how do you make an old trumpet vine flower?

Discussion in 'Vines and Climbers' started by cbeck, Aug 1, 2007.

  1. cbeck

    cbeck Member

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    Location:
    Lafayette, CO - USA
    We just moved in to a 21 year old home and have a trumpet vine climbing the front porch - it looks very old, is not very big around. We have very high salt content in our well water, we live on land that was used in the coal mining era, the soil is grey and we are going to replace or replenish it where we want to garden. The trumpet vine must have been watered with that well water for years. Anyway, the leaves are all mostly yellow or green with yellow veins, very few really healthy green leaves, about 10 feet high and not one flower on it. Any ideas how to make it flower and get it back to being green? I have fertilized it and we are getting clean water to the gardens now, as well as putting in two large cisterns which we will fill with city water trucked in, but it is still very yellow. I don't think it could have chlorosis, because there isn't any chlorine that we know of in the water.

    Thanks!
     
  2. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Victoria Australia [cool temperate]
    Salinity is an ever growing problem here in Australia but the casue is different to yours. I wonder if you could replace some of the soil with a compost or good potting mix so that the roots can get some viable food. Any fertilizer you use should be organic such as bone meal or well composted animal manure. The plant from your description sounds hungry. Are there any natural plants that can grow in high salinity that can help with soil rejuvination. It sounds as tho your soil could do with a huge injection of organic matter. Maybe you will have to build beds above the current soil in raised planters for anything else you want to grow.

    Liz
     
  3. saltcedar

    saltcedar Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    Location:
    Austin, Tx
    Chlorine doesn't cause chlorosis, usually it's caused by alkaline
    soil or water. Though it can also be caused by excess of certain
    elements such as phosphorus. On a lime-lover overly acidic soil
    may also cause the same nutrient deficiency symptoms.

    HTH
    Chris
     

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