Night Blooming Jasmine Watering Needs? (flowers, growing, fertilizer, solar)

[StormRoyale]

Hi y'all

I have a Night Blooming Jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum) in a 4 gallon pot and under a full spectrum LED.
It looks great at the moment, even though I haven't watered it in 3-4 weeks. The soil is bone dry all the way to the bottom. It seems like it hates to be watered. Every time I water, about 20% of the leaves will turn yellow and drop. You'd think I was overwatering, but 16oz of water poured onto a bone dry 4 gallon pot should get these results....
Should I just wait for the plant to wilt before giving it water?

[Shades-of-idaho]

The pot sounds like it could be root bound. Tap the sides of the pot and remove the plant from the pot to check the roots. Plants that remain in pots can develop hard pack areas and not absorb water. I have jasmine and don’t seem to have the issue you describe. I change pots when the plant shows signs like leaf drop yellowing leaves. Add slow release fertilizer for flowering plants.
Once repotted it takes a few weeks for the plant to recover.

[Zoisite]

OP, you said you have a night blooming jasmine but the picture shows what looks like several small plants, not a single plant in the pot. Are those separate cuttings that you are rooting and/or are they several already started small plants with individual root systems or are they the pegged down branches of a single plant that has been buried deep in the soil to cover the crown of the plant's root system and the main leader stem?

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[StormRoyale]

It's 4 cuttings together... so 4 root systems from the same original plant.
It was repotted about 4 or 5 months ago from a smaller container. It's my understanding that Night Blooming Jasmine won't bloom until it's root bound.

[Zoisite]

Originally Posted by StormRoyale

It's 4 cuttings together... so 4 root systems from the same original plant.
It was repotted about 4 or 5 months ago from a smaller container. It's my understanding that Night Blooming Jasmine won't bloom until it's root bound.

The cuttings look healthy enough but I think it will take longer for them to become root bound under false light than it would take if they were exposed to some real natural light supplementation that actually feeds them with some real solar energy.

Night blooming jasmine isn't a real jasmine, it's a tropical member of the nightshade family and therefore it needs some solar light for it to bloom and it needs access to water on a regular basis.

I'm going to suggest that you water the pot lightly from the bottom once a week with the container placed inside a deep drain dish to pour the water into and always keep about a 1/4 inch of water in the bottom of the the dish, instead of flooding it so heavily from the top every 2 or 3 weeks. That way the new roots that are growing will be encouraged to grow faster and will lightly but consistently take up water from wetter regions of the soil below as needed. It's normal for solanums/nightshades to drop leaves from the bottom of the stems as new leaves are forming at the tops.

I don't know if you are aware of this so will mention the importance of this. Being a tropical nightshade plant, all parts of night blooming jasmine are toxic, including the scent vapours from the flowers and in particular the berries are highly toxic. Wear gloves when handling and if you have pets or children in your house make sure that they don't have any access to the plants and make sure there is always adequate ventilation in proximity to the plant. If you keep it inside of your house then if/when it starts blooming and emitting its strong scent from the flowers it will be very important that the plant is placed very close to some outside ventilation or else put outdoors, especially at night. That way there will be less risk of you and anyone else in the house becoming overwhelmed with respiratory, nose, throat, inner ear and eye problems caused by the toxic scent vapours coming from the flowers.

I found a bit of additional information about that online in case you're interested:

Problems With Night Blooming Jasmine: https://www.hunker.com/12003855/prob...ooming-jasmine

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[StormRoyale]

Thank you SO much!

[Zoisite]

You're welcome, and good luck!

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[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by Zoisite

..I don't know if you are aware of this so will mention the importance of this. Being a tropical nightshade plant, all parts of night blooming jasmine are toxic, including the scent vapours from the flowers and in particular the berries are highly toxic.
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Thanks for this info, I had no idea. We planted one of these along side our house in Hawaii. The fragrance is wonderful.

In the wet areas of Hawaii I've noticed that this plant is extremely hardy and easily roots from cut pieces casually tossed about.