Seedlings

[Nievesgirl]

I have notice with a bunch of my seedlings there is like one that grows slower and is small !  Do you think its from root competetion ? I mean I read the article about pod seeds helping each other out but it does not seem true for some of my seedlings.

I had devil's eye and blue bayou crosses and one seeding was so small and doing badly. I gave it its own pot and now its doing so good.

I am going to transplant some seedlings today because a few seem to be doing poorly I will take pictures so you will see what i mean.

[Charlie]

Lots of things that can go wrong, Kerry. One thing that is pretty standard is that seedlings start off slowly and growth speeds up a little each month until they seem to grow visibly every day! A slow start is nothing to be concerned about but if one is a lot slower than others planted at the same time then there is something going wrong with that one most likely. Seedlings also have different root structure than cutting grown hibiscus and need a deeper pot. Mine really take off when I move them from 4" pots to 2 gallon pots in spring and most will bloom for me before the summer/fall growing season is done.

Charlie

[hibbyjean]

Hi Charlie, Attached is a picture of two seedlings from the same cross of Tahitian Red x Kevin Johnson. The small one on the left is actually a month older than the one on the right. There's always one or two of these "midgets" out of about 24 seedlings. As you can see they are planted in the same type pot, get the same soil, water, sun, fertilizer. My question is, are they runts and are they worth keeping? Is there a chance that they will eventually grow into nice but smaller plants and perhaps even produce beautiful flowers and so are worth the effort, time, space, etc.? We have about 100 seedlings already and still another 100 seeds to plant. We're getting only about a 33% germination rate (and we paid alot for the seeds). So I'm loathe to toss these, but would you recommend culling these midgets?

[blupit007]

Don't Cut!  Hello Hibbyjean.  Is this Hal's jean?  Nice to meet you!  Anyway.  I had 3 seeds from Cindy's Heart.  They all grew differently.   There is the first one... this one took off like lightning out of the starting gate.  It is strong and has a thick trunk which is already brown... it is thicker then a pencil.  The second is looking for Jack!  it is tall and vigerous, but a bit on the wobbly thin side. Then the last is the runt.  In the photo they are in this order from left to right.

 I asked Charlie the same question last fall when I was observing them.  I moved the runt around till I found where she was happy.  Now it is growing fine, just a little later then the rest.  

I say, if you have the room, let it happen.  Change its situation a bit.  Give it some time to adapt and if its still unhappy, change it again.

This is only my my opinion by what I have experienced, and i have only been at this a year.  So Charlie, step in and correct me if im wrong.   I just think, either way, you paid good money for them, or you watched the little sucker grow on the tree as a pod, it is worth giving it a chance.

Good luck with them!
~Kristen

[hibbyjean]

Hi Kristen, Nice to meet you! I guess it won't be too much trouble keeping midgets around. I was just wondering because I've had 2 die off already, although I also had one normal one die recently. Was just wondering if they are genetically impaired and won't last anyway or are just baby miniatures. I'm also growing some vegetable seeds and they recommend "thinning." But then, they are vegetable seeds, and not hibiscus seeds bought on the internet for sometimes $6/per, and carefully nicked before placing each in their own plug! ... I can't wait to see each of their first blooms! Cheers! Jean

[davidwood]

My seedlings are now about 4 inches tall, the thing is they seem to thin for there height and they struggle to support themselves, spraying them will knock some of them over, is this normal and is everything ok, I do have them in the shade and maybe I shouldn't, I  am wondering if they are stretching for light, something just doesn't seem right. What sort of light should they be having in there first few weeks?

[blupit007]

Hi David,
  Remember the middle seedling I talked about above?  Well it was super thin and wobbly.  So I took a shish-kabob squer and some twist ties and lightly staked it up with that.  Don't make it tight at all, you want it to be able to move around a bit to allow to strengthen itself.  But I kept that on until it got too tall for it, then by that time, it was strong enough to hold itself up. 

  There is nothing wrong with it, I don't think.  Mine were all super wobbly.  I actually killed one by watering it.  The stream of water hit the seedling and snapped it... 

Good luck.

[Doll]

My CH seedling has decided to start branching out on its own. If nothing else I guess it will be a nice bush.  It is 15 months old now and about 4 feet tall. Still waiting on buds to appear.

[Charlie]

Doll, this should be the summer for first blooms - right size, right age. Plenty of sunlight and fertilizer will help, too. You may have said but - what is the other parent?

Charlie

[Doll]

This one is CH X Cile Tinney

I have 2 other ones that are CH x Enlightenment
I have some new seeds just sprouting that are CH x Sunshower
and CH x Daisy Mae.

There is one last seed pod I'm waiting on to ripen that is CH x Hot Pepper.