A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Gardenias

I have a gardenia plant, which is has great green leaves and lots of buds. The big problem is that the buds turn brown and hard and fall off. I have been told too much water, too little water, need to fertilize. What is wrong? The plant is in a pot, morning sun only.

I think it's the heat. I know it can be hot up there.
Can you grow it in the shade? It needs an acid soil too, which we sure don't have here ! Unless you amend your soil.
I would try some Miracid food on it, and if you can, mist it often, gardenias LOVE humidity.

I have a container gardenia too. I keep it in bright light but not direct sun. In the summer it is outside and I keep it shaded with an umbrella. In the winter, I bring it indoors and it sits in front of the sliding door. It gets bright sun but not direct sun. It likes to be warm during the day and cooler at night. In the summer I water it until the water runs out of the bottom of the pot, but not everyday. It does not like to be soggy all the time. In the winter, I water with less water but more frequently-- a gallon or two every couple of days so it won't be soggy. I put Miracid on it as a fertilizer and keep an insecticidal spray handy for the whiteflies. It is HUGE and is blooming again right now. When I bring it indoors, there is some leaf drop, but it adjusts and does fine. I think mine is an August Beauty, but I'm not sure. I picked it up as a mercy buy at the supermarket 5-6 years ago and just happened to stumble on the right place to put it. Good luck.

Thank you for your remarks. My gardenia gets morning sun till about 11 am. I just did fertilize it. It has a bunch of new growth and lots of buds, but the buds dry up and fall off and never bloom.

Are there any teeny sucking-type bugs inside the buds?
Just a thought.

Not sure. I'll check it out though. Have not seen any bugs, etc. The leaves are real green and new growth is coming in.

I think I read somewhere here in the forum that you shouldn't feed it when it is blooming. To be honest, the only time I feed mine is when I see that some of the leaves are turning yellow. I then give it a good feeding. Mine likes the humidity offered in the summer by being outside. When I first got it I put it on a bed of rocks for humidity and it almost died, but I think I had it too close to a heat source. The best thing that ever happened to it was the fact that I had to set the heat lower to conserve the consumption of natural gas. Oh, I guess that would be the bright side of skyrocketing energy prices. Mom always said to look on the bright side!!