Question
QUESTION: Nick, we planted all new plants in the front of our house late last summer in Central FL.  All plants are doing well except for the alamanda bushes.  When planted they were in 3 gal pots and they have not grown one bit, have not flowered and leaves are turning yellow. I have about 10 plants and all are doing equally bad and were purchased from 2 different nurseries.  Any ideas?

ANSWER: Hi Jeanne, it sounds like they haven't broke out of their root ball yet, check to see if they have, often if you don't spread the roots or at least loosen up the pot bound roots, they will stay and grow in a circular fashion.  This may or may not be the case, I need you to tell me the planting method and the type of soil you put them in, etc. Without being there it is difficult for me to make a determination, so be my eyes and tell me exactly from start to finish how you planted them, hopefully I will catch something you may have done incorrectly. Nick

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: We replanted the entire front of the house after we moved in. Basically, dug all the existing plants out, dug holes for the new plants, transfered plants from pots to holes, put some all purpose fertilizer on them, water and mulch. Soil, well mostly sand. Other plants doing great.  Maybe too much shade for Alamandas?  They sit below three large palms, plus front of house faces east.  I appreciate all your advice.

ANSWER: it sounds like you did everything by the book Jeanne, but the Alamandas need full sun to flower, thats for sure, and a low nitrogen fertilizer so they don't become encouraged to just leaf out; try giving them a dose of "miracle grow bloom booster" this will help break them into flowering. Beside that, you sound like you have a good handle on how to garden in our beautiful state!:) Nick

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Nick, Jeanne again.  The funniest thing happened today. A lawn pest/fert company was randomly going through our neighborhood and asked if I wanted a proposal done.  He said they could take care of our mite problem on the alamanders as well!  He pulled a piece off the bush and shook it and all these lime green bugs were shaken loose on his clip board!  What timing!  What would you suggest as a treatment?  I guess I might not have to transplant afterall?

Answer
APHIDS!  that definitely explains it, spray them down with a horticultural oil (ACE hardware has a good one, "soluble oil spray", its a concentrate, another good one if you can find it is "Ultra-fine oil spray), oil is Eco friendly and very effective against small pests like aphids, scale, mites and whitefly, the predominate pests you will encounter on your plants here; one warning, it is oil based, so it will magnify the suns heat, so spray it late afternoon and wash it off the next morning, (it will suffocate the aphids during the night). you need to wash it and the dead aphids off the next morning before that days, heat comes out .  Spray the bottom part of the leaves, this is where the aphids are doing their damage, along with the stems. There is no reason to pay good money for a spray service, when you can do it yourself, and do it in a environmentally safe method.:)