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

[Nievesgirl]

Charlie, when do you think my shipments will come ? I order I think 9 so far  

[Charlie]

Kerry, the 4 inch pots ship in April as a general rule, and the 6 inch pots mostly ship in May. I see that you have a mix of both. Many people get excited about the new plants arriving as is natural, but I try to help them resist the urge to rush things because Mother Nature knows best.... meaning that we have the ideal conditions to bring the 6 inch pots into bud and if we ship them before that happens the cooler and/or darker conditions that the customer usually has will delay the flowering significantly. The situation is less dramatic with the 4 inch but similar in that we have great conditions for the 4 inch to develop many side branches before they are shipped and if that has not happened it will take most customers a lot longer to develop a full plant than if they let us have the time to get it started right.

We will almost always ship to someone immediately when they insist on it but it slows down achieving the full, flowering plants everyone wants.

In other words, the hibiscus are coming soon, but not too soon for their (& your) own benefit.

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

Kerry, the 4 inch pots ship in April as a general rule, and the 6 inch pots mostly ship in May. I see that you have a mix of both. Many people get excited about the new plants arriving as is natural, but I try to help them resist the urge to rush things because Mother Nature knows best.... meaning that we have the ideal conditions to bring the 6 inch pots into bud and if we ship them before that happens the cooler and/or darker conditions that the customer usually has will delay the flowering significantly. The situation is less dramatic with the 4 inch but similar in that we have great conditions for the 4 inch to develop many side branches before they are shipped and if that has not happened it will take most customers a lot longer to develop a full plant than if they let us have the time to get it started right.

We will almost always ship to someone immediately when they insist on it but it slows down achieving the full, flowering plants everyone wants.

In other words, the hibiscus are coming soon, but not too soon for their (& your) own benefit.

Charlie

Thanks Charlie ,

Thank makes sense. Now I hope the shipment I get tomorrow was not due to my post ? I hope not I was just wondering why some people would get shipments sooner than others

[Charlie]

HI Kerry,

Cindy does the scheduling, not me. It's a complicated balancing act that takes into consideration when the orders were placed, which of the almost 200 varieties are involved, pot size, where the shipments are going and the weather both there and between here and there, and personal considerations (gifts, vacations, etc). I approve the plants every day before they are packed so if you are getting a shipment tomorrow then I signed off on the plants. I think I was holding yours until the Heaven Scent showed side branching which it now has. The goal is for you to not have to pinch or prune the first summer so the plants can grow without any setbacks into multi-stemmed plants the first year. Let me know how your's do as the summer progresses. Thanks!

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

thanks Charlie ,

Now I cant wait to get the 6" I received all of te 4" pot Cv's Matador and electric oranges looks very vigorous right now. All are doing great they like my lights and warm room 

I have some seeds that will be ready in a week Simple pleasure x Blue ballerina this was just a cross because of what was opened lol. I also did Simple pleasures X RRG I thought it did not take but it did so this will be done at later on.

[Charlie]

Kerry, I'm glad your 4 inch pots arrived in good shape. I expect most 4 inch pots to grow enough to start blooming in July this year and then we have the very long bloom season in southern CA that lasts til Thanksgiving and sometimes longer.

Cool crosses. Sometimes the wackiest ones give the most unexpected results. I'd love to get a Simple Pleasures like flower with a blue ring or blue eye. Who knows til we try! I like the RRGlare cross better because of the similar large sized flower but the color is unpredictable. In the past I've often seen that when 2 flowers are crossed that are completely different the offspring turn out to resemble one or the other parent and less often give a blend. i'd love to get a blend but other positive results might be a flower with RR Glare type color on a Simple Pleasure type bush. Anyway, I'm still in seed planting mode and will be happy to grow those out to see what we get.

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

Kerry, I'm glad your 4 inch pots arrived in good shape. I expect most 4 inch pots to grow enough to start blooming in July this year and then we have the very long bloom season in southern CA that lasts til Thanksgiving and sometimes longer.

Cool crosses. Sometimes the wackiest ones give the most unexpected results. I'd love to get a Simple Pleasures like flower with a blue ring or blue eye. Who knows til we try! I like the RRGlare cross better because of the similar large sized flower but the color is unpredictable. In the past I've often seen that when 2 flowers are crossed that are completely different the offspring turn out to resemble one or the other parent and less often give a blend. i'd love to get a blend but other positive results might be a flower with RR Glare type color on a Simple Pleasure type bush. Anyway, I'm still in seed planting mode and will be happy to grow those out to see what we get.

