Hanging Basket care
Hanging Basket care
In spring many of us buy beautiful, blooming hanging baskets. They look great for a few weeks and then slowly start to fade; no longer looking like the ones we bought a month ago. Here are few hints to keep that hanging basket looking good all summer long.

Fertilize
Keep in mind that growers fertilize the baskets every time they water. This helps maintain healthy, vigorous growth. A grower recommended fertilizing once a week with a formula with a ratio of 1:2:1 (10-20-10) with micro nutrients such as iron, copper, manganese to satisfy the heavy feeding requirements for hanging baskets. There are some specially formulated fertilizers available for container growing on the market. It is the moderate steady supply of fertilizer that will sustain and maintain the plant in a vigorous growing state. A research study in Michigan State compared 3 flowering baskets: one with soluble fertilizer, one with a time-release fertilizer incorporated into the soil and the one with both soluble and time-release fertilizer. The third basket with both soluble and time-release fertilizer preformed the best.
Watering
Many of us find that by the time we get home from work, our poor hanging basket is drooping from the heat of the day and lack of water. So we immediately get the watering can and pour lots of water on the plant to rehydrate it. This practice causes lots of stress to the plant. In addition, leaving soaking wet roots overnight (when its cooler) can invite root rot and other diseases. Water just enough to revive the plant in the evening and then water again in the morning using a wand or watering can and pouring directly onto the soil avoiding wet leaves. To make sure all the roots get wet, water until it runs out of the bottom of the container. In hot weather, you may have to water twice a day. If the soil has completely dried out, to the point where it separates from the side of the basket, then you may have to soak the basket in a tub of water to slowly re-hydrate the soil. This may take a couple of hours. Do not leave the soaking basket for a prolonged period of time or overnight, this can cause root rot.
When feeding your plants, water first with unfertilized water and drain; then re-water with a fertilizer solution. This will keep soluble salt accumulation to a minimum and avoid fertilizer burn to the roots. A moisture retaining polymer can also be added to the soil to keep your plant hydrated longer.
Exposure
Check the label for sun exposure- place your hanging basket in the right spot – too much sun can be as bad as not enough. If you basket shows signs of scorching, brown edges and faded or bleached leaves if may be getting too much sun, therefore move it to a shadier spot. Spindly, leggy plants with lack of flowers can indicate not enough sun. Plants facing west in the summer will require more water and need to tolerate hotter temperatures
For continual bloom deadhead hanging baskets with larger flowers such as geraniums, lantana, petunia and verbena.
Hopefully, some of these suggestions will reward with summer long blossoms.
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I HEARD DISH DETERGENT AND WATER MIXED WOULD HELP CONTROL INSECTS FROM EATING THE LEAVES,WILL IT?
I have hanging baskets that were once beautiful, but are now looking horrible. I have watered faithfully and fertilized. It appears that the plants have stopped taking in water. What can I do?
Straw Flowers in a hanging basket, how do I water it ? and do I keep it in full sun? please help
I would like to know what type of plants etc are the best ones to grow in hanging baskets, need lotsa ideas, first time planter here. thanks
I accidentally froze my hanging plant overnight in the car! Don’t know what kind it is. What do I do now? Thanks.
I bought a big, wonderful Fuchsia to hang on my porch which gets shade all day. It was doing fine till the last couple days when the weather got to the 80’s. It is going to get hotter, what can I do , the plant is never in the sun?
How do I keep the birds from building nests in my hanging baskets?
Yellowing leaves
I have made over forty baskets and containers and have a couple of baskets and my moss baskets seemed to have gone hydrophobic, what is the best method to help this
I have a hanging baskets of trailing lobelia. How do I deadhead all those tiny flowers? I still have many new blossoms, but also many dried and dead blossoms that make the baskets look dull and dried out. Should I cut the entire plant back?
