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My night blooming jasmines are new, just got them a few months ago. They have doubled in size and doing beautifully (no blooms yet, though) but the tips have started to turn yellow. What should I do?
Can you tell us a little more about the conditions you're keeping them in (sun or shade, garden bed or container, how much are you watering, have you fertilized, etc? It also might help if you could post some pictures showing the symptoms.
In the absence of pictures or other information, I always suggest checking up on watering first since that's a very common problem--try sticking your finger down a couple inches into the soil near the roots and see how it feels. If it's really wet, then you're watering too much, but if it's bone dry then you need to water more frequently. Also if you have them in a pot and they've doubled in size, there's a good chance they're getting rootbound and need to be moved to a bigger pot, and the stress from that could cause your symptoms as well.
Thanks for responding. The plants are potted and in full sun. We've had practically no rain during the dry season, so I've been hand watering regularly; sometimes they've gotten "droopy" because of very high temperatures. I've given them liquid fertilizer every couple of weeks or so. This week we've had rain almost every day (finally!) and I've been monitoring the new leaf growth. So far the new growth seems OK. I will buy new, larger pots and see if that takes care of the problem. When can I expect them to bloom?
When exactly did the yellow tips show up? Was it during the period when things were dry, or was it after this week of rain? If it showed up this week, it could be they got a bit too much--sometimes when you get a ton of rain it helps to bring containers in under an overhang so they don't drown.
You might also consider backing off on the fertilizer--I don't know if they need that much, and with the amount of growth you're describing I'm concerned they may be getting a lot of nitrogen, which produces lots of green growth but doesn't encourage the plant to bloom.
As far as when they'll bloom--it's hard to say. The ones I've grown have always taken a couple years to get going on blooms, but I always planted them in the garden so they have that adjustment period which you wouldn't have in a pot so yours could bloom sooner. There's some variation in what time of year they bloom based on what climate you're in, so hopefully someone from Florida will have some info for you.
Thanks so much, I'll definitely follow your advice. I just returned from a run to my favorite nurseries (this is becoming addictive and expensive!) and bought some larger pots and potting soil.
The yellowing began a couple of weeks ago, so I suspect it may have been the heat and dryness.
If they are getting rootbound (which is very possible given how much they've been growing) it makes it very hard to water them properly since there are a lot of roots and not much soil to hold water. So hopefully that's what your problem was--you'll know for sure if it was if you pop it out of the pot and see tons of roots circling around. Just remember that once there's more soil there to hold water, you shouldn't need to water as frequently as you had been so make sure you're careful on the watering until you figure out the correct frequency.
