Tuberose Blossoms Fail to Open Normally

The blossoms on our tuberoses do not open as they should. The tips of the unopened blossoms are yellow-brown. The blossoms that do open look brown and for lack of a better word, rotten inside. Most of the blossoms further up the spike fail to open at all. It's like the plant just gives up on the whole process. As you can see from the photo, the plant itself looks perfectly healthy with lush foliage. Has anyone ever observed this condition on their plants and can suggest a possible remedy? I would greatly appreciate any ideas or suggestions. Paul

I've never had that happen with tuberose, but I've seen something that looks similar with my Tabernaemontana and Gardenia--with them it was because they didn't like the amount of heat and or sun they were being exposed to--when I moved them to a cooler shadier location they stopped doing that and bloomed fine (the buds that were damaged never came back, but new buds formed and bloomed normally). I've always heard that tuberose love heat and if they don't get enough of it they won't bloom, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend moving them or anything until some other folks weigh in on this one, but if you guys have been suffering from the same excessive heat that's been travelling across the country it's possible that was too much for them--they may love heat but I'm sure they have limits too!

Cactus, my Mother's tuber rose did the same thing. The blooms, what bloom there was, did not look right and it sure didn't look pretty. Hers looked just like yours and maybe worse. I am going to try and convince her to move them this fall to a garden that has more shade. The blooms also looked so dry.
Lin

Well, more than a year later :) ....... I've had a pot on my deck since spring. Looked very healthy and planted according to directions from the nursery. They looked fine and smelled great ...... until they started to open more fully. The anther/stamens look beige/brown and the flowers are failing to open all the way. My experiment is to cut one of the stems and bring it inside and see what happens. That leaves two other large stems in the pot and I'm giving it a blossom buster fert. At the this point I can't see that it will hurt anything because they are NOT performing, so now it's a learning experience. But I AM determined to have this flower. It cannot be due to heat/light as this plant has been on my deck all summer here in the triangle area of NC and it has been in the 90s here for the most part and it has been water carefully ........ so unless it is "oversunned"? Will just have to see what happens.

Having the same challenges this year with mine. Last year - they opened just fine. I was not as good using the Bloom Booster this year though - so that may have been "my bad."

My turberoses did not bloom at all this year either - out of 5 patches, I only got one bloom from the patch that was in a pot. Last year, I had a lot. I wonder what was wrong this year???

Did you change the location you had them in or anything like that? I think they like it sunny, so if you had them in a more shaded location that might be why. Otherwise maybe they didn't get enough fertilizer?

Hi Ecrane3,

Since I have my tuberose patches in locations that range from shady to sunny to parts inbetween and none of the areas bloom, not enough fertilizer is probably the cause. Water regime is different from spot to spot too, so fertilizing, or lack thereof, was the common demoninator. I fertilize on a hit or miss basis - whenever I think about it. Are tuberoses heavy feeders?

Thanks for that info. Dianne

I am in a different zone. My tuberoses did not bloom at all. It had nice foliage. I always dig up my plants each fall. The root system looked great. We also had a draught and an unusual spring. I am accounting all of these strange phenomenon to our unusual growing seasons this year.
Linda

Could the problem be insects (thrips)?

I find that the key to reflowering tuberoses is regular division of the new offset bulbs that (rapidly) form every season, a lot of heat, a lot of sunshine and ample water and fertilizer. If they are not regularly divided and replanted, the blooms will fizzle out after a season or two. This plant multiplies like crazy. Also, I have always had better luck with the wonderful 'Single Mexican' form and find it to be much less temperamental than the double form.