How to Plant Bougainvilleas
- 1). Purchase a 5- to 10-gallon clay pot, or a 12-inch or wider hanging basket for each bougainvillea you are going to plant.
- 2). Locate a suitable place for placing either a hanging basket or large planting pots for the bougainvillea. The best spot will offer at least five hours of full sunshine every day. Bougainvilleas need maximum sunshine for the best possible flowering.
- 3). Purchase a quick-draining planting mix that contains equal portions of sand, organic matter, silt and clay. To make your own, do as Hatten's Nursery in Mobile, Alabama, recommends: mix together well four parts rotted pine bark, three parts peat moss and two parts coarse perlite. For every 5 gallons of growing media you are creating, mix in about 1/2 cup of 19-6-2 and no more than 2 tbsp. of 19-5-9 fertilizer.
- 4). Scoop the growing media into the clay containers or hanging baskets until they are one-third to one-half full.
- 5). Remove the bougainvillea from its current planting pot. Use a pair of all-purpose snips to slice open the container it's currently growing in. You can also use a rubber mallet along the top of the container's rim to free the container from the root ball. Use care when transplanting, since the roots are usually loose and can easily be damaged.
- 6). Plant the bougainvillea into its new planting pot. Center the plant in the pot. Scoop in a few shove-fulls or trowel-fulls of growing media to secure the plant in the pot. Check to make sure the bougainvillea is level and straight in the pot, then fill it with growing media.
- 7). Mix together one-quarter cup of a 5-10-5 water-soluble starter solution plant food with root stimulator with 5 gallons of water. Water the bougainvillea thoroughly with the plant food and water mixture.