Are you becoming anxious about why is your lavender not blooming? The lack of blooms on the lavender may be attributed to a variety of factors. In this post, I will discuss everything that might be causing your lavender to not bloom and why it could be happening. If you read this post, you will either find the answer to the problem, or you will discover the reason why your lavender is not flowering.
I performed extensive research to find all of the genuine issues why lavender may not bloom. This research is based on credible sources. This post will undoubtedly answer all of your questions and put your mind at ease.
So, let’s get started:
Reasons why Lavender not blooming?
If your lavender is not flowering, there might be a number of factors at play. This is dependent on a wide variety of things. Lavender, on the other hand, often produces plants and flowers every year with very minimal maintenance. There must be a mistake in the way you are caring for the lavender plants if they do not blossom.
The following is a list of the most common gardening blunders that many people do while they are trying to take care of their plants. Read this list of reasons carefully to find out what you’re doing wrong and how you should be caring for them instead. I am confident that this will be useful to you.
- Wrong soil pH
- Too much watering
- Lack of sunlight
- Soil is not fertilized
- Too wet soil
- Adding too much fertilizer
- Wrong pruning practice
- Unsuitable climate condition
- Lavender is not mature
Wrong soil pH
It is possible that your lavender is suffering from stress caused by too acidic soil if it is not blossoming and is generally showing signs of poor development.
Lavender is able to thrive in soils with low levels of acidity but grows best in pH-neutral (7.0) or slightly alkaline conditions up to pH 7.5.
The majority of soils used for gardening have a pH that is either neutral or slightly alkaline since this is the pH level that the vast majority of organic matter will have after it has completely decomposed.
On the other hand, the soil type might be too acidic for lavenders to flourish owing to a variety of different circumstances.
How to proceed. The good news is that determining the pH of the soil in your garden is quite simple and does not cost too much. You only need to get a soil test kit from Amazon. The result of your soil’s pH that the soil test kit provides you with will be clear and straightforward.
After you get your soil tested, you should be able to determine whether or not the acidity of the soil is a contributing factor in the lack of blooms.
If the pH level for your soil falls between 6.7 and 7.5, then you have reached the sweet spot for growing lavenders.
If you have discovered that your soil has a pH that is lower than 6.7, then you’ll need to add garden lime to your soil in order to neutralize the acidity. Lime for the garden may be purchased either in person at a garden center or online.
If you apply garden lime to acidic soil, it will increase the pH of the soil, allowing you to transform the acidic soil into alkaline soil. Garden lime is only a soil amendment.
In my experience, it is extremely simple and risk-free to use, but in order to reach the outcome you want, you need to follow the directions provided by the manufacturer very carefully. It is a slow process that might take a little time to bring about a change that is long-lasting when you alter the pH of the soil.
If you’ve established that your soil is acidic and your lavender is showing symptoms of stress, I recommend transplanting the lavender to a container that contains one-third sand and two-thirds multipurpose compost and soaking it in as soon as possible.
Too much watering
When it comes to caring for lavenders, the most frequent error that gardeners do is to overwater the plants. France, Spain, and Italy, which are located in the Mediterranean region and are the birthplace of lavender, have very warm and dry summers with little to no precipitation.
If lavenders get an excessive amount of water, their soil will become too damp for the plant’s roots, which will result in the development of the illness known as root rot.
If lavenders are subjected to an excessive amount of water, they will exhibit symptoms of stress such as a wilting look and a discoloration of the foliage. Unfortunately, these symptoms are frequently misinterpreted as indicating that the plants are not receiving enough water, which can lead a gardener to make the problem worse by increasing the number of times they water the plants.
Your lavender won’t blossom in the summer since it shows indications of stress from receiving an excessive amount of water.
What is the solution?
If you want to successfully cultivate lavenders in your garden, water them once every 2 weeks during the hot weather that occurs throughout the spring and summer months. Lavenders flourish in circumstances that seem to be severe and nearly resemble drought.
You shouldn’t water the plant for another 2 weeks if there has been considerable rainfall or a lot of overcast days over the previous two weeks.
