my first hibiscus

Discussion in 'HortForum' started by lover_of_coffee, Jun 22, 2006.

  1. lover_of_coffee

    lover_of_coffee Member

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    Location:
    Maple Ridge, BC
    Hello, I have never had a hibiscus plant before. It is in my North facing window and gets lots of bright light throughout the day. It was flowering like crazy for a few weeks...My question is, when the flower dies off, should I pull it from it's 'pod' or clip the stem back below the pod? I turned this plant so that it would grow a little more evenly, and following the advice of some web sites that I saw allowed it to dry out a bit before watering it, but now it is not flowering as much. I'm wondering if I am doing anything wrong. Thanks for any advice you can offer. I do not know the exact hibiscus I have it was a gift and arrived with no identifying tags. It produces beautiful coral colored flowers.
     
  2. rjmah

    rjmah Member

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    Location:
    Scarborough ON Canada
    Clip the flower stem, don't let it go to seed. Our Hibicus flowers profusely once a year, that is, flowering is seasonal but yours will like the sunny location.
     
  3. Chuck White

    Chuck White Active Member

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    Location:
    Florida,USA
    Is this a tropical hibiscus or a 'rose o'sharon? If tropical, it would love full sun all day and , since the blossoms only last a day(typically), they will fall off of their own accord after a day or so.
     
  4. lover_of_coffee

    lover_of_coffee Member

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    Thank You for your replies. I will continue to clip off the stems once the flower fades. In general the blooms appear to last for about two days then whither up. I have no idea if it is a 'rose of sharon' or tropical. I thought a Rose of Sharon was a wild rose bush (?) is that incorrect?
     
  5. ashizuru

    ashizuru Active Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Location:
    Spalding UK
    We Have had a red tropical hibiscus for 12 years, it is situated in full sun,in our conservatory, it comes in to flower about mid May and carries on flowering up till October, when we prune it, we cut all the new growth put on that summer, back to one bud, and cut the watering right down, to make the soil just about moist.

    It stays like that, till the following April when it starts to put out fresh growth, and the process starts again. We feed it once a week during the flowering season, and being in a sunny position, it has to watered every day, sometimes twice on very sunny days, we feed it with a proprietary house plant feed, with once a month giving it a feed of tomato fertilizer, half strength.It produces a new flowers every day, they last 48 hours. and fall off naturally. It is generally trouble free, it does get the odd scale insect, but we just rub these off, it is the most easy going plant there is.

    Every 2 years we take it out of the container, and prune the roots, basically cutting about a third of the root structure away, generally tidying the whole thing up, and adding fresh compost,which is 1 part loam, 1 part grit, 1 part moss peat or substitute, coir or the like.
    Hope this helps.

    Ashizuru...
     
  6. dutchiev

    dutchiev Member

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    i have raised them for years and they have full sun. It is better if you clip them off. I did not do that one year and the flowers did not do as well.
     
  7. pinenut

    pinenut Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Whitehorse, Yukon Zone 0b or 1a
    Both of ours flower one blossom at a time on no discernible? discernable? predictable schedule. We've actually had them flower in winter with seven or less hours of daylight. They're in an east facing bay window. Let 'em drop. Don't let your dog eat 'em.
     
