Non-flowering flowering trees

[Esther Horwich]

Two years ago I planted a redbud tree (current height @ 6 1/2 feet), a pink dogwood (current height @ 5 1/2 feet) and two golden chain trees (current height @ 7 feet). The redbud and dogwood trees get morning sun and the golden chain trees get full sun in Massachusetts. Nothing has flowered. Is this because the trees are still too young, or is there something else going on? The trees appear to be healthy and are leafing out fine. Last year, I fertilized with a higher in sulfur type fertilizer, but to no avail.

 

[Ekka]

High sulphur fertilizer? Doesn't sound good, sulphur alters soil PH and makes it more acidic, when a plant is outside of it's preferred PH range it cannot take up nutrients as well ... so do a PH test.

Take a couple of soil samples from about 4" deep around the root zone and test them.

Also if possible could you post some pics, especially close ups of foliage and area around trunk where planted.

 

[Esther Horwich]

Thanks, Ekka, for your thoughts. I will check the PH and take photographs this weekend.

I checked the soil when I planted them and it was alkaline, but I can not recall the specific meter reading. Although my home meter is not particularly reliable, my rhododendrons make me keenly aware of the fact that the soil around my house is not to their liking. When I use sulfur to amend the soil, the rhododendrons do much better than when I use a rhododendron fertilizer alone. I know that dogwoods, like the rhododendrons, prefer acidic soil, whereas the golden chain tree and the redbud prefer neutral, but can tolerate some deviance.

The trees are not planted too deeply (I made this mistake before) and the flare is just visible. The trees seem quite healthy except for the fact that they are not flowering. The leaves are out in force on the golden chain trees and are just starting on the dogwood and the redbud, due to the cold winter and cool spring that we have been experiencing.