Rhododendron

[Lindylou]

Last year I had beautiful blooms on my rhododendron. This year, despite a lot of 'new' growth there are no buds /flowers. Why??

[woofgang]

1. Sometimes plants just rest a year, especially if they have flowered their hearts out the year before. 2. Over fed rhodies sometimes produce lots of leaf growth and no flowers. 3. Rhodies make their flowerbuds now so if they were stressed at this time last year, by a cold snap or lack of water, they could have failed to make buds. Hope this helps

[treaclefight]

our rhododendron didnt flower last year and that was the fifth year in a row, i was told that talking to plants was good for them. so i went out and told it how i was going to dig it up and cut it up and leave it to rot on the compost heap if it didnt put some effort in this year. it seems to have worked. this technique also works on clematis.

[woofgang]

Do you know what Alan Titchmarsh says to plants when he plants them? He says "Grow you B****r, grow" Its true, I read it in his autobiography

[archhippy]

Do you live near woods/countryside it could be dear a friend has herendous problems with them.talking to them is allso a good idea also try stroking the leaves.

[quattro]

Rhododendrons also prefer acid soil so if you don't have acid based soil try to give them a regular feed with sulphate of iron or some acid based feed .