Hi All! I'm glad i've found this forum! So much interesting stuff to read! I've also had this problem for quite sometime now. I have a Gardenia Jasminoides Vetchii. I call her my princess jasmine and she's my favourite. I've had her for about 2 years now. According to the instructions and to the person i bought her from, I'm supposed to water her about every 3-4 days keeping soil consistenly moist, and until water starts to come out underneath. then drain excess from plate. But she's not doing so well. It used to be full of blossoms and buds and leaves, until one day, my fiancee decided to wash my watering container. She drops buds, and her leaves look burned, and she just doesn't want to grow. I sometimes use a fertilizer when i water: a 20-30-20 or 20-20-20 Now i didn't know it had dish detergent inside and went to water her. There was maybe 2-3 litres of water in it. After watering it and finding out what was in it about a day or two later, i went repotted her with regular potting soil. It's been awhile since that happened (maybe a year at least) but she seems to be getting worse and it makes me sad not knowing how to make her better. I will be moving soon and I think she might sense that too, so maybe thats why she's getting worse? (I'm not crazy maybe a little wierd, but i hear plants are able to sense things) Or it might just be something else wrong with it. Is it still the detergent? Please help.
Gardenias are notorious "fusspots" as house plants anyway - they really want to be in a warm and bright greenhouse or suitable outdoor climate instead - but maybe yours is being watered too often and or fertilized too much (too often, too strong, wrong formulation...). As with outdoor plants house plants are affected by seasonal weather cycles and the amount of light coming through the windows, in addition to environmental variations found only indoors such as when you have the heat cranked up. Their need for watering will vary with these conditions, as will the need for fertilization - during winter there may be much less growth than during summer. Automatically watering and fertilizing on the same routine schedule all the time does not allow for the variables involved. Try searching this and other forums (see Other Forums link near top of box on right side of page) for related discussion of attempting to grown gardenias in the house - there should be plenty.
