You can easily make your chives fit for blooming if they are not producing flowers during the blooming season. Chives, scientifically named Allium schoenoprasum, is such a flowering plant that can be easily maintained by following some easy procedures.
But, due to ignorance, the problem of chives not flowering can become a permanent problem. Recently, a consensus shows that the bulb, flesh, and mass yield of chives has decreased by 30%, 52%, and 78% respectively due to a lack of control treatment.
That’s why I want to draw your attention to this article by reflecting on the problems that can hinder the chives from blooming along with their perfect solutions.
Before that, get an idea of Chive’s blooming problem and solution from this short table.
Problems | Solutions |
| Lack of sufficient sunlight | Provide at least 8-10 hours of sunlight |
| Temperature fluctuation | Maintain temperature range between 54°F to 96°F |
| Watering issues | Water when the soil is dry |
| Nutrient deficiency | Provide dilute fertilizer to the plant |
| Over-fertilization | Apply fertilizer once in the spring |
| Inappropriate soil condition | Moisture-retaining and nutrient-enriched soil |
| Pests | Use insecticides or homemade recipes |
| Diseases | Use fungicides or bactericides or homemade recipes |
| Intercultural operation | Mulching, spacing, and weeding are necessary |
| Inappropriate planting season | Plant just after the winter has crosses |
Why are the Chives Not Flowering or Blooming? – Effective Solutions
1. Lack of Sufficient Sunlight
To enlist the causes of chives not flowering, a conscious gardener will first indicate the absence of perfect sunlight. This is due to the chives’ blooming season.
Chives can tolerate partial shade. But when you are waiting for a pretty bloom, you must provide their appropriate necessity. Without getting sunlight, the leaves become wilted and the glossy green leaf color turns into a pale green.
Control Measure
Chives bloom in late spring or early summer which indicates that they need a great amount of daylight. Try to provide 8-10 hours of full sunlight to them, not less than 6 hours. Exposure to the full sun will facilitate the blooming period and nourish flowers. You may plant it in the east-west direction for bright and smooth light.
I would like to mention one thing here. Don’t keep your plant for more than 10 hours in sunlight. The excessive temperature is also harmful to the plant which may cause leaf and flower burn.
2. Temperature Fluctuation
Temperature is intensely related to sunlight. But the amount of sunlight doesn’t regulate the temperature requirement. There is an optimum temperature range for both days and nights.
If you cannot provide an appropriate temperature for the plant, the leaves may become crispy and brownish due to burning by excessive temperature. Again, too low a temperature freezes the internal activities and hinders the flowering process.
Control Measure
54°F to 86°F temperature is favorable for flowering. Though chives are adapted to cold weather, temperature below 40°F cause tremendous harm to the flowers and the plant.
3. Watering Issues
If your temperature and light intensity are accurate and still your flowers are not coming, you should check the water status in your plant. You can understand it by crispy leaves or brown leaves.
When the plant is under water, the leaves will become crispy and they will fall. Again, if you see that the leaves are getting brown, not just specific spots and the leaves are drooping, then it is an overwatering problem.
Again, water quality may also affect the flowering. If the water consists of germs and other unwanted things, the plant will be threatened and you may not get blooming.
Control Measure
Watering should be done once a week. But if the temperature is too high, then water your plant as required. For great blooming, you should maintain the water level perfectly. To measure it, you may pinch your fingers in the soil.
4. Nutrient Deficiency
Further, nutrient deficiency may also cause flowering problems. The lack of proper nutrients vividly affects the flowering stage of chives. Due to this problem different symptoms like stunted growth the problem, discoloration of the leaves may occur.
Control Measure
Fertilize the herb after two harvests when the plants’ age is 2.5 years. This will facilitate the blooming by supplying proper energy to the plant for the initiation of blooming.
You can use some organic fertilizers like debris, mustard oil cake, or vermicompost. Also, you can also use commercial organic fertilizers or inorganic fertilizers (Our pick: Jobe’s 06127 Herb Fertilizer).
