Do Geraniums flower once per season?
Question:Our blooms look fried by the sun, although we water them twice a day. Wondering if we can hope for new blooms this summer?
Answers:
from my experience geraniums do repeat flower, but you will have to dead head them to get a good return. Just pinch the stalk back to the next set of leaves. Dead heading will keep the plant bushy instead of leggy.
You need to cut the dead blooms back to the base. This will encourage new blooms.
They repeat throughout the season. Keeping container plants moist is tough. If they are in clay pots, try putting a larger pot over the clay pot for shade. The sun is warming the pots and hastening soil drying.
You could also have geranium bud worms. Thise are tiny worms that get into flower buds before they open. They are somewhat nocturnal so you may not see them. While the organic Bt, Bacillus thuringensis, will work on these little worms....if they are outside to eat a sprayed plant part, you have the problem Bt breaks down in sunlight very quickly. So usually Orthene on the flower buds gets them. Yes, it's a chemcial insecticide, but how else do you get a bugger inside the buds?
I have geraniums that flower continually throughout the season. They are heavy-bloomers, so you must deadhead and provide water and fertilizer regularly, especially if they are in pots.
Deadhead them by cutting the dead blooms where they come off the plant do not cut the plant, they usually snap right off, they are repeat bloomers.
I never water my geraniums. they are a mediterannean plant and require only natural watering (ie. rain) or some watering maybe once every couple of days in very hot weather. they are probably getting too much water! Mine flower profusely, constantly all year round. I have heaps of different varieties. I love them, I love the flowers, I love the smell of the leaves. I ALWAYS pick off the dead blooms though and that encourages new growth. I think you are killing them with kindness!
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