Absolute beginer.

[davidwood]

Reading the joy everyone gets from hybridizing i decided yesterday to have a go and have done my first cross.I got the basics by watching some fella do it on You Tube with a paint brush.
Now i am a bit stuck, what i do next,the bloom as closed today, normally i would snip it and the stem off.Do i leave it on the plant? If so how long for? and how will i know if i have seeds?.Like i say and sorry a lot of questions but i really have not got a clue.

PS.The x was with a big pure white i got in Malasia and All that Jazz.

[Nievesgirl]

Reading the joy everyone gets from hybridizing i decided yesterday to have a go and have done my first cross.I got the basics by watching some fella do it on You Tube with a paint brush.
Now i am a bit stuck, what i do next,the bloom as closed today, normally i would snip it and the stem off.Do i leave it on the plant? If so how long for? and how will i know if i have seeds?.Like i say and sorry a lot of questions but i really have not got a clue.

PS.The x was with a big pure white i got in Malasia and All that Jazz.

Hi David congrats on your first cross. You need to leave the flower on the plant and let it dry up and fall off. Once that happens the seed pod will ripen if it took. This can take 30 or more days for the pod to ripen. I use tape to mark the cross I made around my pods.

Here is a good link in more detail

http://www.trop-hibiscus.com/hibseed.html

[davidwood]

Thanks Kerry. What is an average success rate,or how many times when you have done a x will you get seeds.

[Charlie]

David, this can be fun to try. The seed pod will be obvious once the flower falls off. It forms at the base of the flower where the ovaries are. The 2 main reasons that a pollinated flower fails to make seeds is that it is the wrong season - too hot - or that the variety chosen to accept the pollen and make seeds is not a seed setter or is genetically incompatible with the pollen parent. Some varieties set seed easily, some do it occasionally, and some never do it so what you have to discover is which ones among those you have will actually set seed.

Then, if it is too hot where you live you have to wait for cooler weather. In the tropics the best days will often be overcast or just after a rainfall. Some places such as Malaysia are too hot all the time and people have reported not being able to hybridize there. Shade helps a lot, too. Traditionally in the US people hybridize during spring and fall only although some learn to fool Mother Nature and succeed at other times of year, too. Best results are had using fresh pollen that has not dried out.

Perhaps the biggest drawback to hybridizing is that you end up using a lot of space to grow plants that will take a year or so to show first flower and often that flower will not be as good as the ones you already have. These plants require all the same care as your other hibiscus.

Charlie

[davidwood]

Thank you Charlie and i think very good advice.Hybridizing does sound fun as a hobby,but maybe not as easy as it sounds  by reading it about it on this forum.
 In my case anyway i don't think i would have much success,and after reading some of your very good points i am not even sure i want to do it.
Apart from the fact that where i live in Vietnam its hotter than Malasia the thought of having to give these plants as much room care and attention as the cv's i have already has given me doubts,couple that with what i now know to be the difficulty in getting a cv to the standard and quality you set of shall we say Voodoo Queen makes me less likely to want to do it.
So for the time being i will leave the hybridizing to the professionals and concentrate on taking care of the cv's i own,which in my view is no easy task for a beginner,learning about feeding watering pruning and controlling pests etc and just enjoy the talk and pictures i see on this forum.

[Nievesgirl]

Thanks Kerry. What is an average success rate,or how many times when you have done a x will you get seeds.

Hi David sorry for late reply, As you read what charlie posted , I have had lots of success because of my unique situation.  My balcony only gets sun for a few hours a day and they are shaded a big chuck of the day. I think the shade has been key to my success rate so far. I believe my rate is at least 90% successful. If the Cv does not set seed there is nothing I can do about that. I only have two CVs I have been having trouble setting seed which is Nightfire and Lady bug.  Im not going to give up I will try again this season and see what happens.