5. Over-fertilization
The chives plant doesn’t require too much fertilization. Last year, I made a mistake in this respect by fertilizing much of the plant. As a result, because of the excess amount of mineral nutrients, the foliage color was burnt and I didn’t get flowers for the whole summer.
Control Measure
Apply fertilizer once in the late spring before blooming. Using further fertilizers may be deteriorating your plant.
6. Inappropriate Soil Condition
Using a proper mixture of soil properties and other materials is one of the mandatory factors in case of chives blooming. If the soil cannot retain moisture, the nutrients and water will be leached out which will initiate underwatering problems and nutrient deficiency.
Again, a waterlogged condition is created due to the clayey soil texture. It will cause an infestation that hampers the flowering. Again, the root rot problem is caused by this excessive moisture which is expressed by brown and yellow leaves.
Control Measure
Chives prefer to grow in nutrient-enriched soil which has a proper drainage system. So make the drainage pipe or hole perfect and make a soil mixture full of nutrients before planting.
7. Pest
Chives are most susceptible to pests for their attractive color. Pest like black aphids, bugs attack them. The black surface of the leaves, necrosis or intermingled combination of green and yellow color, and brownish or blackish spots on the leaves can make you sure about a pest attack.
Control Measure
To control pests, I will first suggest you remove them by picking them. You can use a hand or any forceps for this purpose. But it may be applicable if you can notice your plant at the first stage of a pest attack.
But what if the pest population is larger? Well, in this case, you may take the help of homemade recipes like vegetable oil spray, neem oil spray, chili pepper spray, baking soda mixture, etc.
I am providing some recipes here for your convenience-
Recipe-1: Neem oil recipe
1/2 tablespoon of concentrated neem oil, 1/4 teaspoon of aloe vera powder, and a few drops of essential oils should be mixed with water. Then, it is prepared for your plant.
Recipe-2: Baking soda recipe
Add 4 tablespoons of baking soda to 1 gallon of water. Mix it properly and thus you can apply it to the plant.
Recipe-3: Liquid soap recipe
Mix a few drops of liquid soap in 1 gallon of warm water. Then, spray your plant.
Also, you can use commercial ready-to-use insecticides (Our pick: Monterey LG 6145 70% Neem Oil Ready-To-Spray Insecticide, Miticide, & Fungicide). Use them by diluting them in water in a perfect proportion so that they cannot affect your plant.
8. Disease
Following the pest infestation, some pathogens may enter your plant which will cause diseases. These may be caused by viruses, fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and other parasites. Some of the diseases of chives are-
- Damping off
- Pink root rot
- Botrytis blight
- Downy mildew
Whenever disease attacks the plant, the plant leaves become pale, and brown or black spots are found on the leaves. The lower part of the leaves may become dry and stippling.
Control Measure
Step-1
If you understand that your plant is attacked with diseases, first remove all the affected parts so that the pathogen may not spread more. Along with that, ensure that there is no standing water in the root zone because bacteria may spread with water.
Step-2
You can think about a neem oil recipe, baking soda mixture, or liquid soap mixture in case of excessive effect. You can check the homemade recipes from the pest attack section where I have briefly described them.
Step-3
Finally, if the homemade recipes cannot remove pathogens from your plant, you can use industrial bactericides or fungicides. (Our pick: Monterey LG 6145 70% Neem Oil Ready-To-Spray Insecticide, Miticide, & Fungicide)
9. Intercultural Operation
Chives plants need some specific field activities in their whole life cycle to facilitate their growth and flowering. Among them, one of the most important issues is weeding. If you plant it in the garden, weed infestation will disturb your plant.
Then, chives love to grow in open spaces.
If you plant a large number of chives in a small space and make it crowded, they will compete for light, food, water, and other physiological needs. As a result, flowering will be disturbed.
