Jasmine – Plant Care

Watering: Jasmine must be watered regularly if you want it to grow healthy. On hot summer days you may need to water both morning and evening. In winter reduce the amount and water only when the soil is dry. Jasmine loves humid air, so it is good to mist it often.

Light: Jasmine is a heat-loving plant and does not tolerate drastic cold snaps — that is why it is usually kept indoors. Keep it at an east- or west-facing window where it is lit by the sun for half the day. Keep the room temperature from dropping below 16–17°C.

Soil: For jasmine in a pot you need ordinary garden potting mix. For more abundant flowering, feed the plant with liquid flower fertilizer up to twice a month.

Other: As it grows, jasmine needs supports to keep the correct shape. Protect it from drafts, as it easily falls ill. Watch for aphids — if you do not mist the air enough, they will be the first to take advantage.

Additional notes (from bgfermer.bg): The temperature during the cold winter days must not be high; the plant does best at about 13–15°C. It would tolerate even lower temperatures, around 10°C, but not lower. Low room temperature combined with dry air from heating appliances causes buds and flowers to drop. Young plants are transplanted every year, increasing the pot size by one number; transplanting is done in April. The substrate must be rich in nutrients and hold moisture well. Plants that no longer need yearly transplanting, once they reach pot size 20, are reduced to transplanting every 3 to 5 years, always with a spring root pruning appropriate to the plant's size. In the same period (March–April) and earlier, shaping pruning is done: the side shoots are shortened to 6–7 cm and left with 1–2 nodes; all broken twigs are removed. For a bushier form apply stronger pruning, but remember that jasmine flowers mainly on two-year-old shoots — that is also the moment for propagation. Cuttings are taken from non-flowering stems about 10 cm long (about 3 nodes) and rooted in a moist substrate of one part peat and one part sand, kept constantly humid under a glass cover or polyethylene. The suitable rooting temperature is about 18–21°C. Rooted cuttings are moved into individual pots where they begin to grow; planting several cuttings together improves success.