I live in Portland, OR and have a fuchsia hanging basket (called First Love, semi-double trailing corolla) that I’ve just brought inside since it’s in the mid 30’s outside most of the time. The leaves have turned mostly yellow and dropped off. I’ve placed it near a window and watered it once
a week. Should I prune the branches now or later in the spring? The temp. inside the room is about 62 degrees or so. Or could I bring it in the garage where there is
less light and the temp. about 40 degrees?
Thank you for any advice you can give me.
I have a 15″ hanging basket and would like to plant Impatiens Summer Waterfall how many plants should I plant in it to create a full show?
Help. I live in Michigan and have an area for hanging baskets on the north side of my home. It is windy and does not get a lot of sun. I would like a lot of color. Any suggestions?
Hanging Basket care
I need to know how to get my sweet williams to bloom all summer. If I cut of the previous bloom like pods will it bloom again each time?
I live in the Chicago area, and right about this time (mid-July), my hanging baskets of petunias and verbena tend to get thin on top and too long over the sides. Should I be regularly cutting them back to keep the shape full? Do you have any hints for the best way to maintain hanging plants, other than fertilizing/watering/deadheading, to help with this problem of simply overgrowing? Thank you very much!
Thank you very much for your reply; it was very helpful!
You’re welcome!
i have a hanging basket of impatiens x hybrida. Its snowing here now and I’ve turned the basket into a house plant for the winter. We live at 5000′ and endure a 7 month winter. How can I keep it alive and well? Cut it back? I continue to water in several times a week. Our house is heated with wood and varies from 50-80s. Help.
I need winter care for six hanging baskets of prolific geraniums. They were huge, with abundant blossoms all season and $25 each, so I’d love to save and renew their magnificence in spring. Thanks for your help.
Bud drop
Each year when my Christmas Cactus enters the blossom phase, I lose over one half the unopened blossoms. They just drop. How can I prevent this?
Should I add iron sulphate to my hanging wave petunia. New leaves are small and very pale green.
Re-using old potting soil
Hello, me again!
I’m getting ready to make this year’s hanging baskets. I kept last year’s through the winter (after cutting off the vegetation above the soil). Can I dump out the soil, remove the roots, and re-use the soil for this year, or would that possibly result in diseases or other problems? If I do need to use new soil, do I also need to wash the plastic baskets before re-using them? I do wish to at least re-use the baskets, since they are the Gardener’s Supply baskets that require less frequent watering due to a water reservoir and wicking system inside the plastic basket.
Thank you.
I would love to put a hanging basket at the foot of my husbands grave. I have one of those iron stands with a round basket now with artifical flowers in it. I would love to put a live plant in the basket. The grave is in partial sun ( mainly morning and evening )but mostly lies shaded beneath a huge oak tree. What would be the best kind of plant to use. I would really like to find something blue to match the silk ones on his headstone. Thanks for your help.
Try a lobelia basket or Torenia, they tolerate shaded conditions.
When is the best time dead head a petunia? When the flower is wilted or when it turns brown? or does it matter? Thank you
Can i transplant my tired (already) hanging baskets to improve them
Can you recommend a name brand of fertilizer to use for petunia hanging baskets? is just regular old miracle grow okay? I need to know exactly what kind to buy. I see other people have hanging baskets of petunias that are so full and perfectly rounded! i want that! thank you.
Hi, I bought 12 hanging baskets with geraniums, blue moon, and verbena. They were brought up to my sons future wife’s grandmothers house in West Virginia to take care of them until July 25th the day of the wedding. There are flying bugs all over them, what can I tell her to do? I am in a panic.
Refurbish petunia baskets
HI,
I have some hanging baskets, petunias and milion bells,that as you said look great when I bought them. Now they are sparse, and the leaves under side seem to turn brown and dry up. I water every morning and only a little at night if needed. They are in direct sunlight almost all day. I am in Zone 5, Northern In. I admit I have only been feeding them every few weeks. Would it be better to feed more often And if I cut them back will they regrow, with so much dead stems underneath?
Interesting topic. I like hanging pots, coz i like to redesign everything surrounding – include plants at least once each week .
Thanks to the expert who have given their valuable comments here. I am learning lot of things from here.