Tuesday
May132008
Gardenia Question
Posted on 
May 13, 2008 at 8:50 AM
May 13, 2008 at 8:50 AM I read that if the soil is damp, then I shouldn't water it. But the soil's been damp for two days, so I haven't watered it in two days, and now the flowers are browning. This might be normal—they're not going to last forever—but I just don't want to kill it.
Thoughts?
Reader Comments (9)
I don't know anything about plants/flowers but every post you write about your new "baby" makes me hear Mandy Moore's Gardenia all day long.
Jules
http://bigpikchur.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow">House of Jules
I meant to write "in my head", but I'm sure you got what I meant.
Jules
http://bigpikchur.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow">House of Jules
you don't need to water everyday. keep checking the soil, yes. but you can probably get away with watering once a week unless the weather's warmer.
I have a gardenia plant outside- I live in south Texas, and the flowers only last a few days.The plant blooms once a year, in the spring, but the rest of the year it has pretty green leaves. I do need to fertilize it every few months, but we leave on Padre Island, and the soil is pretty much just sand. Hope this helps
i would just water it when it is dry again. the flowers dont last that long but hopefully it will bloom for a long time. i had one at my old house that bloomed almost all year long. the smell is so great. i cant wait for mine to bloom!
Hey
I wouldn't water your new baby when the soil is wet. There are bacteria in the soil that 'make' food for your plant (OK OK oxidise ammonia to nitrate which the plant will use as food). However there are also other bacteria which do the opposite (reduce nitrate to gaseous forms of nitrogen) which takes the 'food' away from the plant, and these plant food stealing bacteria are more active in 'wet' soil. Damp is cool. This is why fertilisers normally have nitrogen (as well as potassium and phosphorous in them) and the nitrogen is there as ammonium nitrate - nitrate for the plant to 'eat' now and ammonia so that it can be converted to food later on! I guess thats far more than you ever wanted to know on plants, water levels in the soil, fertiliser and um.. probably very definitely soil bacteria but its my area of expertise and I can't believe I've managed to tell someone as cool as you about it even if you'll just go "Oh. Right" (not cos you're nasty, just cos its not the kind of subject people get very excited about. Trust me) x
definitely DO NOT water it. the flowers only last 3-5 days, and they brown if you touch them a bunch.. they are probably about to fall so that more can bloom!
browning flowers are normal!
No, don't over-water--you will turn the leaves yellow. When the flowers die off, you should remove them by pinching them off. New blossoms will take their place. But definitely do not give your plant any more water if the soil still feels damp.
Anon 2:12... wow thank you. I find that very interesting! :)