Sophomore Care Chronicles/Year 2010

[Darkhorse]

I've decided to start an online care diary for my hibiscus.  As some of you know, last year was my first year growing these exotics.  I had little to no plant experience and lost more than half of my collection.  I've learned much through the trials and tribulations of my first year, and am starting into developing my own care program for my surviving and new plants.  I think it will be helpful to have my records available in writing, and of course want to share my experiences and discoveries with everyone.   


...



The first topic I want to address stems from my most recent shipment of plants.  I've received two shipments thus far this year, one from HVH and one from another vendor.  The HVH shipment I got a few weeks ago contained Burnt Saffron (who is growing quite well after potting up out of the 4" liner), Sleeping Beauty, Splash!, and Illuminati.  They were in quarantine for 2 weeks and are now intergrated with the rest of the collection and doing just fine.





My other shipment from another vendor came this past Thursday.  In it were Creole Lady, Voodoo Magic, Stormy Rainbow, Black Dragon, Silver Memories, Night Runner, and Tahitian Princess.  The plants themselves were large and *mostly* healthy.  The problem?  SPIDER MITES!!!!!  JUST after I got rid of them completely.

Anyway, I've learned enough now to know to ALWAYS quarantine a new shipment.  So, these 7 new plants are by themselves in my extra bedroom.  Here's where the useful part comes in.......

Last year when I had the dreaded mite plague, I developed a protocol for getting rid of mites.  I lost tons of plants in the process.  In hindsight, the plants went chlorotic, and without additional nutrition they lost all their leaves, wilted, rotted, and died.  My previous protocol was to wash the plants 1x a week , then spray Bayer 3 in 1 after each washing.  The problem with this was that the plants' soil never needed additional watering, so I wasn't able to fertilize, thus the starving, chlorotic plants.  The amendment to my spider mite remedy is to still wash the plants once a week, but before washing tie a grocery bag or trash bag around the pot, so the soil doesn't get wet.  Wash the plant in its entirety.  Flip over each leaf and wash leaf bottoms (gently), and wash the bark as well.  Of course still spray on the Bayer 3 in 1 after the leaves and bark have dried.

I must add, this is SO much faster with a water hose!  I finally don't have to take showers with my plants anymore!   

Anyway, the point is I will now be able to continue with my normal feeding program and not worry about overwatering.


...

All for now.  Feel free to post your own thoughts or ideas in this thread as well!


-JL

[Nievesgirl]

My other shipment from another vendor came this past Thursday.  In it were Creole Lady, Voodoo Magic, Stormy Rainbow, Black Dragon, Silver Memories, Night Runner, and Tahitian Princess.  The plants themselves were large and *mostly* healthy.  The problem?  SPIDER MITES!!!!!  JUST after I got rid of them completely.

HAHA Jordan I too got some with my shippement from same vendor I quarantine them as well and rinsed them.

As for the watering of the soil. I will spray my plants with my show head and if the soild gets wet I still water them with the fertilizer mix I make.

I will try the bayer 3 in 1 for some reason I never knew u used this, I just thought water. I have avid still but I am scared to use it since I have to protect my self from it.

most of my plants don't have any mites But some that where BADLY infested they keep coming back. The cv's who are badly infested are passion play , gator pride , love bug, blue ballerina I think one ore cv but cant remember which. I spray then with water and they seem clean then a week later i see the eggs ever where ! I will probably have to give these guys a bath and then continue spraying them once a week.

[Darkhorse]

Kerry,

  Def. try the 3 in 1.  It makes a big difference.  It's not officially systemic but it seems to soak into the leaves and I'll find dead mites that weren't there a few days after spraying it.  If you're religious about washing your plants and spraying them once a week, it should take care of your mite problem for good.  You have a lot of plants though, so I know you know this but cleaning the area each time you wash the plants is important too.  Close quarters was a big problem for me in the apt. when my plants kept getting re-infested.




