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dinabear

Trumpet vine will not flower

dinabear
18 years ago

Hi all,

I have had a trumpet vine on my chainlink fence for 7 years and it has never bloomed. Never seen any kind of flower and it gets 1/2 sun and shade. Any ideas ?

Thanks,

Dina

Comments (19)

  • kayjones
    18 years ago

    It takes patience and more patience. It will bloom when it's time.

  • gloria_j
    18 years ago

    trumpet vine must really have full sun to bloom ,it just will not bloom in partial sun

  • sarahbn
    18 years ago

    I have a somewhat similar problem I have three trumpet vines right now one is blooming. But I bought two on sale in July 2002 one of them was blooming the following year in 2003 it bloomed alot then a hurricane /tornado came by and knocked it down so I bought a new stronger arbor the following year 2004 it leafed out well but looked like it was being attacked by aphids or mealybug or whitefly something was also partially eating the flowers I think maybe a groundhog. So I got very few normal blooms. This year no blooms again Thanks Sarah

  • digger5
    18 years ago

    I have the same problem.. and oddly enough.. my two vines have been in the ground 7 years now.. and not one bloom.. it's very bushy and green and healthy looking.. gets full sun all day.. and i'm still waiting.. Someone once told me they can take up to 10 years to bloom. A bit disappointing.

  • dinabear
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    My large one is in sun/shade and the smaller ones are in full sun. I also gave a piece to my mom several years ago and hers is in full sun and none of them have ever bloomed. Really bushy and green and seems to grow a foot a day but no flowers. The ones I see here on the side of the road bloom like crazy.

  • argosy57
    18 years ago

    Hmmm...I'm in zone 5; Colorado...and our trumpet vine is 2 years old and blooming. It is in part sun and part shade.

  • vanemburg
    18 years ago

    I have 1 which is 2 years old. No blooms last year but this year, wow! Another was bought this year and is already going great guns! The 1st 1 is in partial sun, the newest in full sun. Only thing used is nitrogen 2x year but both are planted in 100% compost as our soil is awful (limestone). It reaches 100 here regularly. I water every 3 days.

  • daktovet69
    18 years ago

    When planting trumpet vines from seed they may take up to 5 years to bloom. I started 3 yellow trumpets from seed last year, and 2 survived. One got a little ant killer on it and it started dieing out same day. Trumpet vines do not like any type of bug spray. Insect repellent with deat will kill them within a few minutes. One vine is now 1 foot tall, and the other is 4 feet. Hope to see flowers on them in 2007. When I transplant from a cutting from the main plant they flower the following year. At least for me they do. About 4 years ago I took out 2 vines that were about 20 years old and gave them away. They were wrecking my friends garage and taking over his flowers along side the house. They can also destroy your siding. They haven't bloomed yet neither. You need to prune them now and then and add a fertelizer that promotes blooms. Shade or sun doesn't matter so much, but they do tolerate most types of soil and droughts. They shouldn't be watered too much, at least not like your regular flowers or lawn. I keep them away from other flowers as they will take them over. Flowers are out now on our regular orange trumpet vines. My others I am transforming and pruning to become shrubs. That takes a good 10 years. Well, 9 more to go. I'll let you know year to year on my progress and methods. Any questions, feel free to ask.

  • tjsangel
    18 years ago

    Hi,

    Your 1st problem is sunlight. This loves full sun. Second my Aunt grows 2 of these vines and fertilized them like crazy for 5 years. After that she didnt feed them at all and they flowered all summer! Maybe they dont like to be fed often. Good luck!

    Jen

  • rouga
    17 years ago

    I have heard that you should NEVER fertilize a trumpet vine. For whatever reason, it uses that fertilizer to produce more leaves at the expense of flowers.

  • pierre
    17 years ago

    Here in France and most Europe seedling Trumpet Vine are badly considered. Many seedlings are not so good plants.
    They often build a large plant for years before flowering begins.

    Most are sold here as grafted vars. Rootgrafts. With good budding wood choice a specialized nurseryman does and given sun and ample root run, first and following years flowering is the rule.

    Much better than cuttings that are often either very slow starting or shy flowering.

  • karyn1
    17 years ago

    I bought two trumpet vine seedlings about 12 years ago and have been trying to eradicate them for the last 8 years! These are in full sun but did take many years to start blooming. Unfortunately I realized too late that I don't like the plant and now it seems that I'm stuck with it. I have plants coming up 15 feet away from the parent and vines that are coming up through my deck. I've cut them down to the soil line and used a herbicide repeatedly without luck.
    Karyn

  • frwrgdnr
    16 years ago

    I've had a trumpet vine (campsis radicans)for the last 4 years and still no flowers. It spreads rampantly and I have to pull it out of my shrubs. One year I fertilized it hoping to see some flowers. It is planted over an arbor in full sun. I would like to see some flowers before I get too panicked with the talk of invasiveness.

  • Ilonka8607_aol_com
    12 years ago

    I have a trumpet vine also and have it growing on my chain link fence. (full sun) however there are no flowers as of yet. Kindly let me know what it is about them that they will not flower. My neighbor has the same thing and has flowers all over it. they even transplanted it and it still grows flowers.?

  • scanpaudash_yahoo_com
    12 years ago

    I'm on year five and not a hint of a bud, bloom or flower. It is very green, healthy and is spreading, sprouting up in other remote spots from one to six feet away. It gets plenty of New England sun and this year I decided to try watering it even more and I even added a miracle gro bloom blend fertilizer, still no blooms. From other blogs above, it looks like my blooms are doomed!

  • kfisher001_wi_rr_com
    12 years ago

    I bought a trumpet vine and that year it bloomed. Next year I bought 2 more vines. For the past 4 years no flowers on any of them just vines.

  • mariraymer
    8 years ago

    I have had my red flowering variety in the ground for 15 years- it has never bloomed. Now it is sending up plants in the middle of my lawn. the foliage looks great. I am going to pull it and try to get rid of it. I have a yellow flowering variety that bloomed from its first season in my yard. Same exposure, but 20 feet down the fence line. I'll bet the nursery sold stock that was from seed- Now I only buy named varieties of perennials.

  • HU-937026563
    3 years ago

    I have three huge orange trumpets, all 10+ years old, that I transferred from my last home. They are huge, and FULL of blossoms. Sun/shade really doesn't seem to affect mine so I have them in both and they do well in both. I also have an arbor with a yellow trumpet on each side, and they meet at the top. I prune mine even when they are blooming but from the bottom. I shape mine, so that they resemble a lovely tree. Two of the orange ones are on chainlink fence, and one is climbing a former pole vacated by a basketball hoop. Once they are blooming, I do cut dead stuff off them but I got a bit over-zealous last year and cut too much off my yellows. No flowers.......so this year, I won't make that mistake. I also notice that here in Wisconsin, the yellow color blooms much later than the orange. So far, I have only given them Miracle Gro, but I also find that Bone Meal is my "go to" if I can't seem to get a plant going. You can't burn a plant with it, and I have had amazing results with other plants, especially if used before blooming season or right away in the hole when you plant. We tend to have a great deal of clay here in our area, and that seems to affect how quickly my plants adapt/establish. To keep the trumpets from spreading, cut off the seed pods, and keep them pruned. I have had no issues with them being invasive, but I take care of mine. If you are a lazy gardener, plant them far away from buildings, foundations, cement, etc. and let them go wild.