Even more salt- and alkali-tolerant flowers such as geraniums and Chinese roses (Rosa chinensis) are affected in growth and flowering when the soil salt content exceeds 0.1% and the pH exceeds 7.5.

4. No shaping or pruning during the growing season

Not pruning and shaping flowering plants during the growing season both affects their looks and consumes a large amount of nutrients, affecting flower bud formation and causing no flowers or few flowers.

5. Room temperature too high in winter.

If the room temperature is too high, it affects the dormancy of the flowering plant or makes it sprout and leaf out too early, consuming nutrients, so the next year it grows weakly and does not bloom, or the flowers are small or drop.

6. Attack by pests and diseases.

During the growing period, flowers are easily harmed by pests and diseases, which affects nutrient accumulation and hinders growth, causing flowers and buds to drop. By addressing the above causes, watering and fertilizing reasonably, regulating the growing environment of potted flowers, pruning reasonably and controlling pests and diseases well, you can solve the problems of flowers not blooming and of flowers and buds dropping.

II. How to Force Flowering

Methods for forcing orchids to bloom

1. Temperature.

To promote blooming in orchids, you need to make the day-night temperature difference about 10 degrees Celsius, that is, the best growth and the most flowers occur under daytime temperatures of 18 to 21 degrees Celsius and nighttime temperatures of 7 to 10 degrees Celsius. High nighttime temperatures make the orchid leaves soft and cause flower buds to drop. Too low a temperature causes blind buds and also spots on the leaves. If the plant suffers cold damage while in bloom, brown spots appear on the flowers.

2. Watering.

How much you water is also a major condition for orchids to bloom, and moisture must be well controlled. Too much water makes the orchid grow leggy and makes it hard for flower buds to form. Suitable moisture is one of the ways to promote blooming. But a lack of moisture will cause the buds to be trapped in the sheath.

3. Light.

Light is the main factor in promoting orchids to develop flower buds. Light intensity varies greatly with the type of orchid. Generally, when flower buds are forming, if you place the orchid under fairly bright light, the red, dark red and yellow colors deepen when it blooms. For orchids that open green or white flowers, light intensity should be reduced as soon as the buds first appear, to keep the flower color more pure and elegant, and after blooming finishes, give more light again. Generally orchids need 2 to 3 hours of light. Leaves that are soft and a moderate green indicate normal light. Leaves that are dark green and soft indicate a need for more light, and leaves that are pale yellow indicate a need to reduce light.

Methods for forcing clivia to bloom

If you want a pot of clivia to bloom as soon as possible, you can mainly achieve this by using fertilizer and lowering the temperature and increasing the temperature difference.

1. Fertilizing. The simplest and most practical method is to water with beer (using a flowering fertilizer sold on the market also works very well). Beer can be diluted with clean water to increase aeration, and you can also apply some phosphate fertilizer.

2. Temperature. Clivia generally finds it very hard to bloom during the dog days of summer, because above 25 degrees clivia enters a semi-dormant state and the flower stem grows slowly, and the buds usually get trapped in the sheath, which is normal. But in spring, autumn and winter, if the buds get trapped in the sheath, then the temperature has not been managed well. One reason is that the temperature is on the high side, above 20 degrees or even above 25 degrees; the other is that there is no temperature difference, and a constant indoor temperature is not good for clivia to bloom. So during the period when clivia is pushing up its flower stem, you must lower the temperature and increase the temperature difference, preferably a difference above 10 degrees. In an ordinary home you can put it on the south balcony during the day and the north balcony at night, which helps the flower stem rise. If the flower stem still does not rise, you should take the plant out of the pot, air-dry the roots for two days, then repot it in the original soil and manage it normally, and the flower stem will soon shoot up.

Methods for forcing Chinese roses to bloom

1. Chinese roses have large flowers and many of them and need a lot of fertilizer, so they should be fertilized heavily, and enough organic fertilizer should be applied before the buds break. For potted Chinese roses, repot once in early spring, with a potting soil recipe of: (loam) 5 : (leaf mold) 2 : (rotted manure) 2 : (sand) 1, plus a small amount of rapeseed cake, mixed evenly. After that, apply a top dressing every 10-15 days. The top dressing can be a liquid fertilizer made by fermenting cake fertilizer with phosphate fertilizer, diluted with water and poured on. Especially after the peak bloom in May, fertilizer should be applied in time to encourage summer and autumn blooming.

2. During the growing season, Chinese roses should get plenty of sun, with 8 hours of light a day being ideal. If they are displayed indoors, bring them in before 11 a.m. and take them out before 4 p.m., so they receive the soft light around midday, which helps extend the blooming period.

3. Chinese roses enter a semi-dormant state above 33°C, and grow best at an average temperature of 20°C-25°C. Therefore in summer they should be shaded appropriately and misted several times. To cool them down and add moisture, during the growing season it is best to spray water once in the morning and once in the afternoon, creating a humid environment and promoting the growth of flowers and leaves.

4. After a Chinese rose blooms, it should be cut below the third compound leaf beneath the flower, to encourage strong new shoots and early flower buds and blooming. The key points of pruning technique are: weak short branches are cut first and cut high; vigorous branches are cut later and cut short, to boost the weak and restrain the strong, so that blooming is more uniform. The length of pruning on long branches should not exceed 1/2, to avoid slow sprouting of axillary buds. In addition, do not keep too many flowers per flush; for potted Chinese roses 3-5 is ideal, while for field-grown Chinese roses it depends on how strong the plant is. Keeping too many flowers disperses nutrients too much, making the flowers small and affecting the next flush. So after buds break, select strong buds to keep, cut 2.5 cm above them, and remove the weaker buds below. After buds appear, select the large terminal bud and remove the buds in the leaf axils.

Methods for forcing Aptenia cordifolia to bloom

1. When the growth of Aptenia cordifolia allows, do not water too frequently. Of course, if you only want lush branches and leaves, frequent watering is not a big problem; but if you want flowers, you need to control watering appropriately.

2. Give it suitable light, do not expose it to blazing sun in summer, and shade it appropriately.

Methods for forcing narcissus to bloom

If narcissus is cared for normally, methods to force it to bloom can include increasing temperature with light: during the day, place the narcissus outside in the sunlight, or in a spot indoors with plenty of light, until it blooms.

You can also use light to raise the temperature: cover the narcissus pot with a transparent plastic cover and shine a light on it, which can raise the temperature inside the pot. In addition, you can use heating devices, such as a hair dryer or an electric heater, using this warm air to blow over the narcissus plant, which can make it bloom and stay in bloom for several days. But be careful not to let the hair dryer or other devices damage the narcissus plant.

You can also use warm water to raise the temperature: add a small amount of warm water to the narcissus pot, which can raise the water temperature a little and promote blooming.

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