Why Your Camellia Didn’t Bloom This Year and How to Fix It

Camellias have few rivals in the winter landscape. With their glossy, evergreen foliage and glowing blooms, they rival any holly bush. We anticipate that cheerful color against the gray winter landscape, so it can be disheartening when it doesn’t happen. It’s important to discover the underlying reason when camellias fail to bloom. You don’t want to miss out on this beauty next year. 

There are a few reasons that your shrub may have underperformed this year. Nearly all of them are factors that you can easily correct. All it takes is a little investigation and the knowledge of those possibilities. Let’s dig in and find out why your camellia didn’t bloom this year and how to fix it.

Soil Testing Kit

Soil Testing Kit

Our soil testing kit provides not only a comprehensive suite of test results, but it breaks them down for you in plain English so you don’t have to be a soil scientist to understand the results and make positive change in your soil quality.

Buy at Epic Gardening Shop

Your Soil pH is Off

I will start with one common reason your shrub isn’t flowering at all or to its full potential. Ultimately, this comes down to nutrients, but the underlying cause of the nutrient deficiency is probably the pH of your soil. 

Camellias like slightly acidic soil. They perform best in the range of 6.0-6.5. This preference is because acidic soil does a better job of breaking down certain minerals and nutrients, making those nutrients more available to the plant.

The primary nutrients this applies to are iron and manganese. An iron deficiency will result in fewer or no flowers and yellowing of the leaves while the veining remains dark green. If you have an iron deficiency, you probably have alkaline soil. 

How to Fix It

There are several ways to resolve this issue. Sadly, most of them are short term, and you’re going to have to work at it for the life of the plant. The first step is a soil test. You can assume that the pH is the issue if your leaves are chlorotic. If not, a soil test will tell you. 

You can quickly lower your soil’s pH with a few different products. Sulfur, aluminum sulfate, iron sulfate, and acidifying fertilizers are good quick fixes, but you’ll want to work on a long-term solution. 

The long-term solution is to enrich the soil with organic matter. Top-dressing your soil with compost, mulch (especially pine mulch and needles), and leaf mulch will help lower the pH over time. This way, you have your quick band-aid and also an extended plan. 

As I have clay-heavy soil, my solution to this issue is to pile the leaves that my oak trees drop beneath my acid-loving plants. The leaves compost over the winter and continuously enrich the soil—and it’s free!

Too Much or Not Enough Fertilizer

A related issue is under- or over-fertilizing your camellia. These shrubs don’t require a great deal of fertilizer as long as they have the soil pH they need. A light application three times per year will give them the boost they need to flower to their best potential. 

Over-fertilizing can be a bigger issue than under-fertilizing. Too much nitrogen will stress the plant, causing the leaves to burn. Brown tips on foliage indicate too much nitrogen. This typically won’t happen from the natural nitrogen content of your soil. 

So, this is quite a conundrum. How can you determine whether your camellia is getting too much or not enough fertilizer? You can tell by its appearance and the amount of fertilizer you are giving it. 

How to Fix It

Young plants need a nitrogen boost in their first year. This helps them put on rapid growth, and strengthens branches. Give your plant a balanced fertilizer for the first two to three years, such as a 10-10-10 formula or one with slightly higher nitrogen. 

Mature camellias don’t need all of that nitrogen. The phosphorus and potassium help them set buds and grow strong, robust blooms. A light application of a lower nitrogen formula (such as a 4-8-8) three times per year is the ideal fertilizing schedule. 

Too Much or Not Enough Water

Water can be an issue for many plants, and camellias are not excluded from this issue. 

Under-Watering

Depending on the age of your shrub, under or overwatering could be the issue. Young camellias need a substantial amount of water to grow deep roots, which is why they are drought-tolerant and don’t need much watering once mature. 

How to Fix It

Water your young shrub deeply on a regular basis for the first year. For the next two years, water deeply, occasionally, during times of extended dry weather. Make sure to water deeply, as this is what sends those roots down deep. 

Over-Watering

Likewise, a mature camellia that received proper care in its early years will be drought tolerant. If the leaves get hard and curl, you’ll know it’s not getting enough water. Otherwise, a three-year-old or older shrub will generally get by on rainwater. In times of prolonged drought, you may want to supplement. 