In comparison to the care needs of the other plants in your garden, this may seem to be a careless approach; yet, lavenders can withstand extended periods of dryness, and their roots thrive in dry, well-drained soil.
After around two weeks of drier circumstances, your lavender should have recovered from the damage caused by overwatering. The issue of overwatering is one that often arises in environments with soils that have a slow rate of drainage.
Related Post: 20 Golden Watering Plants Rules
Lack of sunlight
One of the most common reasons for a poor bloom of lavender is that the plant does not get enough sunlight.
Lavenders are only found in areas that have a lot of sunlight and where they may enjoy the sun all day long. Lavenders will not thrive that well in the shadow, much alone blossom beautifully. Lavenders need at least six hours of direct sunlight each day, so make sure you plant them in the sunniest spot of your garden.
There is a clear link between the amount of sunshine that lavender plants get and the number of blooms that they produce. It is just a matter of chance whether or not any of the lavender plants in the region will produce a beautiful floral show throughout the spring and summer months if the weather is less than optimal with a significant number of cloudy days.
However, in the long run, the lavender must be unaffected by only one bad growing season, and they should be able to blossom the next year provided that the circumstances are favorable and the sun is shining.
If you want your lavender to blossom well, you must ensure that it receives at least six hours of sunlight every day, ideally more.
Make sure that you keep any foliage or tree branches that are hanging low over your lavenders in control so that they don’t receive too little light. Alternately, you may shift your lavender plants into pots and transplant them somewhere if the location where they are now located does not provide them with sufficient light.
If not, you may have to find a new home with a garden that gets more sun.
Even though English lavender cultivars are hardy enough to survive frost in the winter and thrive in colder, more temperate locations, they still need a significant amount of sunlight in order to produce flowers.
Related Post: 7 Different Types of sunlight in the Garden
Soil is not fertilized
When fertilizer is applied to lavenders, the likelihood of their producing a magnificent purple bloom is diminished.
Lavenders are an exception to the rule, which may seem to be counterintuitive given that the majority of plants in the garden are unable to create a robust bloom without the aid of fertilizer.
In order for lavenders to properly blossom, the soil fertility level has to be kept at a relatively low level.
The use of fertilizer, similar to high-nutrient soils, will result in a profusion of leaf growth but relatively few blossoms on the plant.
Increasing the richness of the soil goes against the circumstances that are naturally desired by the lavender and may even cause the roots to get damaged.
What exactly should we do about it? This is a fairly simple solution—just don’t use any fertilizer at all! If you give lavenders time to become used to their sandy soils, they will soon produce a stunning bloom for you to admire.
Although lavenders do not need any kind of mulch or fertilizer from a fertility standpoint, it is OK to use a mulch made of wood chips or another type of mulch for the sole purpose of improving the appearance of the garden or reducing the number of weeds.
Due to the fact that lavenders thrive in sandy soils with little fertility, the circumstances are not as favorable for the growth of weeds. As a result, you will have less labor to do during the summer and more time to enjoy your lavenders.
If you have already applied fertilizer, then you should make an effort to retrieve it if at all possible (if it is in the form of pellets and hasn’t cracked down into the soil yet). However, if you have used liquid fertilizer, then you will have to suffer through a season of below-average flowering, and you should make a mental note to not apply any fertilizer the following year.
In the event that the circumstances are favorable and there is enough amount of sunlight, the lavender should be able to recuperate and produce bloom in the next season.
Too wet soil
Growing lavenders requires soil that is both permeable and well-draining; the soil should not hold too much water for an extended period of time. This is because lavender prefers to grow in soil that is dry. Root rot is something that may happen to plants if their roots are left exposed to damp stuff for an extended period of time.
Slow draining soil may cause stress to the lavenders, resulting in the same symptoms as overwatering (a drooping look and either yellowing or browning of the leaves), and this will eventually lead it to either not bloom at all or produce a show of flowers that is below standard.
Clay soils, thick compacted soils, or soils that are excessively rich in organic material may all cause water or rainfall to pool and hold too much moisture around the roots of lavender plants. This can be detrimental to the plant’s health.
It is possible, with some effort, to modify the soil so that it drains more quickly and alter its structure in such a way that it is more conducive to the growth of lavenders.
