Hydrangea in pot

PoppyLawler · March 2018

Any advice on the best compost to use when putting a hydrangea mycrophelia in a pot

pbff · March 2018

Hi @PoppyLawler,

Any good-quality potting compost is ok for growing hydrangeas in containers.
I have personally found a 50/50 blend of John Innes No. 3 and good multi-purpose compost to be ideal for shrubs/trees in containers.
If you have a blue-flowered cultivar, growing it in ericaceous compost will help to maintain the colour.
Hydrangeas are very thirsty plants and in summer will need watering once, sometimes even twice, a day when container-grown.
Blue cultivars should be watered with rainwater where possible, as hard mains water will raise the soil pH and affect flower colour.
Throughout spring and summer it will benefit from a liquid feed once a week.
You should also preferably site the container in light shade.

Hope this helps.
All the best,
pbff

PoppyLawler · March 2018

Thanks very much pbff, I will get some John Innis no 3 to mix with potting compost and use water from the water butt. It's a white one, never grown one before so fingers crossed.

Paul B3 · March 2018

Brilliant advice from pbff ; the only thing I would add is to use a low-nitrogen plant food .

punkdoc · March 2018

They are not really ideal pot plants, due to their need to be kept constantly moist.
Over the years on this site, we have had many queries about why hydrangeas in pots were not doing well, almost all due to lack of moisture.

PoppyLawler · April 2018

Thanks PaulBP and punkdoc, it's a big pot, which I plan to line with a recycled compost bag to help stop it drying out and I will keep on top of watering. Maybe I should add those water retention granules too.

Dovefromabove · April 2018

I don't find them any use at all and they're not good environmentally either. What sort of compost are you planning on using? I would use a mix of two thirds John Innes No 3 loam based potting medium and one third multi-purpose compost. That will give much better water retention than ordinary multi-purpose compost on its own.

Edited to add: Ah, I see pbff has already suggested a similar mix.

ladygardener2 · April 2018

PoppyLawler said:

Thanks PaulBP and punkdoc, it's a big pot, which I plan to line with a recycled compost bag to help stop it drying out and I will keep on top of watering. Maybe I should add those water retention granules too.

I've grown Hydrangea Paniculata Limelight and Grandiflora in large containers for years and they flower brilliantly. I've not grown any mop heads but I think it's more inportant to prune them at the recommended time and top dress every year. I've not ever added water retention granules but I do check them every day in summer (when we get one). Good luck.

PoppyLawler · April 2018

Thank you dovefromabove & ladygardener2 , I won't use the water retention granules , didn't know they were considered bad for the environment.

Dovefromabove · April 2018

I'm not an expert on the subject, but this is just one of the things I read that concerned me and made me decide not to use them
https://cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/archive/hydrogels.html

nicola1071 · May 2018

hi I'm a complete novice when it comes to gardening but am trying to learn! I bought 4 hydrangeas in Ikea yesterday to put in single pots. They are already in flower; x2 blue and x2 red/pink. Would they also be ok to be planted into the borders of the garden as looking at this post, pots are not as good for them? I was going to keep one indoors and the others pop outside . Also, i always water my house plants by putting water in the base of the plant pot not onto the soil of the plant..is this the correct way for hydrangeas and are they ok to be kept inside? Many thanks in advance! x

Hydrangea in pot

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