I have grown trailing Begonias for over 10 year now. Always get a good to very good flower display. This years batch were planted in Jacks Magic MPC, with Miracle Gro slow release fertiliser pellets. Now the basket I planted for my step daughter is superb, flowers trailing to nearly a metre! My bower, below, has three plants in it, and has a very feeble flower display for August. There are an abundance of leaves though. What could the cause/solution for this be? Have I over fed them? I won't save the corms from poor flowering plants, but start from new plugs next year. TIA
Morning HarryS.....I wonder, yes, if you are over feeding them? Maybe give them a daily diluted tomato feed ...see if that saves them from the bin!
Cheers Verdun, I use Tom feed on my baskets and planters from July. A great tip I got on GC a few years back, it does seem to prolong the flowering. I'll try it on the trailing Begonias, you never know Another observation....my Bacopa white, again loads of very healthy growth with leaves but not a lot of flowers Is it overfeeding with slow release pellets?
Maybe the slow release, I think it tends to be a balanced fertiliser, so could be they are getting too much nitrogen. Could try just not feeding for a while. Something I find confusing, anyone who grows toms knows that you don't feed with high potash until the first truss is set, unyet it is often suggested that a high potash feed brings a plant into flowering, I've said the same thing myself So, what's going through my mind is a little, and I mean a little, starvation, might just promote more flowering, and once it starts, hit it with the potash.
Interesting comments from Pete and makes sense to me ..I always stop feeding when tomatoes have formed and fruit is ripening well. As usual it is the result of experimenting. Also very little watering this year....plants are in the gh soil, replaced every 2 or 3 years......but regular watering. Tastier fruit too.
