Encouraging Bougainvillea to Blossom - Looking for Suggestions.

[lifegardener]

Any tips on how to encourage bougainvillea's to blossom would be greatly appreciated.

One of our SanDiego Red's has been sitting around - being stubborn it seems - and not blooming.
The plant appears very healthy, gets good lighting, even better than another one in the shade (which is blooming).

 

[cpp gardener]

Keep it on the dry side, give it as much light/sun as you can, feed with a low Nitrogen fertilizer (such as Super-bloom or Miracle-Gro Bloom Food). It's a little late now but, sometimes a little chill (frost) encourages blooms too.

 

[lifegardener]

It's now flowering nicely . Gave it a bit of natural bloom-inducing fertilizer about a month back.

In general, how frequently should bougainvillea's be given a fertilizer boost throughout the year?

 

[cpp gardener]

It depends on the fertilizer. Water-soluble ones need to be applied once or twice a month, granular synthetics once a month or every other month, organics usually only 2-3 times a year. Water-solubles give the fastest results and organics the slowest but longer-lasting.

 

[lifegardener]

It depends on the fertilizer. Water-soluble ones need to be applied once or twice a month, granular synthetics once a month or every other month, organics usually only 2-3 times a year. Water-solubles give the fastest results and organics the slowest but longer-lasting.

Thankyou.