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Feeling a little jealous!

CraighBCraighB Posts: 738
in Plants
Hi guys,

Well this year I've really done my best to give my plants in pots a really good start and I didn't think they were doing too badly until I visited a family member today and her pots are doing amazing and so much better than mine!

For example I purchased 2 geranium Rozanne and I gave one to my gran. I potted mine in half john Innes no2 mixed with half Westlands Jack's Magic and I added some perlite for extra drainage. It's been fed once a week with tomato feed and it's doing ok however I wouldnt say there has been a mass of flowers on it like you see on photographs on Google of Rozanne.

My Gran planted hers in bog standard cheap multi purpose compost and doesn't feed at all and hers looks incredible! It is absolutely packed with flowers and I have to say I was a little jealous! :) All her plants in pots looked so healthy and had tons of flowers and they are all in cheap compost!

We both have our plants in very sunny spots in the garden so it has left me wondering if I am doing something wrong? And is the bog standard cheap compost better than the good stuff??  :|

Craigh
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Posts

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,165
    I have no idea about the Jack's Magic stuff but I find Rozannes is best in the ground and not too rich at that or it goes leggy and sprawls.   In a pot I would have used John Innes no 3 with about 20% multi purpose compost for moisture retention.   I would then water but not feed until it was 3 months old.  Most commercial composts have food supplies for 90 days.   
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • CraighBCraighB Posts: 738
    Well I do have Rozanne in the ground too but it didn't do so well this year but that's because my soil is so poor and very dry. So I thought I'd try it in a pot too. I started feeding because the one in a pot I bought as a 2litre perennial at the end of last year so it was already quite established. However it was very slow to get going this year and as I say it's just kind of done average in my opinion. Yet my grans really looks amazing!

    I may next year try the cheap stuff and see if that makes a difference!
  • GrottoGrotto Posts: 2
    Hi. In order to get fast results I would try with a potassium sulfate fertilizer (0-0-K). Another option is to use banana peels, it releases potassium to the soil a bit more slowly but still a good choice. One way to do it is to add the peels to the soil. The other way is to put the peels plus water in the blender and water your plants with the juice. I have tried the juice once a week on Saintpaulias and it works perfectly.
  • ZeroZero1ZeroZero1 Posts: 577
    edited July 2018
    Often the difference in plant growths  is watering regimes, does your grandma water more often?
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 6,657
    Some plants, (and I've not worked out the pattern but a better horticulturist will probably know), flower better when they are hungry than when they are well fed. They put on more growth and leaf when they are happy and flower when they think they may be going to die.

    My Rozanne is a monster. It's basically formed itself into a hedge, about 18 inches high, at least 3m long and 1m wide. I'm going to have to divide it again and move it. Again. It's beautiful, but it takes over.
    “Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first” 
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,293
    Part of the problem may be the compost. Earlier this year Which did a compost review. In the ‘containers’ category Jack’s Magic came 21st out of 25 with a score of 61%. Top with 85% was Lidl multi purpose. There’s a sharp price difference too: £14/100l for Jack’s Magic vs. £3.80 for Lidl.
    Rutland, England
  • LauraRoslinLauraRoslin Posts: 496
    I've also read that some plants only flower profusely when they feel the end is nigh. So you have to be more neglectful of them.
    I wish I was a glow worm
    A glow worm's never glum
    Cos how can you be grumpy
    When the sun shines out your bum!
  • BijdezeeBijdezee Posts: 1,484
    I dont really feed my hardy geraniums either, well, not intentionally  :). They probably get some when I use liquid feed for the clematis etc. They are pretty no nonsense plants and I don't think they need a lot of feeding. 
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 13,752
    Agree with others, hardy Geraniums really don't need feeding, and I'm afraid Banana peel is just an old wives tale.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • CraighBCraighB Posts: 738
    What everyone is saying about feeling less seems to fit in completely with how we both treat our plants. I feed mine once a week with tomato feed including the geraniums in pots and in water quite often too. Whereas my gran never feeds and hardly ever waters! In fact im always telling her off for how dry her plants are. But im realising they are doing better than mine :)
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