Los Angeles Hybridnizer in the making. ( I live in an apartment )

[Nievesgirl]

I live in Los Angeles in a 2 bedroom apt. My balconies face north which is a drag ! I only get sunlight on my Balcony from March to August ! Right now as I type There is no sun for my babies to grow. But lets rewind back to when I did had sunlight on the balcony  

When i first really paid attention to how much light was on the balcony I got my bf to buy me gator pride and voodoo magic for me. They did well so I got hooked on to hibiscus all over again. My balcony is fairly small/ medium sized so far I have 15 cv's 7 more on the way lol.  I asked my bf to make me a stand so they would all fit nicely but he took too long and now the light is gone from the balcony so I will save the stand making for next season.

Anyways I bought some Seeds from Barry S. Another well know hybridizer after I saw how well the GP and VM was doing. I bought a total of 20 seeds , I have never grown hibiscus from seeds so I was so scared to kill them or not plant them right. Barry gave me some freebie seeds so I decided to test those out first. Of course they died and did not sprout. Charlie informed me that they need a nice warm temp of 75-80 degrees F ( I think this is what he said ). I decided to buy a jiffy dome seed starter so they can have lots of humidity to keep the temp up. I placed this jiffy dome on top of my cable box and I now have 17 seedlings growing.  I have planted them in 4-6” based on what cross. They are doing well despite many weeks of low sunlight, pigeons landing on them and aphids. They are starting to get woody at the base of the stems

I then received 162 seeds from Another Hybridizer name Charlie Atiu . I planted the seeds on 8/16/09 I had to buy some more supplies, I bought another dome and some cells to put seeds in.  These are now on top of my cable box.  I have to count and see how many have sprouted but I think we are looking at around 100 seedlings.

So since I have no sunlight on my balcony I research to see what is a good lighting source to keep my hibiscus happy and healthy in the winter. T5’s seem So far I have only 24" fixtures 2 two lamp new waves and one 4 lamp new wave fixture from sunlight supply. I am about to buy a 48” 8 lamp fixture for my older cv’s I think this should make them happy.  I now need to see if I can come up with a bulb combo that will stimulate blooms. I will keep you guys updated on how this goes.

This weekend I am going to build something to hand the 3 fixtures I do have.
I want to buy one of these and put the seedlings on so they can grow out.



I will be adding picture soon

[jpiper82]

Great read! Can't wait to see the pics, and your lighting set up.  This could work in a heated garage for those of us who have to winter our Hibs.
John

[Charlie]

Seems like a good setup, Kerry. I use very similar racks and lights for propagating. Hibiscus do not need all that much light to grow - only to bloom, and the T5 s should be plenty to get the seedlings started. Seedlings grow fast and tall so you may want to pinch the tip after they have several sets of leaves.

John, the heated garage idea should work well, too. In such a large area you also have the option of installing an HID light which gives the most light output for the money spent on electricity, and has the added bonus of giving off quite a bit of heat which would allow the garage to be heated less from other sources. If you can keep the temperatures above 50F the hibiscus will usually be just fine. Of course if one can only keep them above 32F that is likely to keep them alive. Unfortunately, they tend to get more problems in the 32 to 49 degree range than they do if kept above 50F but below 32 they start to die and any long stretches of time spent in the 20's will do them in completely.

We will start an overwintering topic when it gets closer to winter but I think you have a good idea with this.

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

Here is a picture of the new seedlings

[Nievesgirl]

Some updates.

Well my heartbreak hotel is still blooming  so this gives me hope that the T5's will probably keep them blooming this winter.  Nightfire still has a lot of buds ready to bloom also.  All of my cv's look great so far I see lots of new growth just with one week of use with the t5's

[Charlie]

Excellent!

For those who have not heard of T-5's, this is a relatively new type of fluorescent bulb that is thinner than standard fluorescent bulbs and available in an HO version that is higher wattage and brighter light than the standard fluorescent bulb. The bulbs are 5/8 of an inch in diameter which allows for sleeker and less space using fixtures. The HO versions are 54 watts for the 46 inche bulbs and fixtures compared to 32 watts and put out significantly more light.

Charlie

[jpiper82]

Charlie, I have two, two blub floresents that are 8' long, do you know if they make these T5 bulbs for them? They are standard mount ceiling fixtures.
John

[Charlie]

Hi John,

Unfortunately, nope, the T5s won't fit T-8 or T-12 fixtures.

Some enterprising light manufacturers are building fixtures that can handle as many as 8 T5 bulbs at once. That is a LOT of light from 1 fixture.

