most shrubs never need fertilizer ... so i am wondering what the RIGHT STUFF is .. how often.. and how much ... excessive green growth over proper flowering makes nitrogen a suspect in the crime ...

next.. improper pruning ... the buds are set in late summer.. for bloom the next spring.. if you are cutting them off thru shearing .... you lose ... any facts that way ???

i am growing on near sterile mineral sand.. and planted mine 10 years ago [and they were tiny] ... most are getting bigger than a one car garage.. and have never been watered ... after the first year ... nor ever fertilized

they are a plant and forget plant ... excessive TLC can also be a culprit ... they are flowering shrubs.. not children.. they do not need to be fed, repeatedly ...

have you ever had a soil test done .. or aware of any general soil problems in your area??

ken

I second what Ken said.

STOP applying fertilizer until there is an established need for it. That could very well be the problem.

Thanks for answering, I had forgotten until today that I posted this.

I am not sure what he is using, something in pellets that you sprinkle around the plant. I think it says it it for flowering shrubs. I was told that they need fertilizing in February and some other time I forgot.

They have never been pruned.

My soil is not soil, it is crappy clay. Maybe we should have amended it when we planted?

I thought they were easy too my mother had two that she ignored and they bloomed every spring. And they seem to grow wild in some places around here.

Could the problem be too much of something that he is using on the grass? He tries to keep that away from the plants, but it can still get into the plants too, right?

chris

As said - stop the fertilizing. Lilacs don't need some kind of pellets (or any other kind of something) in February and/or any other time of the year.

I suppose any lawn treatments can travel. And although I have a lot of lawn that gets weed & feed treatments, that has never affected my gardens. I think your problem is the extra too much attention.

My lilac hedge is 110 years old now - sort of "historic" here - and they've never failed to bloom. Every 10 or 15 years, a reputable tree company cleans up any dead or weak branches and that is all the care they get.

Thanks for answering. The only problem is that they have not been getting too much attention. They were only fertilized once, this year after they failed to flower last year, and that was it. But I will leave them alone and hope they bloom next year, I really miss the fragrance!

chris