How to proceed: The soil in the native range of lavenders in the Mediterranean is sandy. It has a nice structure that enables water to drain reasonably rapidly, and it is permeable enough that roots may develop and establish themselves in the soil with reasonable ease.
If your soil drains slowly or if it retains moisture for an extended period of time, you will need to mix the soil in order to establish the appropriate conditions for growing lavender.
A soil profile that consists of around 30 percent sand or grit (both of which perform well) and 70 percent compost is ideal for growing lavenders. This ratio, however, may increase to 50:50 if the soil is really poor in drainage or if your garden is located in an area that gets a significant amount of precipitation.
Before you begin planting, it is in your best interest to prepare the soil by working some sand or grit into the area that will be planted. If, on the other hand, your lavenders are already planted in the ground (or in pots) that have a drainage pattern that is obviously sluggish, you may gently remove them from the soil using a fork and then replant them after mixing in some sand or grit.
Late winter or very early spring is the optimum time to carry out this procedure since it will reduce the effects of any transplant shock. Sand and grit will enhance the soil texture and drainage, and since it is relatively low in fertility, it is ideal for growing lavender, which cannot blossom in soils that are rich in nutrients. Sand and grit will also improve the soil’s overall fertility.
The process of amending the soil in order to increase drainage is not an exact science, and each garden will need to conform to its own particular requirements. Lavenders will be capable of growing and, more importantly, produce the best display of flowers if the soil contains a sufficient amount of sand or grit, does not have a wet or overly moist feel, and drains well. If you mix in a good proportion of sand or grit, the soil will not feel wet or overly moist, and it will drain well.
Related Post: How to care for Lavender plants in pots
Adding too much fertilizer
In their natural habitat in the Mediterranean, lavenders thrive in sandy soils that vary in fertility from low to medium. These soils may be found in Spain, Italy, and France.
They naturally produce the greatest number of blossoms and the most fragrant scent when grown in these particular soil conditions.
When there is a rich supply of nutrients in the soil, lavenders have a tendency to produce more foliage and fewer or no blooms. This is especially true in warmer climates.
Actually, lavenders do rather well in these supposedly tough circumstances, and gardeners often supply them with rich, fertile soils that have a high organic content. This is because this is what many common garden plants like, and lavenders are no exception.
Garden soil that is naturally rich in fertility is wonderful for growing plants that need a lot of food, such as roses. However, it does not duplicate the natural growth circumstances of lavender, therefore the plants will not blossom to their full potential if they are grown in such soil.
What exactly should we do about it? The problem may be solved by either planting the lavenders in raised beds or pots or by modifying the soil that they are presently growing in.
The sandy or rocky soils of Italy, France, and Spain are ideal for growing lavender, which results in the greatest blossoms. Because of this, you need to recreate the environment that they are in by mixing a substantial amount of sand or grit into the soil.
Sand and grit are inherently deficient in nutrient content, and as a result, they will reduce the overall fertility of rich soils.
You will need to make adjustments to the soil so that it contains between 30 and 50 percent sand and grit, with the remaining volume consisting of either soil or compost that has decomposed well (if you are growing in pots).
The process of amending the soil for lavenders is not an acquired skill, and it may involve some experimenting depending on the particular circumstances of your garden; nonetheless, the more naturally rich your soil is, the closer to a 50:50 proportion of sand (or grit) to soil you should strive for in order to counteract the impact of high fertility.
Late winter or very early spring is the finest time of year to transfer lavenders or make amendments to the soil before planting them. This should be done around this time of year when the lavender is just beginning to emerge from its winter dormancy; doing so will minimize the effects of transplant shock.
If the lavender is already planted in the ground, you may use a fork to carefully loosen the soil around the plant and slowly pull it out of the ground, taking care not to damage any of the roots. It is best to avoid using a shovel or spade since these implements might damage the roots.
At this stage, you are in a position to extract a sizable amount of healthy soil and disperse it around your garden in the form of mulch. Sand or grit may be used in lieu of a portion of the soil; both work equally well. Aim to have at least one-third of the soil replaced with grit, and the remaining two-thirds should be soil.
