No flowers on my rhododendron

Hello all. Bought a beautiful yellow rhododendron last year it’s a variety with scented flowers and it looked lovely in its pot.
This year it has only a single flower, no buds at all although the leaves look healthy and it has grown a little larger.
Too late for this year I know but what can I do to improve the flowering next year?

 

It was lack of water last year after it finished flowering. Give it some feed now, a slow release, all purpose such as Gromore, other brands available, granular feed would be fine, and plenty of water from now on, until next year year. If your plant is azalea ponticum, it is delicious. It can grow to 15ft when in the ground and happy. My daughter has one, around 20ft, just coming into flower in the next week or so, the perfume is wonderful on a warm day.

 

It's probably put more effort into growing the root system, at the expense of the flowers too, but lack of moisture at the right time - ie late summer into autumn, is usually the reason for lack of buds.
It's always a little trickier growing them in containers anyway. A regular mulch of bark or leaf mould is helpful, plus a little food, suited to rhodos/azaleas, but moisture and good drainage are the most important things. If you can keep it out of too much sun during summer, that makes it easier.
If your tapwater is hard, use collected rainwater @Debs64

 

Thanks I do save rainwater for it but I may have taken my eye off the ball last summer. I know growing in pots is always a challenge I must do better!
I have horse manure well rotted available was thinking a little of that as a mulch or would that be overkill?

 

Rhododendrons (and azalhias) are naturally undergrowth plants, thriving in the relative shade of forest trees. I do not know whether they have or need a symbiotic relationship with them but do aid the trees by reducing seedlings competing with the adult trees, creating areas of specimen trees.

 

I grow a huge number of Rhododendron, living in Scotland mine are all grown in full sun and flower very very well. Are you sure @Debs64 that yours is not a deciduous Azalea? I grow a few Luteum which are both yellow and scented. If yours is Leutum then it will grow pretty big. It is definitely not of the dwarf variety. Next door to it is a Rhododendron. Deciduous Azaleas definitely need more sun than Rhododendrons in my experience. Here is one that is grown in full sun but the soil does retain a fair amount of moisture as the bed is covered in bark chip.


I would not feed Growmore as that will contain lime and yes I would go for horse manure. None of my many Rhododendron and Azaleas are grown in pots/tubs and none get fed at all. However, the ground is well manured and augmented with leaf mold at planting. Being in pots it will be more difficult to keep the soil moist. Maybe cover the pot with bark chip or similar to help retain water.It may well be that the plant was forced to flower well last year and having a rest this! With young Azaleas and Rhododendron it does help if you remove the spent flower heads so no vigour is spent on producing seed but you need to be careful not to break the new growth just below the spent flowers.

 

Hello. Just checked and it’s actually a deciduous azalea luteum. I bought it for the scent. In 2021. Will definitely consider horse manure and be more vigilant with watering although that hasn’t been an issue so far this year has it?

 

I wondered which plant you were talking about @Debs64 , but I'd assumed it was the [evergreen] rhodo in the photo, and it was an older pic. I should have asked about the yellow flowering one - especially when you said about it being scented! They have a fabulous scent.
They [luteas] won't do well in pots long term - it would have to be a large, purpose built container or raised bed for it to be happy. They really need to be in the ground. I appreciate that isn't really possible for you though. It isn't likely to thrive very happily in a pot though.

 

Well @fairygirl i live and learn. I will try to feed and water it and get another year or two of flowers then maybe gift it to someone with a garden. Thanks for all your helpful advice everyone

 

It's a pity @Debs64 , because they do have a lovely scent - even I can smell it! I used to walk past a garden each day taking my older daughter to Playgroup, and it had a run of them down one boundary. The scent was superb. They're pretty dull apart from that flowering period, but a great backdrop to other plants.
Is there nowhere you can plant into the ground at all? If not, even a cheap plastic dustbin or something similar that has good width to it, might be sufficient to give it more room for a bit longer.

 

@fairygirl i do have a half barrel so maybe transferring it to that would help. I have ericaceous compost too. And it’s on my patio which would make it easier to monitor watering etc.
You have given me a new project for bank holiday weekend. Thank you

 

Use a soil based mix though - compost on it's own isn't enough to sustain a shrub long term.
I think you can buy bags of soil, so perhaps that would be fine - unless you have some handy molehills nearby

 

This is an ericaceous compost with John innes cost a bit extra but worth it I hope, got it last year when I was advised that lilies like it. Bought too much as it was a long way to the only garden centre I could find that stocked it. I have about 100 litres so mixing that with horse manure will hopefully will do the trick. Of course I won’t know until next Spring but that’s the fun of gardening isn’t it?

 

Quick question, I am a “do it now” gardener but would it be better to wait until autumn?

 

Sorry @Debs64 - went out.
The JI mix should be fine. You wouldn't really need the manure, but it won't do any harm. You don't need to wait - it's going from one pot into another.

Re the lilies - they don't need any kind of special mix, but they do need decent drainage if the mix is heavy. A feed or two as they die back is all that's needed - and vigilance for those damn lily beetles while they're growing!