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

[Nievesgirl]

So some updates , I told myself I was not going to buy anymore but I went ahead and bought 13 more cv’s lol

The list includes
Matador ( bought this because of its red pollen sacs and vigor)
Heaven Scent  ( because the bush and  texture of the double is incredible )
Silver Dragon ( I have been wanting this since I was 16 years old )
Foxy Lady ( because of strobe being a parent  want to see what happens when I cross with it ps you know I hate pinks hahah)
Black cherry ( wanted this one since its release date too)
Presidential Affair ( it just interested me so much it’s a double but does not like like a full double ( which look like carnations to me lol )
SnowStorm, ( love the colors and was interested because if BTBW as a parent)
Electric orange ( the color is super shocking ! and I like the parents enough so I grabbed one )
Some like it hot ( Love love the colors and how it’s in the tried and true section the parent Icella is interesting to me as well)

The others I got are from another vendor
Campfire girl
Pro Legato
Galaxy Star
Anna Nicole

Since  I am about to use my Aunt’s Place for some Hibiscus I still have a few I want to buy hahaha So I will share my new list of future cv’s when I figure out what I will do with them when winter comes again.

The current seedlings I have 182 of them are getting bigger and bigger not sure what I am going to do with those lol !

Charlie would a green house like this protect hibiscus from cold ( in winter ) or would I need to get a propaine heater ?

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xr5/R-100349417/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

or this one ?
http://www.amazon.com/Rion-Silver-Backyard-Hobby-Greenhouse/dp/B000NV55XS

[davidwood]

Kerry you are nuts ha ha.I am still sulking cos Customs in Ho-Chi-Minn -City decided to keep one of my cv's as a souvenir but reading your post has put a smile back on my face.
As for what to do with your seedlings you could do as i do and give some away.
I have started growing cuttings and grafting and really enjoy doing it but have no room for the plants,the difference here of course is that allthough they love flowers there is no way that local people could ever afford such a beautiful plant,[average monthly income less than one hundred dollars].So you can imagine the pleasure i get on giving and they get on receiving.

[1.618]

Hey Kerry, growing seedlings is just too much fun. I got a bunch of seeds from Moorea too and can't wait to start seeing some blooms. I'll bet you'll beat me to it tho. For one thing I didn't start mine until October and for another my climate here in Canada is not exactly ideal for growing tropical hibiscus. My biggest seedling is now just 9 inches tall.

I'm envious of your Silver Dragon and Electric Orange! I thought at first I'd wait for a 4 inch Silver Dragon and since already have Saffron decided to pass on Electric Orange. Now I'm sorry on both counts. Oh well, there's always a next time!

Ian

[Charlie]

Kerry, those look like decent greenhouses from what is shown on the web sites you linked to. The way they work without a heater is like this:

Sunrise the temperature inside is the same as outside or could be a degree or 2 warmer but not much.

2 hours after the sun hits them they warm up significantly more than the outside temperature.

At midday if they are in full sun they are hot to very hot and ventilation is needed to let the heat out unless one is in the far north and it's still freezing outside in which case it will still be much warmer inside than out.

Sundown the temperature is still warmer inside than outside but beginning to drop.

Between sundown and midnight the greenhouse slowly cools off but is still warmer than the air outside.

Between midnight and sunrise the temperature in the gh drops to close to the outdoor temperature.

So, what you get without a heater is a significantly warmer average temperature over 24 hours. You get very warm summer like temperatures in mid day as long as the sun is shining. And you get a much quicker warm up in the early morning and a slower cool down in the evening inside the greenhouse. All this is good for tropicals like hibiscus.

What you do not get is protection from freezing temperatures if night time lows outdoors are freezing. The length of time the freezing temperatures inside will last is less in the greenhouse but you could still lose plants to a freeze in an unheated gh.

Hibiscus resist disease and do pretty well as long as the lows they experience are over 50F. In the high 30's and 40's they do not freeze but they are affected and tend to stop growing and various diseases become more likely.

So, the answer is that an unheated gh is better than no gh by a lot but a greenhouse that can be maintained at 50F and above with a heater will provide the best protection for the hibiscus as well as winter blooms that can be quite fun to have around.

Charlie

[Charlie]

Kerry - 182 seedlings! The good news is that seedlings usually do not branch out much unless you pinch or prune them. The bad news is that they don't usually bloom for the first time until at least 3 feet tall and usually taller. If you keep your house at 72F more or less it could take 2 years or longer for some of them to bloom for the first time. I don't really know because I have not done that but I have heard from other people who have seedling plants several years old at home and they are still waiting on them to bloom. Now if you put them in a greenhouse like you are looking at many will bloom this summer. Alternatively,  if you can get them into your aunt's yard in lots of sun by the first of July you could get some blooms late in the summer/fall. Somebody will need to water them regularly which may or may not pose a problem.