Plant the lavender again in the soil that has been amended, and then water it again so that the soil is well saturated. This will assist to reduce any transplant shock that your lavender may have, and it should also provide your lavender a greater chance of blossoming over the next spring and summer months.e
Wrong pruning practice
When trimming lavender, the most important thing to remember is that you should never cut into the old wood stems. Doing so would almost certainly result in the plant’s demise or significantly reduce the number of flowers it produces. If the lavender is allowed to live after being chopped all the way down to the wood, then it won’t have a decent bloom. When trimming lavenders, you should always make sure to leave a few inches of the softer wood.
The optimal time to prune is in the late summer after the flowers have finished blooming, followed by a little pruning in the spring to clear things up and encourage new growth.
Unsuitable climate condition
If you want your lavender to blossom well, you need to provide it with the same kinds of conditions: full light, soil that drains well, and just a little bit of water every few days.
This is true regardless of whether the lavender in question is of the French, English, Italian, or Spanish kind, or one of the many hybrids that have been developed specifically for cultivation in garden centers.
However, there is a notable distinction between the two. The only kind of lavender that can survive frosts is called English lavender, which includes all its many variations. In locations with a greater range of temperatures, they thrive better than their counterparts in France, Spain, and Italy.
Because lavenders from France, Spain, and Italy thrive in dry locations with mild winters, you may find a lot of them in California and other desert states that do not generally see substantial winter frosts.
How to proceed: Make careful to grow English lavenders in your yard if you live in an area that has winters that get really chilly.
When it comes to gardens that get frost in the winter, having soil that drains properly becomes even more important. This ensures that water can drain away from the roots, rather than accumulating in the soil and leading to root rot when temperatures change at the point where frost is possible.
In spite of the cold winters, English lavenders continue to produce spectacular blooms and a heady fragrance, in contrast to the varieties that are native to continental Europe, which actually suffer in the cooler and either show signs of stress or even perish when the temperature gets warm for the growing season.
If your garden is located in an area that has relatively mild winters, you have a wider selection of lavenders from which to choose to plant since all of the different types should thrive and produce attractive blooms.
In the event that your garden is subject to frosts throughout the winter, it is recommended that you stick to growing English lavenders.
Related Post: How Long does Lavender bloom
Lavender is not mature
If you have gone through the list and ticked off all of the boxes, but your lavender plant has still produced a fine bloom this year, then it is conceivable that it has not yet reached its full maturity.
The second year of development for lavenders is always the best for producing flowers, and they should continue to bloom nicely for at least a few more years after that.
It is important to keep in mind that lavender is a plant that has a rather limited lifespan; in fact, some lavender hybrids only produce flowers for a period of four years.
Lavenders, on the other hand, are very simple to multiply because of their resistance to disease and their adoration of living in environments with few requirements. As a result, you may create a production line of fresh lavenders to replace those that are beyond their prime.
How to proceed This solution needs no additional work. Simply said, if you follow the best methods for producing lavender, you will be able to appreciate the look and scent of lavender in bloom during the next growing season, provided that the summer is favorable and there is sufficient sun.
From my observations, the second and third years of a plant’s life usually result in the most abundant flowering.
Even though it goes against your natural inclinations as a gardener, you should keep in mind that there is no need to apply fertilizer or improve the soil while growing lavender. In fact, the more you ignore the plant, the better it will grow.
Related Post: Best Companion plants for Lavender
Final words
The most essential things you can do to guarantee that your lavender plants blossom well are to position them in full sun, water them often, and plant them in soil that is well-drained and low in nutrients.
Due to the fact that they really flourish when they are not subjected to too attentive care, lavenders are quite simple to tend to and maintain.
If you are experiencing problems with your lavender plants, you should simply go through each step as if it were a checklist and make sure that all of the lavender’s requirements are satisfied.
You may assure that your lavender will produce blooms and a strong perfume at the beginning of the following planting season and for many upcoming years if you make the appropriate changes.
Hey! I’m Madhuresh, a passionate content creator, and a Plant lover. I created Shiny Plant to explore and learn about new plants. The purpose is to provide simple and effective Gardening Tips. Hope you’ll find this informative.