  8. Sundew

    Sundew Member

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    Hibiscus loves the sun - many of the previous replies have mentioned that, but in Vancouver, a North facing window will have little or any direct sun. Usually when the term 'bright light' is used for indoor plants, it means bright, indirect light. An unobstructed North window will have bright indirect light, and this would work great for most houseplants. Not the hibiscus. The hibiscus needs as much light as you can give it, and should go in a South or East facing window, and ideally in a conservitory. Many people in Vancouver have had success with putting their hibuscus outside for the summer, and bringing it in for the winter to go dormant (ideally). (if you chose to move a plant outside, do it gradually - moving a plant from a North window to direct outdoor sun will scorth it, maybe kill it) Note that the sunnier the postion, the more water the hibisicus will need, and it may need to be watered up to twice a day. Many houseplants should be allowed to dry right out between waterings - not the hibiscus. Letting it go a little dry will allow the roots to breathe, but this is one plant where it may be wiser to ere on the side of overwatering (just don't let it sit in water). If the plant isn't dropping leaves or flowers prematurely and not turning yellow, then your watering practices sound good, and don't change them! On a final note, your hibiscus was probably grown in a greenhouse, with lots of light. It's flowering period may end soon no matter what you do - however, keeping a hibiscus in a North window sounds like a good way to slowly kill it. So, hopefully you have a sunnier spot, so you can enjoy the dark green matt leaves and hope for a great show of blooms next year!
     
  9. bellegurl

    bellegurl Member

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    Location:
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    I live in Vancouver, and I do as you said--in summer, put the hibiscus outside on my deck. In the winter, I will put it on my south-facing window. However, I read somewhere that they don't like excessive rain. So for the past few days (on account of rain) I have brought the plant indoors. Is this a good thing to do? Or should I just keep it outside in a sheltered spot?
     
  10. Chuck White

    Chuck White Active Member

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    bellegurl: In the Tampa Bay area of Florida where I live, Hibiscus thrive year-round, of course. I can't remember whether Vancouver has that "banana-belt" weather as does the Olympic Peninsula to the south of you, and the corresponding horrendous quantities of rain, but in my locale we average about 54 inches of rain each year. (Discount the hurricanes, please). Rain amounts, for your reference, are: June 7 inches, July 8, August 9, September 7, and the rest of the year, 2-3 inches per month. I would surmise that, if your pot has decent, KNOWN drainage, it should be ok out of doors in the summer. I have a couple of fairly special hibiscus in pots, and these must be watered every couple of days, year-round. Even those in the ground must be watered periodically, as they like damp feet. Usually, wilted leaves are a clue that the hose should be a pretty high priority. When I water my pots, I water until the soil stops taking water, then continue to fill the pot with an additional 6 inches of water or so, to make sure the water has a chance to wet ALL the soil in the pot, and not just drain around the edges of the root ball. If I'm faithful to this procedure, I can get 3 days between waterings before noticing the start of wilting. Hope this is of some help.
     
  11. bellegurl

    bellegurl Member

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    Thanks, Chuck. That was helpful. I will move my hibiscus back on my deck. I was wondering if I could get some help from another problem. When I bought my hibiscus (2 days ago), there was a bud about to bloom. I was expecting an open flower this morning. Instead, the bud dropped off without opening. What is the reason for this?
     
  12. Chuck White

    Chuck White Active Member

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    Location:
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    bellegurl: As you might suspect, the University of Florida, as a Land Grant University, chartered by the government to inform the agriculture industry and the public at-large with science based horticultural information has published thousands of information bulletins regarding hort whatever and hort anything and everything...!
    I regret to inform you that the 'science based' information on hibiscus bud drop, directly from their published bulletin states " Hibiscus bud drop is not well understood. It can be caused by insufficient water, too much water, not enough fertilizer, too much fertilizer (or anything in between). The parens are my 'science based' info. Hey, sorry 'bout that. In my own case, from experience, bud drop is just another 'AW SHUX'. Sometimes they drop, sometimes they don't. Enjoy them when they don't.
     
  13. ashizuru

    ashizuru Active Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Hi Belleguri,I would think that all the changes your hibiscus has encountered over the last few days could well have contributed to your unfortunate bud drop, personally I would choose a spot where it will get plenty of adequate light, east to southeast preferably,and leave it there, also it is important not let it dry out during the growing period,as more often than not this contributes to bud drop.Hibiscus to flower successfully require plenty of sun and warmth, and feed it on a regular basis.

    Ashizuru.....
     
  14. bellegurl

    bellegurl Member

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    A big "thank you" to everyone for all the helpful information--from a very green girl trying to attain a green thumb!!
     

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