Expert: Greg Simpson - 5/8/2006

Question
my crown of thorns is acting poorly since i repotted it. the leaves are turning yellow and falling off at an alarming rate. also, i've never had it truly bloom. on two seperate occations it produced a single flower, but never a cluster. it's about 2 years old and has been repotted 2 or 3 times because it was growing so well. i'm not sure what to do to make it happy and healthy again. any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated. thank you!

Answer
Dear Lisa,

I would quit repotting it. Each time you repot it, your plant will go through a "shock period". If that time happens to be the time it is supposed to bloom, then it won't. Plants that are a little root bound will flower just fine.

Depending on the size of the plant, you might try pruning it rather than repotting. Try this website for more info. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1925/index.html

Good luck.

Sincerely,

Greg