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Florida Gardening

Empty Gardenia Buds

11 years ago

Our outdoor Gardenia bushes here in subtropical Zone 9a in South FL have thrown off only 2 or 3 nice flowering buds this year, but the rest of the buds are "empty" (with the green encasing tendrils but no actual flower bud inside). They are watered 3x per week and we hit them with palm fertilizer every 2 months.

Does anyone have experience as to what the issue might be?

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Comments (2)

thonotorose
11 years ago
Sounds like it may be bud drop, common to gardenias. Could be from insects, too much sun, not enough acid fertilizer.

Also could be from the age of the plants. Many newly planted things can take a few years to fully establish.
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
11 years ago
It could be some type of insect that causes the buds to drop or even some type of caterpillar that eats the buds. Some of the insects that suck juices from the flower buds are very tiny and hard to see.
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