Gardening with Ciscoe ( www.ciscoe.com ) Gardening - Q & A

Jasmine house plant, blooms dropping

Q: I have an Arabian Nights Jasmine plant and I'll admit right now that I'm not very good with plants at all but I have many people at my office who are. They have helped me along with this fragrant beauty. However, I have run into a problem, or at least I think it's a problem. This plant is indoors in my office on my desk. I have it near a desk lamp for extra light and I water it every day. It is starting to grow and bloom (as I almost killed it because I wasn't watering it enough) although the blooms either do not open all the way or they definitely do not stay on the plant for 24 hours. Is this normal? I'm wondering why my blooms won't open up all the way and why they don't stay on longer so I can enjoy the fragrance more. Is there something I'm doing wrong, or should be doing more of?

A: A number of things can keep these Jasmine plants from blooming, or cause the blooms to fall off. The first possibility is too much water. Try to water only when the soil surface is dry. Another possibility is too low light. These plants will survive in darker conditions, but they grow and bloom much better in direct sunlight. They really want to live right in a south window. In summer they love to go out in full-sunlight, but get them used to it by starting out in morning sun and getting them used to full-sun after a week of progressively more sunshine each day. During winter, try to find a brighter spot for your plant. One thing I've discovered over the years is that plants tell you where they want to live in the house, so I just keep moving them until they thrive in a given location. Over fertilizing can cause flowering problems. Only fertilize during spring and summer, and dilute the mix unless the plant is in full-sun. Finally, it also could be too low humidity. These plants want humidity between 50 - 80% or they don't do well. Usually the air in a building is much drier than that. You could even have spider mites if the leaves are turning stippled gray. Raise humidity by putting the plant on a saucer filled with stones that you can fill with water, making sure the stones hold the pot above the surface of the water. Misting can also help.