care of a hibiscus
bethnorcal9
25 years ago
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michey
25 years agoJeannie/Phoenix
25 years agoRelated Discussions
Hibiscus
Comments (4)Brer, If you are talking about a tropical hibiscus plant, I can tell you that I have several times successfully wintered them over for 3-4 years as a houseplant. In zone 7 it should be much easier than in zone 5, since you can keep the hibiscus outside longer in season and put it back out much sooner than me. The hibiscus grows quite large over the summer, so I cut the foliage back about halfway in early fall, remove it from its very large pot by cutting deep into the potting soil with a long sharp garden knife making the rootball small enough to go into a smaller more manageable pot for indoors, say 14 - 20 inches in diameter. In other words I prune both the foliage and the rootball. I like to give the plant about 2 inches of fresh potting soil around & under the smaller rootball, but I have never fertilized it in the off season. (The fresh soil is more to anchor the usually lopsided rootball well into the soil than anything else - its not easy to wrangle a big hibiscus out of a pot it has sat in all summer LOL). I then place the pot in front of a south facing doorwall in my kitchen. It pays to hose the plant down well to get off bugs & spiders prior to bringing the plant indoors. I also water it once thoroughly after transplanting, but am careful afterwards to be sure not to overwater. I actually keep it a bit on the dry side. (I really do not want much growth on it). The hibiscus will put out some new growth, but not a lot once the winter sun gets low in the sky. I do occasionally get a few blooms, usually in late fall or early winter & then again in spring when the hibiscus perks up again. In mid winter the plant appears to be semi-dormant. The biggest problem I have with wintering over tropicals inside the house is mealybugs and whitefly. Bad outbreaks happen mostly towards spring. Sprays work but are messy in the kitchen! I put the tropicals (including alocasias, colocasias, clivias, amaryllis, large philodendrons, several palms, & huge cacti) back out as soon as possible, since they start looking pretty desperate after being indoors for many months. I use a small portable greenhouse, shade cloths and tarps for both temperature and shade protection until the weather and the plants get used to being outside once again. My experience has been that almost anything will overwinter in my kitchen (some things go in the garage, for example a tree-sized brugsmansia) but that after 3 or 4 times they are pretty weary. Although most plants will keep coming back each spring, they eventually are too slow in getting to decent bloom to be useful any longer. However, if you like a jungly look, as I do, you can stagger your keepers and new purchases to greatly stretch your budget. This year for example, I kept one pretty striped alocasia and tossed a 4 year old Black Beauty colocasia, took cuttings of some coleus and a red-foliaged hibiscus, but wintered over Gartenmeister Fuschia, one of only a few blooming plants I kept, in the kitchen among all the foliage plants....See MoreHow to care for a Hibiscus
Comments (2)If you do decide to pot up, only go one size up. Maybe to a 10" pot (check the bottom to see if the plant has roots coming out, or carefully tilt the plant out to check the rootball). These can be kept outside all summer in a sunny location, although I noticed they may do better with some afternoon shade. They can be overwintered inside. When inside, you could choose to keep it under alot of bright light and in warmth and it may continue to flower all winter (albeit, much less). Alternately, you can keep it in a cool bright location and let it rest. In either case, don't water it much (perhaps once every couple weeks while inside). Also make sure that you try to provide alot of humidity for it as it can become a spider mite magnet. Also note that any change in its conditions (location, amount of light, water, and temperature), will often cause some of the leaves to suddenly turn yellow and drop off. Don't panic and just ignore it. Once you stablize the new site and your watering practices, it'll regrow the leaves and they will become accustomed to that new regime. When you move it out in summer, it'll do the same thing, but by then, you'll know why. ;-) One thing to be careful of is since yours is grafted, sometimes the grafts can snap off way to easily. Nowadays, I give mine a slow-release all-purpose balanced fertilizer and will occassionally give it some Ironite and epsom salts (1tbsp per gallon of water). Good luck. I bet it's beautiful!...See MoreHow to take care of tropical hibiscus?
Comments (2)Whenever you see minimal growth on top, that means that it's doing major growth underground - ie., roots. As soon as the roots reach a critical mass, it'll take off. I'm sure you're aware they are not hardy in the ground in winter where you are so if you want them to survive for next year, you might want to consider some options fairly soon. Many people will pot them and then sink the pots in the ground, covering the whole thing with some mulch to hide the pot. Then the pot can be dug and brought into a frost-free spot to overwinter....See Morewinter care for my hibiscus
Comments (2)Tadpole, I have hibiscus and sounds like your plant is in shock. I never trim mine and I keep it in the house by a window and it blooms off and on all winter then when spring gets here back out in the sun it goes. I water it only when the leaves get droopy. when I first bring it in leaves turn yellow and drops just leave it alone and it should be fine....See Morebarb
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