Star jasmine not thriving

Hello! I was at a friends yesterday and we were looking at her star jasmine which is looking very sorry for itself. It was planted back in the autumn, last year but hasn’t done anything. It had some dead leaves on it and she said that it’s just not put on any new growth at all. What’s the best fertiliser/feed as reading on line some say an ericaceous feed and others just general feed? Is liquid feed better?

 

Is it in a warm sheltered position? Has she watered it?

I give mine rose food.

 

I've found they don't grow much until after flowering in Summer, then they grow quickly.
They need lots of sun and a fertile soil to grow well.
Also, they're not hardy in all of the UK.

A dressing of blood/fish/bone in Spring and a mulch of compost is all mine get, and frequent watering in Summer to prevent drying out.

 

Is it planted in open ground or a pot? Close to a wall, are there a lot of other plants around it? Is it is in full sun or shade? Is the ground very dry or wet? Scratch one or two of the stems, if it is green underneath it is still alive, if white it is probably dead. Do not give it any feed until it shows signs of growth.

 

Hi

they are not fully hardy in the UK , so frost too wet and they don’t survive

they need a warm spot in the garden well drained soil.

the way the plant producers promote them is mis leading if we have a beast from the east I doubt any would survive outdoors

 

My 3 came through the Beast from the East unscathed, but you're right that they are not fully hardy throughout the UK.

 

You must have had that well wrapped up including the soil

 

2 were on an arch in my north-facing front garden, the other was in a raised bed by my patio.
They had no protection.

The only thing that did fail during the 'Beast' was my boiler!
The condensate outlet pipe froze, so the boiler couldn't operate.... not ideal!

 

I bought a star jasmine a few years ago and was gifted another. I planted the first in fertile loam in former cow pasture against the hen pen so it would provide shade. It's been in over 4 years and has plenty of healthy foliage but has yet to attain any height.

I kept the other in a pot until I planted it out on a west facing bank in full sun last autumn. The plan is to train and peg it across the bank. Looking a bit ropey after this winter but should recover with some TLC.

I ahve gardening friends who've grown theirs up a fence between them and the neighbour and it was covered with flowers. I asked their secret and they said neglect. They used to feed and water it but just got foliage.

 

Hello and thank you all for your replies! The plant is in a west facing border, the garden faces north from the back of the house. I can confirm It gets sun from about 11am as we were looking at it at that time. The garden is quite sheltered.

It’s in the ground out from a wooden fence not directly up against as advice says. The plan is to train it along the fence. It’s been regularly watered although the soil doesn’t look in great condition. That’s why I was asking what’s best to feed it, there’s green leaves but a few have gone brown & fallen off but since it was planted it just hasn’t grown it’s stayed about 30cm tall. hopefully it will put on some growth this summer? I didn’t get any photos I’m afraid, I will the next time I’m there.

 

As it's a small one don't expect too much initially.
It's main purpose atm is to survive so it'll be using almost all of its energy to produce roots.
Once it has a good root system, then it can concentrate on growing above ground.

The best food for the roots is some sort of rotted organic matter.
But in the interim a general purpose plant food will help - something like Phostrogen or Miracle gro once every 2-3 weeks until Sept.

But organic stuff is the best - If you don't have home-made compost, then you could get a bag of rotted manure from any garden centre and spread it around the plant keeping it away from the main stem.
Once it's settled in they grow quickly.
They can get to 9m x 4m in time.

 

It can take a while for any shrub or climber to establish a good root system before having skyward ambitions so I'd try a good scattering of NF&B or similar and then a rose or tomato liquid fertiliser feed to encourage flowering and healthy foliage.