Ugh... I hate mites

[Charlie]

Do you guys know how spider mites spread? The most common way is the one you would expect - they just crawl from one plant to the one next to it when any parts of the 2 plants touch each other. The second most common way is by hitchhiking on anything that moves between plants. This is most often ourselves and can also include dogs, cats, and any other critters that brush up against your hibiscus. The third and most unfair way is to drift along on air currents. They are very light and a good breeze can carry them from plant to plant.

So, when doing the quarantine (a very good idea), keep in mind that there is more than one way for them to get from the new plants to the old, and hopefully clean, plants.

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

Thanks, Charlie.  Yeah, I have been changing clothes and washing my hands and arms when going between the quarantine room and the plants outside.  If watering or inspecting I always do the clean plants first.

[Darkhorse]

Now that my plants are outside and growing, it's time for some pruning.  Chariots of Firewas my first victim today.  Based on its response to pruning last year (a different specimen, though) it should branch very readily.


My Buttercup is all one stem at the moment, so it will be next.  The lower portion of the plant doesn't seem to have any active nodes, so I was thinking of pruning the top and spraying Wake-Up Spray on the lower half of the plant... particularly the "hibernating" nodes.  Chris, I was thinking of you with your silly Illuminati plant.  Have you tried doing this?  What do you think Charlie?  I will let you guys know how it goes.

[Charlie]

In my experience, the lack of response lower down on the stem is due to making the cut too high. If that happens you may only get a shoot just below the cut and no more. If the plant is semi-dormant or the weather not hot enough this will make that tendency even worse.

The risk in pruning lower down on the stem is that no leaves may be growing below the cut. This can result in plant death if a shooting response does not happen immediately. It can go either way, sometimes there is a good response and sometimes the plant dies. To avoid that it is best to cut just above the lowest healthy looking leaf first, even if that leaf is almost to the top of the stem. Then wait and watch what happens below. If the cut was high a common response is for the plant to send a shoot out just below the cut and for some new leaves to emerge lower down. When those leaves have developed enough I will cut the stem off just above one of the new leaves lower down on the stem. This takes longer than just going ahead and cutting way down for the first cut, but it is safer and rarely results in killing the plant. Your chance of getting multiple branches after pruning is increased by making this "hard" prune.

Let us know what happens!

Charlie

[Nievesgirl]

I have a suggestion , If I was in your shoes I would try it same for chris lol.

I would spray it with wake up spray not every day but once a week or so ro see if this helps after you prune it. For me I have one seedling that has no branches or leaves at the bottom. I just let it grow then I prune the tip until I see shoots coming out at the bottom.  Its about time to cut it again because no shoots appeared the first 2-3 times I cut it at the tip. When i cut at tip its just a small piece.

[Darkhorse]

I definitely know I don't want to cut so far down that there are no leaves left.  I don't think I've ever had a plant come back that had no leaves on it.  Not a risktaker!


I will try a lighter prune just above the healthiest bottom leaf and see what happens, along with the spray.  I like the idea of gradually pruning down the plant if there aren't many leaves there... better safe and have a skinny plant than sorry and have no plant.

I admittedly haven't done much pruning, although I believe I'm getting over my fears...

[Charlie]

Kerry reminded me about using spray to help with branching. It should help, and in particular I have seen Supernova encourage side branching when used as either a spray or as a drench with fertilizer. Both Wake-up Spray and Supernova have growth promoting hormones in them.

Jordan, I think you will learn to trust and appreciate the benefits of pruning if you do it when the plants are actively growing and take it slow.

In winter, in the greenhouse with all its humidity, I have to take the additional step of brushing some grafting wax on the cut end to prevent fungus infection entering the stem through the cut. In summer this has not been an issue for me. There are other types of sealants for plant wounds you can use but I doubt if you will need it in your conditions.

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

I haven't yet pruned, but I wanted to share a little bit about dealing with chlorosis.  A week or so ago I recalculated my fertilizer ratios only to find that I had been underfeeding my plants.  I feed every watering, and had thought I had been adhering to a half a teaspoon per gallon of HVH fert., HVH booster, and Supernova.  It turns out that when I bought a new bucket, I didn't change the amount I was mixing in although the bucket was bigger (duh).  Anywho, my plants were getting about half what they should have been.


