ONLY maturity will bring flowers and ultimately berries ...

no fertilizer is going to make it mature faster ...

have a soil test done.. and only add things to your soil.. if the test shows something is lacking..

otherwise.. all it needs is proper watering.. and if it is more than 2 years in place.. not even that ...

its is a plant.. not a child.. it does NOT need to be fed .. nor educated .. nor clothed in this years fashion .. nor anything else..

all it needs.. is to grow the root mass necessary to achieve maturity.. and then the flowers and berries will follow .. plant food will not make it grow roots faster than it can do so genetically ... and in any decent soil .. it can get what it needs ...

good luck

ken

Thanks Ken.
Now I'm wondering though, why did it have berries when I purchased it in the fall a couple of years ago? Okay, I won't fertilize it. I'll test the soil on the weekend. By the way, when I do a soil test let's say my front garden, could the soil be different in the side or back garden? or is the soil the same all around my property?

How will I know if something is lacking in the soil? I purchased a 'do it yourself' kit at the nursery.

Thanks again

Pyracantha will bloom and berry at a very early age, so that is not the issue. Rather more likely is the sun and summer heat necessary to induce blooming and the proper formation/ripening of the berries - these often tend to be lacking in our cool and cloudy PNW summers. Hard to manage with a hedge but siting where the plant will receive reflected heat (from the west or south side of a structure or adjacent to paving) will help.

FWIW, soil samples are generally taken from a variety of locations throughout the garden and then blended to obtain an overall evaluation, although you can focus on one particular area if you like. And home soil test kits tend to be woefully inaccurate in their results - better to have a professional test done to get correct readings.

You say it is a hedge. Maybe you are shearing away the possibility of fruiting. You have to prune these in such a way that flowering is permitted, and then the flowers are left in place to form fruits the same year. This boils down to snipping back the new, flowerless ("sterile") extension shoots back part way during the growing season, and staying out of the older, flowering "spurs" farther back, closer to the wood. Same basic situation as with an espalier.

Dear Cadence:
There will be variations, or differences, in the soil in the various parts of your yard. In the United States, the counties of the individual states have agricultural extension offices that are departments, or divisions, of our country's land-grant universities. These offices are staffed by professionals trained in horticulture, agriculture, and allied fields. The agricultural extension offices offer soil testing services to American citizens. These services are professionally done and accurate. Do you know whether Canada has a program similar to the one in the USA? If so, you may want to consider taking a soil sample, or soil samples, as the case may be, to your local agricultural extension office in BC. I would trust the results of a professional soil analysis more than the results of a do-it-yourself soil analysis kit.

Bboy may have a point if you are trimming the shrubs closely.

Gardengal I'd be surprised if it's lack of heat/sun. Pyracanthas bloom and fruit all over the UK. It's one of the easiest and toughest shrubs in our gardens. Widely used in carparks to stop people taking short cuts across the flower beds.

The link, though ungrammatical, might be useful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pyracantha

Maybe I did cut off the flowers last year and that is why they didn't get any berries. Actually all I cut off were some of the longer branches to keep it uniform and tidy. I haven't cut close to the wood. Well, hopefully this year it will get flowers because I haven't pruned or cut off anything. They are located in an area that gets afternoon sun and morning shade. I'm going to phone our Agricultural Dept. to see if they do soil testing. Thanks everyone for all your help.