Top 5 Care Tips
Taking care of your flowers is a cinch if you follow these five care tips. The first two basic pointers include keeping your plants in full sunlight and watering them every other day, unless nature takes care of this for you. Additional tips to keep your plants thriving include fertilizing, pruning and removing wilted blooms.
1. Place in Full Sun
All plants grown in SolaRadiance® need to be for full sun. If you buy a finished planter from a store or a DIY kit online, then it will come with full sun varieties.
2. Watering
Watering will vary by climatic conditions. It is recommended that you check the planter every other day. In typical spring/summer environments, the planter will need watering every other day. This will decrease during cloudy conditions, rainy conditions or as seasons's progress into fall and winter.
3. Fertilizing
During spring and summer, I would recommend using a 20-10-20 general purpose water-soluble fertilizer at package-recommended rates once every 3-4 weeks is recommended.
4. Prune
Prune plants as needed. If plants are healthy, they will continue to grow throughout the season. To keep plants from becoming overgrown, trim them every 2-3 weeks. If the height of the plants grow taller than the support ring located 2/3rd of the way up the trellis, then cut the height back by half. Also, if the plants start to reach the ground/floor, then cut them back by half.
Pruning does two things:
Promotes branching which in turn creates a fuller plant.
Reduces total leaf/stem surface of the plant which in turn reduces water requirements.
5. Deadhead flowers
Deadhead flowers. Not necessary; however, it does improve flowering. Simply remove the blooms as they begin to wilt or die. This will promote new buds/blooms more quickly. It also removes dead plant tissue from the container, which could provide a medium for harmful fungus or bacteria.
