I sowed a lot of the ‘Spitfire’ Nasturtium as part of the GROW Project, so I have them all over the place. Most of my plants are sitting in 4 inch pots next to my garage door, but some of them are upstairs on my balcony. The ones downstairs get about 4 hours of late afternoon sun. The ones on the balcony get 8+ hours of mid day and afternoon sun. Which ones do you think are blooming and have nice dark green leaves?
You’d think that the balcony nasturtiums would be the healthy ones blooming like crazy, right? Well, you’re half right. The balcony nasturtiums have large, green leaves, but no flowers. Not even a flower bud in sight. The ones near the garage have small leaves that are kind of yellow, but they’ve bloomed several times now. Both groups of plants are in the exact same potting mix and are getting identical amounts of water, and no fertilizer.
My only guess as to the disparity is that the downstairs plants feel stressed by the smaller amount of sunlight and are hurrying to make flowers and set seeds. Your thoughts?
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I’m growing Nasturtium “Spitfire” for the GROW project. Thanks, to Renee’s Garden for the seeds.
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m guessing mine aren’t getting enough sunshine. I think I’ll move them. I don’t know if it will help though. The freak October-ish weather is really bumming out the annuals. They claim sun next week! One can hope!
That could definitely be it. My ‘Spitfires’ get about four hours of sun around mid-day, and they’re blooming a lot (but with some yellowish leaves as well).
I wish I had just a few huge leaves like I’m seeing on so many blogs. Maybe it’s time to move my container and see what happens.
There are lots of different nasturtiums that have different size leaves and bloom at different times. And just because the seed packet says one kind, sometimes others get mixed in. I have been growing these flowers for years, every kind, they always bloom, some just take time.
I was starting to come to a similar conclusion. In my case, the one that gets less sun is climbing better, but it has the same amount of flowers at the nearby trellis companion that gets more sun. And my third one, which gets the most sun of all, is the bushiest and has the most flowers, but it’s not climbing at all.
Laura–Y’all are already getting October weather?! That *is* depressing.
Colleen–The first leaves on the plants I have on the balcony (that get tons of sun) were really large (3-4 inches in diameter), but the more recent leaves are about 2 inches in diameter.
Tamara–That might be it.
Monica–It seems like your plants are only motivated to climb if they need to stretch towards the light. Makes sense.
I’m having a similar experience with my nasturtiums; the sunnier ones (also getting less water) are making leaves like crazy but few flowers, and the ones in partial sun (and full rain) are blooming. I am in Portland (with the same crazy October weather this year as Laura mentioned), which has made a bunch of my plants do weird things.
Your thoughts sound logical to me, Fern. I planted some other nasturtiums and they aren’t doing nearly as well. They get more sun than my ‘Spitfire’ ones do, which are in mostly shade. I thought the site would get more sun, but the tree to their north has spread out more than I expected. Still, they seem to be doing well, just not climbing yet.
On the subject of Nasturtiums, which I simply love, did you know you can gather the seeds in the fall (if you get flowers you will get lots of them) and pickle them like capers? This plant is amazing. I use the leaves and flowers in salads, on sandwiches, in pastas and then save the seeds to plant next year (I have 2 big pots full all from last years seeds) and pickle some for more yummy eats.
Mine are just starting to flower and are in a location that gets about 6 hours of easterly sun.
Don’t let your nasturtiums only feast your eyes!
I think you’re right about the light stress. Anytime a plant believes it’s in peril it tries to reproduce first right?
I agree that the light must have a big part in it.
I was actually just wondering about my Nasturtiums the other day. I planted mine about 2+ months ago, they are all side by side in the dirt along the side walk and they have yet to flower or climb… They appear to be healthy and get about 6 hours of sun a day… they funny thing is that two of the plants have completely different colored leaves even though they are from the same seed packet.
I’m sure the strange weather we are having in California (It’s been raining all day) has something to do with it. Hopefully the warm weather were supposed to get this weekend we’ll help them out!
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I pretty much agree with you and think the reason the ones that are yellowing are producing seeds is because it isn’t happy, so it is producing blooms that will result in seeds so it can complete the life cycle.
I’ve moved mine a couple of times trying to get blooms, and have noticed the leaves are smaller in more sun and tend to yellow more. They’ve set buds in about 5 hours of sun/day. In a shadier spot (dappled sunlight off and on most of the day,) the leaves are larger and healthier-looking with less yellowing, but they don’t bloom. It’s been really interesting how different everyone’s experiences with these have been.
One other thing to keep in mind is that Nasturtiums DO NOT like soil that is very rich. they tend to do better in soil that has less fertilizer/compost. Very nice leaves and few flowers are a classic sign of this issue.
Just a thought….
Jeff–As I mentioned earlier in the post, I don’t fertilize my nasturtiums for exactly that reason. Moreover, both sets of plants are in the exact same potting soil.
I live in Houston TX. It is December. I have 20 plants, lovely foliage this year and one yellow bloom. I even have flower buds and no flowers coming forth. Did not know about the poor soil. I enriched my soil with compost from my NatureMill.. oops. We’ll see.