As far as I have found, the longest T5 High Output bulbs are 4 ft. 8 ft fixtures are available but they use 2 of the 4ft bulbs. Here is a link to some more info about T5 use in an 8ft fixture http://www.specialty-lights.com/fbayi58t.html

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

some updates

yesterday my sister did not shut my bedroom door and my cats ate some of my new seedlings 

nightfire bloomed with no problem just like heartbreak hotel

[Darkhorse]

Oh Kerry that sucks.  Have you ever tried Feliway or any other cat repellent to keep them out of your plants?  I was thinking of trying this myself (although I haven't yet) because my little kitten has figured out how to jump on the kitchen counter where a lot of my recovering hibs are.  She chews them up and plays in the pots... grr....

[Charlie]

Yeah, losing new seedlings is painful. I've heard of mice eating them, and I'm sure squirrels and rabbits would love them if they could get at them since they seem to only go for the tenderest and newest of growth on our garden hibiscus. I've had a cat lay on top of them at night because of the heat mat they were sitting on. Lots of dangers out there for tiny seedlings! They are flexible and stronger than they look but once the tops are eaten there's not much chance of survival.

Speaking of animal/hibiscus conflicts, our newest puppy decided to lap up the excess Houseplant Formula from a saucer under a big plant the other day. I've never seen a dog throw up as much as she did in one evening! It has soap in it which may have been the main cause of the throwing up. Luckily she was fine the next day but we no longer allow any excess fertilizer water to remain in saucers that she has access to, basically any on the floor.

Good luck with the rest of your seedlings, Kerry!

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

Charlie I am glad you new pup is ok.

My puppy Enzo loves to eat the flowers lol but I do not have saucers so he has nothing to drink out of when I water.

Jordan I have never tried it but my cats sound just like yours, they want to chew and play with my plants lol. i remember I picked a flower off of heartbreak hotel and showed my mom . i left the flower on a table then 5 mins later flower was on the floor in little pieces my cats just love them.

some more updates

So a few days ago I knocked a pod off, I know Charlie stated that the pod should not be easy to knock off. But this one was about to ripen up. The bottom started to turn yellow but the rest of the pod was very green. Anyways I was about to toss it but I decided to let it dry and see if the seeds would be ok. well today I have 16 new seeds I can feel that they are kind of damp so I will let them continue to dry.
I will send these to you also charlie.  I will be keeping two seeds from each cross so I can see some of my first seedlings lol

i have 6 more pods to ripen so you should have a lot of new crosses and seedlings to grow for me

ok as I was typing this I went to look at the other pod i pollinated at the same time as the pod i knocked off guess what it opened also lol 15 seeds 31 seeds of the same cross. cinnamon girl x heartbreak hotel. Since its 9/11 today maybe if any of these seedlings become keepers name them in remembrance of today.

[Charlie]

Hi Kerry,

I'd be quite happy to grow those seeds for us, and see what happens. When that happens the nomenclature records show you as hybridizer and me as "grower". Of course most do not get registered because they are not up to the standards we seek, but that will be your choice. I'm always glad to have naming help. 'Fallen Heros' was named for those people on the flight that crashed into the PA countryside after they stormed the cockpit on 9/11.

As for pods that come off a day or 2 before the seeds are ripe it works best if you can set the peduncle (stem) of the pod in a little water (but not the pod itself) and wait for the browning to complete. If it is too early, the seeds won't ripen but I've saved a number of seeds this way from pods that fall early. That seems to happen more indoors for me, perhaps the sunlight needed to form a good strong bond is not enough.

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

Here is what my set up looks like for now lol



here are some cutting I am trying with dip in grow. I pruned all of my hibiscus Heartbreak hotel and Cinnamon girl Got pruned the hardest.




Charlie I have more seeds out of wild dream x cinnamon girl 11 seeds

Charlie I am trying to figure out how to send them to you, I need to find something to put them in to separate them and label any suggestions ?

[Charlie]

Hi Kerry,

The set up with the pruned plants look good. Do you have a dome for the cuttings? They may not need it but moderate humidity is best for them, neither too high nor too low. In places like Florida or near the Gulf Coast the humidity is so high that they do not need to be concerned with adding more but here along the southern CA coast we can have days where the humidity is too low and the cuttings will dry out and die. The risk with the domes is that the humidity will get so high that fungus diseases are encouraged and the cuttings are killed that way.

For seeds I use small zip lock bags (1"x2") that I label on the outside with the cross info. Each cross is in its own small envelope. Mailing seeds can be a problem due to the automatic sorting machines used by the USPS. Seeds have been crushed when mailed in normal envelopes. Probably the safest and easiest technique is to put the seeds from each cross in a normal paper envelope that is labeled and sealed and then all the envelopes are placed inside a a larger envelope that is padded inside with plastic bubbles. Any padded envelope should protect them but the bubble  ones are probably best. An alternative would be to but the paper envelopes with the seeds into the smallest of the post office standard rate shipping boxes. These boxes ship for one rate to everywhere - less than $10 but more than a padded envelope costs. You may have other ideas that would work well but the main thing is to protect the seeds from being crushed by the machines that sort mail.

Charlie