What type of compost do nasturtiums flower best in?
United Kingdom 
I have some young nasturtiums grown recently from seeds which are in 10cm pots of John Innes no 1 compost. In previous years I have failed with them rather becasue I have tried to grow them with too high a fertility level. Consequently they made mostly leaves and only a few flowers throughout the summer. I wish to grow them in pots on my patio. When I move them on into bigger pots, which I must do soon, what type of compost would work best to use? Should I stick with John Innes no 1 throughout the whole season and never add any fertilizer or feed, or would something else work better? I'm really keen and determined to succeed with them this year. Please can anyone help?
27 May, 2009
Answers
Or you could use the cheaper and far less lovely multipurpose seed and cutting - that's poor in nutrients. They seem to do better shoved into the garden though.
27 May, 2009
Hi Jonathan :)
I love nasturtiums and grow mine in pots and hanging baskets. I just use multi-purpose compost and don't feed them or give them anything extra,
27 May, 2009
I grew some from seed last year, they were fantastic. This year I have them popping up everywhere, no effort from me. They were planted in any gap I had for a bit of colour. Some places were mainly clay and they still survived.
27 May, 2009
Hi everybody, I don't actually have a garden, Bamboo. Not as such. I just have a patio mostly with lots of pots. I have heard, like you say, that they do tend to do better when grown in the soil/ground. But I have the pots-only option I'm afraid. Interesting what you said about growing them in hanging baskets, Crazydi. Sounds quite novel. I reckon I'll go for the John Innes no 1 option and see what happens. But as each plant grows bigger they will gobble a lot of nutrients out of their pots. I'm wondering whether they will eventually end up with virtually no nutrients at all, and so maybe neeeding a bit of some sort of feed at that mature stage, like maybe a little tomato feed (high potash) to encourage flowering? After all, it is a bit different to when they are grown in the flowerbed. I hope I'm on the right track. Best wishes to all.
27 May, 2009
No, don't feed them at all, they like the poorest soil possible.
28 May, 2009
I've always had them in a bed outside and for the first time this year put them in pots too. I didn't have any compost when I potted them - only a bit of old topsoil and so far they are doing really well - the proof will be whether or not they pop out some flowers though - we'll wait and see. They do seem to be sun worshipers though, so keep the pots where they can soak it all up! Good Luck!
28 May, 2009
Many thanks for your contributions everybody. 'Poor' and 'sunny' it is then.
29 May, 2009
Previous question
« on a west facing wall third year is now about 5ft tall pruned every year
they flower when hungry, so less nutrients is the order of the day. so ji 1 is going to be your best option unless you have plain garden soil to use instead.
27 May, 2009