Another nutrient issue could inhibit flowering. Overwatering or soil that drains poorly can both lead to root rot. When the roots are rotting, they can no longer absorb the right amounts of water and nutrients, inhibiting all growth and flowering. 

How to Fix It

This one is tough because once it’s done, there will be damage. If the plants’ surrounding area has poorly draining soil, you should relocate them. Amending the surrounding soil to increase drainage will help for now, but that’s not a long-term solution. 

Dig up as much of the root ball as possible and trim away any brown and mushy roots. Plant the camellia in a spot with better drainage and then prune it back by about 1/3 to balance out the removal of root tissue. Water regularly, but not so much that the soil stays soggy. 

Your Plant Isn’t Getting the Right Amount of Sunlight

These shrubs are funny about sun exposure. Japanese camellias are especially so. Where most plants flower more with more sunlight, camellias need some shade to do their best blooming. 

Sasanquas are more tolerant of direct sun than their Japanese cousins, which prefer dappled or filtered light. Knowing this before planting is important because relocating them is a much bigger job once they establish extensive roots.

How to Fix It

There are two solutions that will rectify this situation, and they are both substantial changes. The first, naturally, is to relocate the plant to a shadier location. This is a lot of work with a mature camellia, but it’s worth it. 

The other option is to get a larger plant that likes more sun exposure. You can plant this shrub or tree so that it offers the camellia some sun protection. 

Your Plant Has a Pest Infestation

Insects can really drain a plant, which, again, creates a nutrient issue. Pests like aphids, spider mites, and scales all pierce the flesh of the tree and suck out the sap. A large enough infestation on a smaller shrub can result in a nutrient deficiency and possible dehydration. 

How to Fix It

First, identify the issue. Scales and aphids are easy to see. Scales often stick to stems, while aphids hang out underneath of leaves. Spider mites are tougher to see, but their fine webbing makes them obvious. 

Maintaining a healthy population of beneficial insects in the garden is the ideal way to solve pest issues. However, it takes time to attract them and build those populations. Meanwhile, using pesticides does nothing to encourage them to stay. 

Instead of pesticides, try using physical removal methods or safer products. Horticultural oils and neem oil are good ways to treat pests that won’t damage the balance in your garden. Then, make sure to plant plenty of nectar sources to attract those beneficial insects. 

Your Plant Has a Disease

A handful of diseases can affect the blooming power of your camellia. We discussed root rot and how to prevent it, but there are also some fungal and viral diseases to look out for. 

Fungal

Canker and dieback are the most serious of these diseases. It manifests in dying of branch tips and leaves, eventually working its way inward. If the ends of the branches are dying, the buds will go with them. 

Another serious but not necessarily fatal disease is flower blight. If your shrub blooms, but then the flowers turn brown and drop off early, this is most likely the culprit. 

The third fungal issue is leaf galls. Galls form on the underside of new leaves, causing them to swell and disfigure. Ultimately, the galls rupture and release spores that can spread. 

How to Fix It

You can control and potentially eliminate all of these issues with good sanitation and a little pruning. Clean up beneath your plants as a good hygiene practice. Trim off all affected flowers and foliage and dispose of them away from your garden. 

Viral

A viral disease called yellow mottle virus can affect your foliage but is unlikely to prevent flowering. It causes lighter, yellow discoloration on foliage, and it is incurable. It won’t kill the plant and some people like the look of it. My advice is to learn to like it or tear it out and start over. 

You Pruned Too Much or at the Wrong Time

A young shrub will not need pruning for the first three years after planting. This is the time to allow it to put on growth and get bigger and stronger. 

Mature camellias don’t entirely require pruning, but many gardeners prefer to do so to shape their plants or maintain a certain size. Camellias bloom on new wood, so it’s important to prune at the right time and the right amount to avoid cutting off all the buds and removing the new wood where they will form. 

How to Fix It

Hard pruning, which involves pruning off 1/3 to 1/2 of the branches, is ok once in a while to rejuvenate your shrub. You may also do this if your camellia is overgrown. Know that in the year that you hard prune, there will be no, or far fewer, flowers that year. 

Otherwise, pruning should happen as early in the year as possible. The ideal time to prune is immediately after the flowers drop. 

A light pruning should involve removing crossing branches, generally shaping the shrub, and cutting a few inches off the tips of all branches to encourage growth. This will give the plant plenty of time to put on that new growth and set buds for the coming season.