Hi, I have 2, 6 foot Hibiscus trees that I recently brought indoors. They are exposed to a westerly window, 20c temperature and are in large pots. The leaves started to turn yellow which I know is normal. How often do I water them and fertilize them. Also, I read you should prune Hibiscus. Does that apply to the trees. I would rather not. Is it essential and if so, how? Thank you!
You shouldn't need to fertillize them more than once a month during the winter, and they should be pruned for hibiscus only flower on new growth, you can leave them untill they are ready to go back outdoors for the summer . I suggest taken them back quite a bit, this will encourage some nice young growth which will flower more profusly all summer, also with the pruning you can give them nicer shapes and keep them the size you want them, pruning is quite esential. for watering just water them thoroughly when they are are getting a little bit dry, but still moist, don't let them wilt or they will begin to drop leaves. Finally how to prune is to cut the branches back by about 1/4 or half, and just cut them above a node 9 where a leaf/stem meets them stem, and thats about it. Hope they do verywell for you and if you have more questions lte me know.
Hi James, thanks so much! How long will it take the trees to grow back to this size if I cut a quarter to half the stems.
If you do it right before you put them outside next summer, and water and fertilize them all summer it won't take long at all, maybe 1-2 months and they will flower profuslt too.
What if my hibiscus tree already hit a slight freeze and the leaves are droopy and dry looking. Will they survive if I bring them in? Dothey have to have a sunny window indoors? Would it survive in the garage?
frost is very abd for the plants it may not survive, but sometimes plants will surprise you and it may survive in your garage but it won't be happy or very healthy. hibiscus don't really go dormant they need to be in a warm and sunny spot for the winter, they will be happiest like that. if you garage is above 12 degrees celcius and has some sun it might be ok, but they need sun.
