Indoor Growing in Colorado

[helixturnhelix]

I have just started to put my plants outside, with temps at night being in the 40s and day temps in the 60s.  Unfortunately I was a bit hasty and burned all my plants badly   Poor burnished gold looks just awful, I am thinking about cutting about six inches off the top and sending that wood to charlie, then hopefully letting it rebound.  One interesting thing to note is only one plant did not get sunburned when going outside and that was Flickerin Flame, interesting since its flowers hold up to heat very well too.  I really regret putting those guys outside too soon, but experimentation is what must be done, growing these plants in places that are not tropical.  I bet many of the so cal growers on the forum are going to have delayed blooming because of very cool wet spring you are having this year.  Lucky for Colorado, El nino has made this year fairly mild.   

Looking at my indoor hibiscus, they are doing very well,  Saffron is branching nicely and im hoping it will look great and be blooming a ton by July.  Dragon's Heart is looking great, after a hard prune in December, it is ready to bloom in a few weeks.  With a four mature branches with buds and numerous immature branches forming it should put on a nice show!  Its growth habit reminds me of parent Heart of my Heart, would your agree Charlie?

Overall my experience growing indoors all winter has been very successful and I think that I would have gotten more blooms if I didnt have an unfortunate white fly fiasco and spidermite infestation.  Now that I know how to deal with such things, I am going to be experimenting with growing in bright indirect light next winter. So we will see how much blooming I see under those conditions. 

Thats all for me today,

Chris

[helixturnhelix]

Here is a pic of my two seedlings

Rainbow Sherbet x Belle du Jour

They are starting to grow a bit faster.  Seem to be sturdy little seedlings, so hopefully that means upright prolific bushes!

[Charlie]

Thanks for this update, Chris. All in all they are looking pretty good, with B Gold being the exception although we can see how well branched and budded up it can get. Live and learn, right? I learn new things all the time, and kick myself whenever I have to learn the same lesson more than once! A greenhouse or garden diary is a good idea because things we think are strongly in mind now can easily be half forgotten a year from now. What date did I put them out last year?, etc.

Your seedlings do look nice and stout. Typically seedlings start off slowly but grow ever faster as they get larger. It's not uncommon for a seedling to reach 6 feet or taller within 2 years. I look forward to seeing what these do.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

Well Charlie,

I might have just messed up and there may be no burnished gold to send you wood.  It was a beautiful 80 degree sunny day yesterday, so of course I put my plants outside and I woke up this morning to snow falling... I might have a smaller collection very soon.  Possible victims include: Bonnie Lass, Burnished Gold, Belle du Jour, Sunkissed Blonde, Acapulco Gold, Illuminati, Rosalind, and Haute Couture.  I cannot believe there was such a switch in the weather, so only time will tell if my mistake was fatal.  Luckily I kept a few in the house, so at least I will have a few...

[Nievesgirl]

Chris I did the same thing with my seedlings the ones I put in the car some burnt  They are fine though. Cranberry muffin got burnt and messed up from the winds so It should grow some new branches now.

[Charlie]

Ay, Chris, that's terrible! A lot depends on how long they were in freezing temperatures. If the storm and cold happened not long before dawn they may come through just fine. I imagine they wilted but that can reverse itself after they are back in warmer conditions. As you said, time will tell. Mountain weather is so unpredictable. I remember driving through Colorado in July once, when suddenly 2 inches of icy snow came down and covered the interstate.

Good luck with the recovery!

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

I finally feel comfortable enough with the weather to put the rest of my plants outside.  Saffron kept growing and growing, but no buds in the house.  Although I could get blooming in the house this summer, I would think I would get the best results with half day sun outside.  Would you agree Charlie?  I am keeping them in the shade for now, hopefully move them into more sun in about a week   Here hoping for no sunburn (crossing fingers) and please no summer snow!

[helixturnhelix]

I realize this is indoor growing in Colorado, but outdoors might be more challenging!  Between the eratic weather and afternoon downpours and hail, these plants have been through alot! I finally had some time to take some pics, sadly no flowers except for First Love.  Everyone is budding up nicely, so I think end of July/August will be a good month, as long as I dont have any thrip problems. 

First Photo from left to right:  Super seedling (the one that survived snow) and First Love

Second Photo from left to right:  Byron Metts, Acapulco Gold, Bonnie Lass, Sunkissed Blonde, Cindy's Heart and purple basil

Third Photo from left to right: The Right Stuff, Belle du Jour (spider mites made her look awful), Burnt Saffron (the tall one), Heaven's Scent, Flickering Flame and Dragon's Heart 

Fourth Photo from left to right: Black dragon (the two in the small black pots), Black Cherry, Illuminati, My two seedlings Belle du Jour x Rainbow Sherbet, Vin Extrodinaire (on porch towards back), Creme de la Creme (in front of Vin), Cosmic Gold, Dragon's Breath (green pot)

I hope you all enjoy and stay tuned for hopefully flowers soon  

[Charlie]

They are all growing up fast, Chris. One day you will remember when they were happy to stay home with you......

I do believe you are right - there will be more blooms in half a day of sun than in the house. My big Saffron in the yard is in full sun all day long and blooms its' head off once it grows back each summer. I think most of yours will benefit from the sun and give more blooms, but we shall see what happens this summer.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

I remember when Acapulco gold was just a 4' cutting, they do grow up so fast

On a side note, could you move hibiscus like bareroot roses?  I was thinking of cutting AG and Saffron 2/3 the way back and wrapping their root ball in plastic before putting them in the box.  I have allocated two boxes for hibiscus, so I want to be as efficient as possible in packing  

[Charlie]

Yes, you can do that. We have shipped a lot of plants to places like Japan that require all soil to be removed from the roots. When you do that it is also best to remove most of the foliage and cut the stems back. A few plants won't come back from this drastic treatment but most do. I just sent a bunch off that were half bare rooted with no stems cut back at the customer's request. That is probably the safest but also less efficient for shipping.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

Wow Dragon's Breath really responded well to pruning! Its bush is looking great!

Here is the WHOLE gang, geez i have alot of plants now

[Charlie]

That's a healthy looking bunch, Chris! Nice spot for growing them, too. Can't wait to see it full of blooms.

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

They are really loving the afternoon rainstorms! I can't wait for a bunch of blooms soon, it looks  like most are budding up pretty quickly