Subject: Re: [Q] Why don't my lilacs have many flowers?

From: [email-masked] (Kris Benarcik)
Date: 22 Mar 1995 14:28:58 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Ted
Swirsky) wrote:

> 
> My lilacs are about four years old now and never seem to produce many
> blooms.  Is there a common cause for this?  They look healthy otherwise.
> 
> I read somewhere it can be a lack of iron so I buried some steelwool in
> the soil last year.  I'm waiting to see if this seems to make a difference.
> 
> I give them some plant food during the summer and think they get medium sun.
> 
> Thanks.  Ted

Ted-

Lilacs want full sun and neutral soil (get a soil kit from your county
extension service and do a soil test to be sure of your pH).  If the plant
food you are giving them is high in nitrogen, you may be stimulating them
into green, leafy growth instead of flowering.  Unless you soil is
extremely poor (again, a soil test will tell you this information), you
shouldn't need to fertilize them.  If you do give them fertilizer it should
be high in potassium and potash to stimulate flowering and root
development.  Prune them right after they flower; some people believe that
taking of the withered flowers before seed is produced give the plant more
energy.  At the very least, the plant looks more attractive without the
seed heads.  If you have more questions, give me a holler.

Kris Benarcik
The Scott Arboretum

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From: [email-masked] (Dick Gilman)
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 18:31:03 GMT

I wish people would put what zone they are in or at least the town
and state!!!!  The answer depends where you live!!!  But if you
live in the south zone 7 or higher lilacs do not bloom as well as
zone 6 and north.  In zone 5 they are practicalley a weed that you
have to keep well pruned.  They also need full or as close to full
sun as possible!!!  So either trim other bushes around it to give
it more sun or move it.  Also cut back on the fertlizer these plants
really do not need it!!!  This may be causing it to grow instead of
produce flowers!!!

good luck 

  In article <[email-masked]>, Ted Swirsky
([email-masked]) writes: >

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From: Don Martinson <[email-masked]>
Date: 22 Mar 1995 19:51:08 GMT

[email-masked] (Ted Swirsky) wrote:
> blooms. 

Good advice from two previous posts.  Lilacs bloom on last year's growth,
so only prune after spring bloom and not too severely if you want
blooms next year.  Regards plants that need iron (I don't think yours
do, unless there was excessive yellowing of the leaves), nails and
steel wool will not make iron available to plants.  You must use a soluble
source of iron such as ferrous sulphate or chleated iron.

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From: [email-masked] (LynnDHop)
Date: 21 Mar 1995 23:14:00 -0500

Subject: [Q] Why don't my lilacs have many flowers?
From: [email-masked] (Ted Swirsky)
Date: 21 Mar 1995 17:53:25 GMT
Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
In Message-ID: <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Ted
Swirsky) asks:

>blooms.  Is there a common cause for this? 

Do you prune them? And if so, when?  My experience has been with older,
established lilacs, and I finally realized that my father was pruning the
shrubs in the fall.  It's important to prune lilac (and most other
flowering shrubs) shortly after they bloom.  If you wait too long, they've
already developed next spring's flower buds, which get lopped off during
the pruning.

[email-masked] (Lynn D. Warner)

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From: [email-masked] (Ted Swirsky)
Date: 21 Mar 1995 17:53:25 GMT

Thanks.  Ted

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From: [email-masked] (Kris Benarcik)
Date: 22 Mar 1995 14:28:58 GMT

Ted-

Kris Benarcik
The Scott Arboretum

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From: [email-masked] (Dick Gilman)
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 18:31:03 GMT

good luck

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From: Don Martinson <[email-masked]>
Date: 22 Mar 1995 19:51:08 GMT

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From: [email-masked] (LynnDHop)
Date: 21 Mar 1995 23:14:00 -0500