As they have a great need for moisture in the soil, hot weather can also stop flowering if you don’t take the initiative to retain moisture in the soil.
Control Measure
Remove the weeds from your garden regularly so that they cannot hinder plant regular activities.
Again, before planting, you should keep proper space between two plants so that they can get enough light, water, and nutrients after growing large.
If the temperature is too high, you can use mulches like polythene, husk, water hyacinth, etc. to conserve the soil moisture that is important for blooming. You can also use a pebble tray or humidifier for this purpose.
10. Inappropriate Planting Season
As chives are perennial herbs, they won’t complete their life cycles in one season. Again, too much cold temperature can bother their flowering badly. So, they have a specific season to be planted and to continue their life cycle.
Winter is supposed to be the resting stage of chives. If you plant chives at that time, they will cease their growth because of cold stress as the plants are not mature enough. You may find the wilting that I found in my plant when I planted it for the first time.
Again, if you plant them without considering any season, they will not get proper time to be matched with the season and won’t produce proper energy for flowering. It will initiate a narrow root system and won’t grow properly.
Control Measure
Plant your chives cuttings just after the winter has passed. Meanwhile, they will prepare themselves for growth and blooming before another winter.
But what to do with the existing plants? Well, there is a solution for those.
Cut the upper portion of the plant keeping 5 cm from the ground and dry out the soil. Put them in a paper bag and place them in a fridge for 14-15 days. Then, water your plant regularly. Thus, you may treat those plants.
How To Keep Chives Blooming?
Deadheading is one of the best solutions to keep your chives blooming continuously. By completing this process, the plant gets rid of unnecessary plant materials and becomes reinforced for new flower production.
So, do you want to know how to conduct the process of deadheading?
It is nothing but cutting the old flowers after the blooming occurs. The flowers which have turned pale and wilted, cut the buds of that flowers. Thus, they will prefer to grow.
Again, you can trim your plant after blooming. Prune half of the excessive foliage parts from below after blooming. Hence, the plant can provide concentration to only the production of flowers.
Can You Use Chives When They Are Flowering?
Yeah! You can get flowers and chives together during the blooming period. In this case, you need to trim a definite portion of the plant which will make flowering and fresh chives production at a time.
To induce flowering and yield of chives, trim half of the chives plants. The rest half should be spared untouched. As a result, one-half of the plants that are trimmed will start flowering and the rest can be harvested as fresh chives.
Quick Caring Guides For Chives Plant
| Soil type | Loamy and well-drained soil |
| Soil pH | 6 to 7 |
| Sunlight | 8-10 hours of full sunlight |
| Watering | Water when the soil gets dry |
| Temperature | 54°F to 86°F |
| Humidity | 40% to 60% |
| Fertilizer | Use fertilizer once in spring before blooming |
FAQs
Are the flowers of the chives edible?
Yes. Matured chives flowers taste good after frying. You can also make salads and biscuits with it. You may get a mild onion flavor from it.
Are chives flowers toxic to humans?
Yeah, it can be if you take a high amount. It is mainly toxic to pets like cats and dogs. But sometimes it may create stomach irritation if you take too much.
Is there any difference between chives and green onions?
Definitely, they are different from each other. Chives are herbs with a mild flavor but green onions are vegetables with an astringent of onion flavor.
Can chives bloom for several seasons?
Yes. If you trim or prune the branches of the plants properly and provide enough sunlight, temperature, watering, and other necessary care, they may bloom for several seasons.
Final Thoughts
So, at the last point, I would like to say that you don’t need to be bothered a lot with your chives plants. As I observed in my plant, the consummate combination of all the factors can easily solve the problem of chives not flowering.
I continuously keep trying the remedies so that I can find the most suitable one for each of the problems and I found them which I placed here. So, you can rely on these sectors and pick one as your comfort and necessity. Hopefully, the new blooming of the chives plant is going to blow your mind.
Happy Gardening.
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