Charlie

Yes I was imagining the same thing. It would be cool to blue ring. So we will see, The should be some good seedlings in there since simple pleasure is such a great cv. RRG is good IMO also so this one is my favorite out of the 2 crosses I did. 

[Nievesgirl]

Updates , I been showering my plants with hot water as chris suggested.
I been showering them once a week but now i think I have to bump it up a notch and do 2 times a week.

I can tell its working but some plants had a bad infestation and they keep coming back. Its rare I get yellow leaves now but I see sweet sap on the base of some leaves so I know the mites are still there.

I also pollinated Creme de cacao with Caorlina breeze. This cross will probably give unexpected results for sure. What I noticed about Carolina B is the pollen seems to dry very quickly and this may be why some said it does not have hot pollen. I might try a new technique with this cv once I get the nexts blooms. I will open up the flower before it is fully bloom and take the style off I think the pollen sacs should be open before the bloom is. I had this problem with my morning glories before when i tried to hybridize them lol

[Nievesgirl]

updates I ordered another 10 gallon potting mix LOL hopefully this siwll be my last one for a while  Probably not hahaha

I am getting 4 new hibiscus tomorrow ( another vendor) so its a good thing I ordered the dirt tuesday perfect timing.

It looks like the creme de cacao cross and carolina breeze took. The pod is starting to grow ( hopefully it continues to grow and some seeds are inside)

Another thing that happened today is the wind , I placed a few of my hibiscus outside and the wind blew them down on my balcony  So I brought them in today.

[Pachrian]

Yeah, that's some wind. Mine are spending the day inside too, and after seeing my neighbor's bush I'm glad. That bush lost all its blooms and most of its leaves from getting whipped against the wall

enjoy your delivery, that's always fun.

[Nievesgirl]

One of my new cv's from another vendor has bloomed and it has been opened for 3 DAYS now  if it does well for me I think you should try this CV charlie. I will send you some wood at the end of the summer if it turns out well.

Second surprise is one of my seedling HAS TWO BUDS and it was grown from seed all with t5 lighting !

[helixturnhelix]

New seedling pics!!!   That is awesome!  What CV have u been using with blooms for three days?

Illuminati had a bloom for three days and I had a Dragons breath bloom for 4.  Blooms last alot longer in the house and everyone seems to be quite happy. 

I only have two seedlings on my window sill: Belle du Jour x Rainbow sherbet.  I call them the twins   They are both very sturdy, and I am looking forward to seeing their blooms... eventually   I also had a flashdancer seedling from last year that I left outside and it snowed lastnight   I forgot to bring that one in, but if it makes it... its gotta have those cold tolerant genes!   I will be looking forward to your new seedling blooms!

[Nievesgirl]

New seedling pics!!!   That is awesome!  What CV have u been using with blooms for three days?

Illuminati had a bloom for three days and I had a Dragons breath bloom for 4.  Blooms last alot longer in the house and everyone seems to be quite happy. 

I only have two seedlings on my window sill: Belle du Jour x Rainbow sherbet.  I call them the twins   They are both very sturdy, and I am looking forward to seeing their blooms... eventually   I also had a flashdancer seedling from last year that I left outside and it snowed lastnight   I forgot to bring that one in, but if it makes it... its gotta have those cold tolerant genes!   I will be looking forward to your new seedling blooms!

well the buds are tiny hahaha but I will post pics in seedling thread. The CV that bloomed 3 days is outside    I would like to see how it does in full sun though.

I can't wait to see pics of yours also .

[Nievesgirl]

Here is the reason I been so busy ! I missed my dog so much ( kayla 10year old German shepherd) I finally found a puppy I wanted as my first foundation female for my kennel 

She has no name yet and I had her for 3 weeks now LOL I dunno, why I can't come up with names for my dogs Kalya went threw the same thing weeks with out a name.





Dad Oskar :


Mom Stella:


I imported her from France but she is Russian in bloodlines  So this is why I have not been on here so long hehehe Plus my flowers where not blooming ( I did not fertilize them practically the whole summer hahah) They are starting to bloom now since I added the time release Fertilizer ( It just got to hard trying to fertilize them all with the liquid mix)

I finally took about 11 of my older plants to my aunts so hopefully more blooms soon
 It is also time for me to get new bulbs for my light fixtures it has been awhile and I can tell growth has slowed down because of the older bulbs.

[Cindy]

What a beauty, Kerry!  She looks as soft as a bunny!  I'm so sorry that you dog died!  I fall apart when I lose an animal.  I'm glad you found a new baby.