Not all flowering plants, even those labeled as houseplants, will bloom indoors. If a houseplant is known to be a reliable bloomer (see sidebar) but hasn’t produced flowers in quite a while, here are some possible reasons.
• General plant health
Most houseplants produce flowers only when they are strong and healthy.
Make sure you are providing what the plant needs in terms of light, water, humidity, fertilizer and temperature.
Be aware that too much water as well as not enough water can be detrimental to plants and excess fertilizer can promote leafy growth at the expense of flowers.
• Lighting
Plants need light to grow, bloom, and produce seeds. Because even a well-lit home provides only a fraction of the light available outside, insufficient light is a common reason for poor flowering in houseplants.
In addition to a lack of blooms, poor lighting also results in leggy plants stretching toward the light, pale leaves, and a loss of variegation of leaves.
If your plant is showing symptoms of insufficient light, take steps to increase its light exposure.
Move your plant to a brighter room or closer to the window. Prevent shading of windows by trees, curtains, or other window treatments. Consider providing artificial lighting for up to 16 hours per day.
Photo by Sandy Cortez Some houseplants, such as African violets, don’t like direct sunlight and prefer bright, indirect light.
But beware! Some houseplants, such as African violets and moth orchids, don’t like direct sunlight and prefer bright, indirect light. In addition, if you move a plant from a less bright spot to full sun, do so gradually, increasing the exposure by an hour or two each day so the leaves don’t scorch from overexposure.
• Periodicity
Some plants require a certain amount of regularly scheduled darkness to trigger flower bud formation, a characteristic called periodicity. Selected plants, such as Christmas cactus and Kalanchoe, need long nights and others, such as tuberous begonias, need short nights.
African violets and others will bloom regardless of the night length. Plants affected by the length of night will be more seasonal in their production of flowers and will not bloom year-round.
• Temperature
A few houseplants require certain temperatures to initiate bud formation. For example, moth orchids require a 10 to 15 degree drop in temperature at night for several weeks to induce flowering.
These are a few of the more common reasons houseplants don’t bloom. Because plants have different growth requirements and triggers to initiate flowering, learn about your plants to find out what makes them happy and healthy to keep them blooming.
Q: I am anxious to get the garden going this year. When should I start my vegetable seeds indoors?
A: Starting vegetable plants from seed indoors can save you money and give you a jump on the growing season. Here are steps to success.
Step 1 — Determine when plants started from seed indoors (“starts”) can go in the ground without suffering.
A few vegetable starts can survive and even grow in soil temperatures between 35-40 degrees. For example, lettuce, spinach, and peas starts can be transplanted in late February or early March.
Others, such as broccoli, cabbage, chard and kale, will grow when soil temperatures reach 40- 45 degrees. These can be transplanted in late March and April. Warmth-loving vegetables, including corn, beans, eggplant, peppers, squash, and tomatoes require soil temperatures of 50- 60 degrees. Delay transplanting these into the ground until late May or early June.
Step 2 — Determine how long it takes a seed to develop into a transplantable start. A transplantable start has a solid root mass when removed from the pot and holds onto the soil in which it was grown.
On average, the time it takes to go from a seed to a transplantable start is as follows:
• 2-3 weeks for lettuce and other leafy greens
• 4-5 weeks for cole crops (e.g., broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and kale)
• 5-7 weeks for tomatoes
• 7-8 weeks for peppers
Step 3 — Count backwards from when plants can go in ground (Step 1) the time it takes to grow a transplantable start (Step 2). Plant your seeds indoors around that date. Not all types of vegetables will be started at the same time.
Step 4 — Once seeds germinate, place containers near a well-lit window or provide supplemental lighting for 14 to 16 hours per day. If you do not use supplemental lighting, seedlings will bend towards the light source. Rotate the containers daily to prevent permanent bending in the stems and allow sturdier plants to develop. To get the most out of supplemental lighting, suspend lights 10- to 12-inches above the small plants.
Some seed companies have on-line seed planting calculators. All you need to do is enter the average last frost date for your area and the calculator will show when it is typically safe to transplant starts for a particular vegetable in the ground and when you will need to plant the seeds indoors.
Happy gardening!
Jeanette Stehr-Green is a WSU-certified Clallam County Master Gardener.
