bougainvillea woes - losing leaves and flowers - watering, feeding, etc...

i used to water my bougainvillea on the balcony (facing northwest on my 2nd floor balcony) by letting it virtually dry out, then flooding it with a couple gallons (like I water my indoor ficus) and it seemed to be ok. I was told that a better way to take care of bougainvillea's is to keep them damp as opposed to dry/drench and now it seems to have lost many leaves *and* flowers. It's done this before, but seems like one heck of a coincidence. admittedly it's getting a little colder now, but since I'm in southern california, that doesn't mean all that much!

so my question is, should I change the way I'm watering back to dry/ drench or keep the soil damp?

Also, I'm adding the same fish/seaweed fertilizer I add for my ficus - is that a good idea?

thanks!!

- JayDee

Reply to
JayDee
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I have a bougainvillea indoors and let it dry out between waterings. Generally, when the leaves start to droop, it's time to water. The vine is about 10 years old and about 10 feet long. Were you having trouble keeping it alive?

Reply to
ljp other

here's an update:

There are lots of leaves on the lower braches of the bougainvillea that are behind the balcony and they become more sparse on the above branches that reach over the balcony and therefore have more exposure to the sun (NW) but this has never been an issue before.

There are still just about NO FLOWERS.

This used to be such a beautiful addition to my balcony - I hope someone here can help me!

Thanks

- JayDee

Reply to
JayDee

oh no! I've been feeding my creeping fig, ficus (same family) as well as grapevines and they're very happy about it but if Boug doesn't like it, can you give me some ideas as to what I should do (if anything) to nurse it back?

THANKS!

- JayDee

Reply to
JayDee

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