Water over roots daily ?

[Nievesgirl]

Well I got a hibiscus I am bringing back to health and the vendor says that water needs to pass over its roots daily.  I explained my situation and that my hibiscus do not get full sun daily, also do not need to water daily.

I got this plant last wednesday and it still has wet soil. This vendor still insist that I put water over roots daily.

So far the plant is growing new leaf nodes so I know its recovering because of the wake up spray and HVH booster. I do not know why I would have to let water over the roots daily I told him the plant will rot if I do that.

Am I doing the right thing by watering it only when it needs it?

[Charlie]

Kerry, it depends on what you mean by "bringing it back to health". Is it because of heat stress in shipping, or did it get sick in some way after you had it?

Actually, as long as the soil is 50 percent or more saturated with water there should be no need to water it more. It's easy to forget that absorbent material like peat moss does not make water readily available to plant roots when the saturation falls below 50 percent. I learned that from Dutch commercial growers who visited my greenhouse back in the 90's. I started keeping the pots of Reiger begonias I was growing wetter and the plants did a lot better.

If the plant has a fungal wilt disease then you are definitely right - too much water will hasten its death. If it is only suffering from drying out then providing plenty of water should help.

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

Kerry, it depends on what you mean by "bringing it back to health". Is it because of heat stress in shipping, or did it get sick in some way after you had it?

Actually, as long as the soil is 50 percent or more saturated with water there should be no need to water it more. It's easy to forget that absorbent material like peat moss does not make water readily available to plant roots when the saturation falls below 50 percent. I learned that from Dutch commercial growers who visited my greenhouse back in the 90's. I started keeping the pots of Reiger begonias I was growing wetter and the plants did a lot better.

If the plant has a fungal wilt disease then you are definitely right - too much water will hasten its death. If it is only suffering from drying out then providing plenty of water should help.

Charlie

Well What I mean by "Bringing back to health" Is this plant looked neglected. The wood is not rotting and it had leaves that where green with yellow veins. Some of the leaves I can tell where wilted then the plant was watered to save the leaves but it did not work.  The roots looked healthy I took it out of the pot to see if the roots where rotted or sick. I soaked the root ball in your booster but a weak dose for a few mins. All of the leaves that came on it fell off the next 2 days.

I been spraying it with the wake up spray and I have new leaf nodes growing all over. I took pictures yesterday I will post them tonight.

So far it looks like its coming around so this is why I was wonder why would you need to water it daily ?  I took the advice but I am going by my own Knowledge on getting this plant healthy again.

I will post pictures of the leaves and the plant too. This will be a before and after thread !

[helixturnhelix]

This is why I only trust HVH for my hibiscus, because the dozen or so plants Ive ordered are always healthy and if there is a problem I get help with them.  Ive read some really bad reviews about some other hibiscus websites which make me weary.  I also dont want to introduce pests to my current healthy population of plants.  I guess I am a bit paranoid because I bought a Bon temps from armstrong last year and it had bad spidermites that spread to a bunch of my other plants.  My gator pride is also from Armstrong and I am also battling mites with it, but it is far away from any of my other plants.  I guess it would be ok to order from other vendors, but at this point I would quarantine them because I have spent a few hundred on my collection so far.  Charlie's story about snow scale didnt help in fueling my paranoia. 

[Nievesgirl]

This is why I only trust HVH for my hibiscus, because the dozen or so plants Ive ordered are always healthy and if there is a problem I get help with them.  Ive read some really bad reviews about some other hibiscus websites which make me weary.  I also dont want to introduce pests to my current healthy population of plants.  I guess I am a bit paranoid because I bought a Bon temps from armstrong last year and it had bad spidermites that spread to a bunch of my other plants.  My gator pride is also from Armstrong and I am also battling mites with it, but it is far away from any of my other plants.  I guess it would be ok to order from other vendors, but at this point I would quarantine them because I have spent a few hundred on my collection so far.  Charlie's story about snow scale didnt help in fueling my paranoia. 

Well I knew the plant would look bad before hand. So it was not a surprised type of thing.   I had good experiences with only one other vendor. But you are right I buy from HVH most of the time because I trust Charlies business 

[Charlie]

Kerry, with the added info that the leaves all came off I definitely agree that you do not need to water it daily. You've obviously had experience taking care of living things, so going by your own knowledge and intuition is the best way to go in my opinion.

As for the wake-up spray, it is a potent growth hormone so stop using it once the growth starts, or only use it occasionally. Otherwise, the growth will happen too fast and become thin and weak.

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

Kerry, with the added info that the leaves all came off I definitely agree that you do not need to water it daily. You've obviously had experience taking care of living things, so going by your own knowledge and intuition is the best way to go in my opinion.

As for the wake-up spray, it is a potent growth hormone so stop using it once the growth starts, or only use it occasionally. Otherwise, the growth will happen too fast and become thin and weak.

Charlie

Should I stop once two leaves sprout ?

[Charlie]

No need to stop until new stems start growing and get about half an inch to an inch long. The spray absorbs into leaves and stems but does so much better through leaves. The new leaf growth will help get the growth hormone into circulation where it is more likely to stimulate the buds in side nodes to form new stems as well as leaves.

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

No need to stop until new stems start growing and get about half an inch to an inch long. The spray absorbs into leaves and stems but does so much better through leaves. The new leaf growth will help get the growth hormone into circulation where it is more likely to stimulate the buds in side nodes to form new stems as well as leaves.

Charlie

Ok thanks for the info.