Good luck and let us hear how it goes with these!

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

Kerry - 182 seedlings! The good news is that seedlings usually do not branch out much unless you pinch or prune them. The bad news is that they don't usually bloom for the first time until at least 3 feet tall and usually taller. If you keep your house at 72F more or less it could take 2 years or longer for some of them to bloom for the first time. I don't really know because I have not done that but I have heard from other people who have seedling plants several years old at home and they are still waiting on them to bloom. Now if you put them in a greenhouse like you are looking at many will bloom this summer. Alternatively,  if you can get them into your aunt's yard in lots of sun by the first of July you could get some blooms late in the summer/fall. Somebody will need to water them regularly which may or may not pose a problem.

Good luck and let us hear how it goes with these!

Charlie

Thanks for the Info Charlie ,  so far the oldest ones are almost 12 months  and they are only 1ft and a half maybe ? My first ones are all tiny small !  I think they would have grown much more if I was fertilizing them from the day they received true leaves. I started when they where about 6 months.  (I didn't know when to start fertilizing lol ) Now the other seedlings I have I started to fertilized them the day they grew true leaves look at the difference they are much younger and I started them in august or September ( forgot which month) I also have been pruning the oldest ones on a few they have been branching really nicely.

these two are the same age and are from same seed pod ( i have 2 others one is like 4 inches and the other 6 )


Older ones are on the left younger on the right






The good news is my room is the hottest room in my apt lol it gets hot sticky humid in here when I have the lights on.  I am guessing the temps are any where between 77-78 ? some times I have to ope my sliding door because it becomes unbearable lol.

Do you think they will bloom on my balcony ? I think I get at least 4 hrs of sunlight
The green house will happen close to fall so I wont be putting the seedlings in there.

Davidwood , i don't plan to keep all seedlings only the keepers of the bunch , I will give some to aunt and boy friends mother and a list of other people I know who want them. I might sell some on ebay so I can recuperate some money from all of the hibiscus and hibiscus stuff I have been buying lol

1.618 I was lucky to get silver dragon , My heart almost dropped when I saw it for sell so I hurried and bought it lol

[Nievesgirl]

I went through a 10 gallon bad of media with a few days of transplanting and repotting my seedlings and adult CV's from HVH  So it looks like I need more soil soon 

Hopefully this will be my last 10 gallong bag of soil I will need for a while.

Last night I was looking at Miss Congeniality ....... Another soon to be mine CV lol

[Darkhorse]

too bad HVH doesn't offer dumptruck loads



lol

[Nievesgirl]

too bad HVH doesn't offer dumptruck loads



lol

Yes i wish they did also hahaha , I think I will need like 2 more bags of 10lb soil and thats it we will see.

Updates are the sun is coming back to my balcony

Also I cam up with a crazy idea heheeh These seelings I have are almost a year old and I want to them to bloom for me. So I put them in the car with me when i go to class LOL. They get sunlight and should start producing buds they came to school with me two days this weel this weekend they should get some sun also 

[Charlie]

You win the award for most dedicated efforts to make a seedling bloom! It's sort of funny but not a bad idea, actually. They need sunlight and heat so where better than a car parked in the sun? It's fairly typical for seedlings to take longer than a year unless they are in the tropics or full time in a greenhouse. My first webmaster, Yvonne, lived in Sweden and we met when she came on a hibiscus mail list to ask why her 4 year old seedlings had never bloomed. She hybridized them when her family lived in Canada, and then moved them with her to Sweden - both places not known for sun and heat of course. I'm not sure if hers ever did bloom. That is why she sent seeds to me later - her 'P's Purple' still with us as a very nice cv.

Charlie

[Pachrian]

Charlie, my P's Purple arrived yesterday, looking lush and green. It's nice to get the background story

[Nievesgirl]

Charlie, my P's Purple arrived yesterday, looking lush and green. It's nice to get the background story

You got an CV ?  I want mine shipped now ! lol

[1.618]

Here's my P's Purple, one of the few cv's I have blooming so far this year here in Canada! Didn't know Yvonne hailed from Canada as well at one point!

[Charlie]

It's interesting to see P's Purple with that red tint to the color - an effect of the cooler temperatures. When it warms up the red will disappear and it will be a soft lavender. The bushes of P's Purple are vigorous and will probably need pruning every year or two. I'm glad yours arrived safe and sound.

Charlie

[Charlie]

The soil mix is a popular item, but it's so bulky and heavy that shipping it is costly. We usually sell a lot of it at the Open Houses since people can take it home themselves. The guy that makes our worm castings (that go in the potting mix) sells them to us 2000 pounds at a time, but he delivers, thank goodness. I don't have a solution for the soil mix problem, but will continue to think about other possibilities.

Charlie