Heliotrope so small

Every year my heliotrope gets leggy and gives off real skimpy flowers. The nurserys always have such large heads almost like cauliflowers but I can never get it that way. Any suggestions besides miracle grow fertilizer?

How much sun does it get? How are you currently watering & fertilizing it? Legginess + skimpy flowers suggests that it may not be getting enough sun. Or if it's getting too much water or fertilizer that can stimulate lots of green growth at the expense of flowers.

If it makes you feel any better, I've never been able to get good blooms either, and I grow lots of things from seeds every year.

OK Now I dont get it. This morning the heliotrope started to wilt. I have two in the same pot. It is now 6pm and ITS DEAD ! The sweet potato vine next to it is starting to wilt too. What could it be???

Watering problem? Or could a vole or something have got in the pot and munched the roots?

the soil in the pot is not disturbed. There has been plenty of water here in NY. Everything but the heliotrope and one potato vine looks great and well nourished.

Too much water is just as bad as too little and can cause similar symptoms.

Joel - is it planted in the ground or in a pot/planter? It wants sun and water but demands good drainage here.

Its happening to the pot on the opposite side. Im calling it the Jesus plant. 3 xs in a row, after a watering it comes back with a few dried out leaves that I pull off. The next day it wilts and dies again. The soil is saturated and it gets about 6 hrs of sun per day. there is no specific time that it starts to wilt. Is there such a thing as a Jesus plant? hahaha

Sounds like it's not getting enough water. How are you judging that the soil is saturated? This sounds to me like a case where one of two things is happening...either it's really rootbound which makes it nearly impossible to water it enough, or the soil has gotten really dry and you're not watering it thoroughly. Most potting mix becomes a bit water-repellent when it's dry so it can take a bit of effort to re-wet it. The conventional wisdom is to water until you see water running out the holes in the bottom, but that's not necessarily adequate. If you've got a situation where the soil has dried out, the water will find a few gaps/channels through to the bottom of the pot and run out, but very little water actually gets absorbed by the soil. So if you want the plant to be thoroughly watered, you need to keep watering it until the water soaks all the way through. I can usually tell if this is what's going on by lifting up the pot after I've watered to see how heavy it is--if the water is just running through rather than soaking in then the pot will still feel really light, but once the water has soaked in then it's much heavier.

ok. I saturated them. The soil was always moist but this time I gave it a good soaking. Ill keep you informed. Thank you so much.

I've never seen plants be watered one day and perk up but then be wilting the next if they were being watered thoroughly--only exception being if they're really rootbound, in that case there's so little soil relative to the amount of roots that it's next to impossible to water them enough. Or if it's 110 degrees out.