Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Mahonia 'Soft Caress'

lindgren_zoelindgren_zoe Posts: 5
in Plants
The last discussion around this plant was in 2015, so best to start a new one. I've had my Soft Caress for four years in a large pot. It has grown very slowly. This summer, new shoots have finally appeared at the base and it's filling out at low level. I'm disappointed on two counts - it looks taller and spindlier than the images in mags, and it has never flowered! I give it horse manure in the spring, and tomato feed every 4-6 weeks. It's in a part shady spot receiving sunlight for 2-3 hrs. Does anyone have suggestions for better care?

Posts

  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,307
    They are slow growing, but our two have both flowered this year. Ours are in light shade, in the soil. Our soil is a poor ish acid clay and I have fed the plants each spring with Chicken pellets. Perhaps they would be better in the soil with a little more sun?
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    edited August 2023
    @lindgren_zoe - It's probably starving.  Fertilisers in planting compost only last 90 days so if it's been in that pot some time it will be hungry.   If you can, soak the root ball thoroughly then plant it in the ground where its roots can spread and seek out nutrients and water for themselves.  tease ot th eroots so they start heading out into the soil rather than continuing round and round.

    If it must stay in a pot, try potting it on into a larger pot and use loam-based John Innes no 3 type compost.   Every spring, top dress with fresh compost and some slow release fertiliser such as blood, fish and bone and give it a weekly feed of rose or tomato fertiliser every week from April to mid July.

    i have 3 different mahonias - one in the ground in very poor butwell-drained soil and partial shade.It flowersprofusely every year and produces berries.   I have bought two smaller ones to accompany it as the bed isn't good for much else.  They're still in pots waiting for autumn rains to get planted.  I'll prepare their holes well and nurture them for their first year but then they should be fine.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • lindgren_zoelindgren_zoe Posts: 5
    Hi Palustris, Thank you for your comment. I repotted it in fresh soil in the spring of 2022 using John Innes 3 which may be too rich for it. I can move it across the patio to receive a little more sun and will report back next year. Many thanks.
  • lindgren_zoelindgren_zoe Posts: 5
    Hi Obelixx, Thank you for your view. Yes, I may not have fed it sufficiently although I feel spring manure does provide some support. I will earmark it for better attention. Thanks again.
Sign In or Register to comment.