Care of My Hibiscus in the winter

[river_deb]

We planted our plant in the spring in a 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled in it and put the bucket in the ground so we could easily take it up in the fall. We brought it in in early Oct. before the heat was turned on in the house. We set it in a bigger pot to catch any over flow of water. It did great for awhile but now has no buds at all and many of the leaves are turning yellow. How often should I water it? I have been giving it a 1/2 gallon of warm water every other day. The leaves show signs of bugs and I found small black ones on it. I scraped them all off and have seen no signs of more. Do I still need to spray with soap water? My Husband thinks it is just hibernating for the winter. I hope he is right. Let me know any advice you have.

[Charlie]

Hi River_Deb,

Welcome to the forum.

When you bring hibiscus indoors they can be stressed from the change, although often they do just fine as yours did when first brought in. Hibiscus will only form new flower buds in the house if they get enough sunlight. Usually 2 hours of direct sun coming in a window and striking the leaves is enough. If they do not get enough direct light they become green plants without flowers until next spring when you can move them into more sunlight. If they already have flower buds when they are brought inside these buds will usually finish growing and then bloom, but new buds are not formed without adequate sunlight.

The yellow leaves you see are probably from insects, often spider mites are the cause. Removing them by hand is a good idea, but it is hard to get all of them and particularly the eggs they probably have already laid. For that you can spray soapy water but even better is to add any clear colored vegetable oil to the soapy water -  a tablespoon in a hand spray bottle would do it.

For other causes of yellow leaves please see our "Yellow Leaf" page that helps identify why hibiscus are getting yellow leaves. The link to that page is: http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/care/yellowleaves.htm

Good luck and please let us know how it goes this winter.

Charlie

[river_deb]

Ok, I guess I will have to figure out a way to spray it in the house, hopefully that will get rid of bugs. I do see some dark spots on back of leaves. Eggs or bugs I presume. It is sitting in a brightly lit room all day long. it faces the west but has windows facing north and south also. How much do you think I should water it? Am I doing it too much or not enough? Thanks for your info I will be spraying it soon. Deb

[Charlie]

A 5 gallon pot is pretty big, so watering depends on how large the hibiscus is and how warm it gets in the room. Twice a week should be plenty in winter unless the plant is very large and rootbound. You might get by with just one watering if you increase the amount of water as described below.

I did not adequately consider the size of the pot when I first answered you. Half a gallon is probably not enough water to soak the root ball of a plant in a 5 gallon pot. Does any come out the bottom into a saucer? The rule of thumb is that each watering should result in at least 10 percent of the water coming out of the bottom holes of the pot. If not, that means part of the root ball will not be adequately watered and would explain the yellow leaves.

Sometimes it can be very instructive to ease the root ball out of a recently watered pot in order to see if the entire root ball received water. People are usually quite surprised to find that the water line is only a few inches down into the pot and the rest of the soil is dry. That can be a messy experiment better done outdoors but try it sometime to verify that all the root ball is getting nice and moist.

Charlie

[river_deb]

Thanks Charlie, My plant is about 6' 1/2' tall. It was only about 3' high when we bought it. I watered it every day outside and put Miracle Grow on it and it grew like crazy. Now it has some water in the bottom but not much really. I guess we would have to take it back outside to check the root level watering. I will try to water it less. I have never had a plant like this so am trying to keep it doing well. I call it my Florida Tree. I love that place. Thanks again for all the info.

[river_deb]

Just wanted to let you know my plant is doing great. New leaves, and some new flower buds are showing up. I have been spraying the leaves with soapy water and giving it 3/4 of a gallon of water twice a week. Can't wait for those flowers to show up. Thanks for all the advice. Deb

[Charlie]

Glad to hear it!  Post a photo of the flowering bush next summer!

Charlie