Growing hibiscus at work

[Nievesgirl]

I thought I would make another thread for the hibiscus I am growing at the office.

I am lucky enough to have a window at my desk. So I decided to bring my first seedlings and a few 4” pots here. I have 15 seedlings, and 7 cv’s from hvh.

The self watering pot I have been dealing with is at my desk with blue ballerina.

The rest are in regular plastic pots. I am only at work on Monday to Thursday. The window I have all of the plants at is super warm and sunny. When I first brought my hibiscus to work my main concern is will they die over the weekend because no one would be in to water them.

I did not want to even take a chance with the seedlings so I place them on my desk every thursday evening before I leave. They get sunlight but not direct like the window. They did well this 4 day weekend.

6 of the cv's I have did well this 4 day weekend for me except Dragon's heart. this morning when I came in I saw DH wilted ! I watered it asap within an hour it was back to normal.

So now before I leave on thursdays I will place DH on my desk and not leave it on the window.

I have been figuring out how will I fertilize these hibiscus at work, yesterday I came up with the idea of just buying a 1 gallon water jug from walgreens ( which is across the street from my job) and just keep this at my desk to use for watering.

The mystery Cv I have is loving the warmth and sunlight. ( I will post pictures of everything tomorrow)

My biggest task at work is to A) keep other co workers from watering my plants B) making sure my co workers stop messing with my blinds !

I have my blinds set a certain way so that blue ballerina will get sunlight too. today when I came into work my blinds where moved. I still can't figure out why are my co worker messing with my stuff just leave all of my things and desk as is.stop touching it !!!!!   lol

[Nievesgirl]

I now have a regime for my desk plants.

I bring my fertilizer to work mix it in the 1 gallon water bottle I bought. store it in my desk and water my plants on Monday and thursday. 

I brought the Mystery cv to work and it looks so much BETTER. I have new leaves every where so hopefully this cv will have a healthy root ball.

Blue ballerina bloomed again over the weekend and I missed it  This is the only downside to bringing plants to work when you work part time.

[jpiper82]

It could be the people whom clean the office at night that are messing with your blinds.
John

[Nievesgirl]

Ok here are some pictures.

Here is Blue Ballerina in the self watering pot , I have yet to water it since I started the self watering pot thread



Here are the rest of the plants

[Nievesgirl]

Dragon's heart
Well I had 3 buds that where going to open but they never did and just fell off !!! so it must be thrips !!!! I am going to re pot this one as well. I am going to bring it home on Thursday and spray it. I hope the other plants don't have it. I am going to make sure its thrips though. Tomorrow when I get to work I will do the paper test.

[helixturnhelix]

Kerry the same thing happened to my DH.  I think mine was due to the heat in the car, but disappointing non the less and sadly I dont see any new buds. Pretty nice set up at work, you need something to get you through the day. 

[Nievesgirl]

Kerry the same thing happened to my DH.  I think mine was due to the heat in the car, but disappointing non the less and sadly I dont see any new buds. Pretty nice set up at work, you need something to get you through the day. 

You Know What Chris this maybe why my buds did not open. I left it in the window to long before watering it and it wilted on me two times......

[Charlie]

I suspect you guys are right - heat plus maybe some other factors like wetness/dryness. All these factors interact which is why it is often hard to pinpoint one exact cause. It's pretty well established that hibiscus do best when conditions are steady, one day like the next as far as environment and nutrition are concerned. Anything that disrupts that can and usually does cause some change in the performance of the hibiscus.

Thrips are less a problem indoors and decline a lot during winter. Usually you can get rid of them for good indoors, unless a new plant that has them is introduced to the indoor area.

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

Last week I almost killed Midnight flyer.

The 4" pot I got was a small one, when I transfered it I think I broke off a lot of its roots. So right now its trying to re-grow them back.  I have this one at my desk at work, its growing out pretty nicely up until last week.

I was at my desk and it was pretty cold in here. Midnight flyer is not drinking too much water due to small root ball and not that many leaves. So I was thinking maybe I place it in front of my heater OOOPS I placed too close and it killed the bud that was forming along with some leaves and branches  

I just got back into work today and I saw two more leaves drop off over the weekend. The rest of the plant looks ok. There is one leaf that has burn tips lol

I think I might take this one home so it can get more warmth and photo period. I am not sure yet  

I also brought Gator pride to work. It seems to not be doing so well under the t5's It could be because the soil stays wet to long at my apt so I brought it to work to dry it up. The real sun should boost its growth.