Wash hands thoroughly after handling or pruning, and ideally wear gloves. Oleanders can go outdoors for the summer months. Buy and plant oleander bushes in spring or summer. Water regularly and feed during summer. Repot annually or top-dress, in spring. Good light is essential for oleanders to produce flowers. Indoors, site your oleander in a conservatory, porch, or cool room in bright light or outside in a sheltered spot that gets sun for all or most of the day.
Plant oleander in a good-sized pot using a soil-based potting compost such as John Innes no. During winter, reduce the frequency of watering as growth slows.
Feed with a liquid fertilizer every two weeks or so from late spring to early autumn. Ideally prune in late winter or early spring but pruning can be done in autumn if necessary.
Start by removing any dead or damaged growth, then thin out crowded shoots. Save Pin FB More. Comments Add Comment. Back to story Comment on this project. Tell us what you think Three new branches will grow from the section that once had three leaves. If you allow these new branches to grow a little and then prune them also at the leaf nodes , you will force new branching to occur at these points.
By doing this, you will increase the branch threefold. Oleanders can be shaped into conical, multistem bouquets. This form is similar to the natural multistem, globose shape of the oleander, but is pruned to have a more narrow base. Oleanders also may be pruned into multistem forms or single-trunk small trees, but those require more pruning maintenance. The oleander is a relative of the periwinkle and is available in red, pink, coral, yellow and white.
The blooms may be shaped like stars, pinwheels or cups and may be singles or doubles. Preferably leave the longest branches in the middle. Oleander responds well to cuttings. The best time to take cuttings is in June. For this purpose, larger cuttings with a length of 2 or at the most 3 pairs of leaves are cut with a sharp knife just below a pair of leaves.
The lower leaves are removed, after which the cutting is put in a mixture of fine sand and some potting soil. In a warm, light location, the first roots will appear after a few weeks. The cuttings will also take root in water. The cuttings can be potted as soon as enough roots have formed. A pale green or somewhat yellowish leaf colour can indicate that the plant is in too dry a place in terms of humidity. Occasionally spraying it with water in dry periods will help.
There are several ways to increase the humidity in the vicinity of the plant:. Even in an ideal location, it sometimes happens that the plant does not or barely flowers during a rainy or cool summer. In that case, the temperature has been too low to get the bud development underway properly.
If the oleander did produce buds but they didn't come out or have even fallen off, then it has been too wet. If the problem occurs several years in a row, the plant may be removed from the rain while the buds are developing.
An oleander can suffer from infestations from aphids, scale insects and red spider mites. Several pesticides are available to combat these. For instance, during wet summers plants can be attacked by the Ascochyta fungus: brown spots appear in the foliage and in the leaves and young shoots wilt.
The fungus spreads via water droplets. The plant should then immediately be taken out of the rain. All affected parts must be removed from the plant, whereupon the pruning tools must be properly disinfected afterwards. Another terrible infestation is oleander cancer: a wart-like, dark brown sprawl on the stems and sometimes light, watery patches on the leaves. The culprit, the Pseudomonas bacterium, is often present straight from the nursery, and strikes when the plant is in poor health.
The affected parts can also be removed and disposed of. The tools must be properly disinfected after this treatment. Oleander cancer does not leave the plant, and can strike again as soon as the plant's condition deteriorates. Moreover, other oleanders in the vicinity could also become infected.
If this is the case, it is often wiser to replace the plant.
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