Plant Lost Leaves Except For Tips

Question

Gardenia plant bought about 2 1/2 years ago is about 3 feet high in original container. Left out in very rainy area in Hawaii for about a year. It’s lost all of its leaves except for the very tip of branches. Other than less watering, what do I do to make it healthy. Pruning? If so how far back?

Answer 1

If it has not been repotted, go ahead and do that if only to replenish the soil. If it is not rootbound, you can use the same container, but knock off some of the old soil and replace with fresh soil. They like acidic soil so use a bagged soil for azaleas and rhododendrons. If it is rootbound, go up one or two sizes in the container.

Pruning will encourage new leaves to grow but don't trim all the stems at once or you will just have sticks! Plus the leaves are needed to produce carbohydrates for the plant. Another thing to consider is whether your plant blooms on old wood or both old and new wood. You may be cutting off all the blooms for next year if it has set bud already. You should be able to see the buds if they have developed. Make sure you only cut in front of the buds if you see those. Otherwise, you can cut the stems back by one-third on the ones you prune.

These articles should help:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/gardenia/when-to-prune-a-gardenia.htm

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/gardenia/removing-spent-blooms-on-gardenia.htm

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/gardenia/gardenia-plant.htm

https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/of-32.pdf