This wasn't a problem over winter, as nobody was doing much growing.  When I put my plants outside, though, a few started to become chlorotic.  You guys may remember my post about Sunkissed Blonde a few weeks ago-- looks like it was an iron deficiency as I treated it with iron chelate in the soil and the problem is starting to correct itself. 

I am posting photos of my chlorotic Blue Ballerina today.  Since the yellowing leaves are on older growth I suspect it is a magnesium deficiency.  Today is day 1 of treatment and I plan to post photos often to show the plant's progress (hopefully!).

I put a tablespoon of epsom salt into the soil and watered the plant, and made what I call "chlorosis soup a'la Charlie" as follows:

-triple strength Supernova
-regular amount of HVH fertilizer
-two tablespoons/gallon iron chelate
-two tablespoons/gallon epsom salt

Of course, I poured this into a saucer and will keep the saucer full of this yummy looking stuff until the plant recovers.



One thought on this... doesn't having a full saucer all the time drown the plant?  Or is the treatment not expected to last long enough for this to happen?

[Charlie]

Good post, Jordan! You raise several points that are on target.

The one point that is not quite right concerns the yellow leaves. These look to me like the natural aging and death of leaves that is an ongoing process with hibiscus. They will change most of their leaves over a year's time and when that happens they flash yellow rather than slowly losing their green color. We don't usually notice it since it's usually just one here and another there over time and new leaves grow in quickly. Chlorosis shows most commonly as interveinal chlorosis where the leaf tissue next to the vein remains green while the leaf tissue between veins looses its green color and becomes increasingly yellow. Lack of iron is often the problem but there are other causes, too.

However, sometimes the entire plant starts to lose its green sparkle and becomes less green and more yellow. Treating with the "soup" the way you are will definitely add that darker green luster back to the plant. You should see results within 2 weeks and in a month it will transform the color of the hibiscus to dark green and the treatment can be discontinued.

There's no worry about drowning the roots in a shallow saucer like you are using. The water and nutrients will continue to wick upward through the potting mix and be absorbed by the roots. Drowning occurs when the air spaces throughout the root ball are filled with water and the air driven out. This does not happen when water is wicked up from the saucer. As a general precaution don't refill the saucer constantly, but allow the mixture to be absorbed until none or almost none is left and then refill it.

We've seen several favorite formulas posted for fertilizing hibiscus, and all I looked at were good in the circumstances where they were being used. But, I don't think using Booster is helpful before buds are seen on the plants. When using potassium nitrate (HVH Booster) usually the regular fertilizer is lowered to accommodate the extra nitrogen in the Booster (as in your previous normal formula) but what that does is lower all the many essential nutrient levels except for nitrogen and potassium. It's far better to keep the regular fertilizer level high until flowering time and then bring in the Booster. We should call it Flower Booster to remind users of its primary purpose. Extra potassium does other things as well but there is plenty in the HVH Special Blend.

Please show the Blue Ballerina again in a month or whenever you see a real change in the color.

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

Hmm, maybe Blue Ballerina is just shedding old leaves.  Since none of the plants did much growing over winter, maybe putting it out in the sun stimulated it to shoot up new growth and shed the old growth, as the only leaves showing any hint of yellowing are older.  A couple of the leaves show yellow between the veins, but the turn entirely yellow within a few hours or so.  I was thinking chlorosis because (you can't really see this in the picture) that whole lower middle part of the plant had begun to look "tired."

Would a good plan be to keep my BB on the "soup" regimen for a couple weeks anyway, just for good measure? 



....................................


Also, Charlie you answered a question I hadn't asked yet about the Booster.  I had been feeding it to all plants, buds or no buds, but now will only feed it to budding/blooming plants.

Looks like I need to get an extra mixing bucket.   

[Charlie]

My opinion is that you should try out the treatment as planned for a couple of weeks. You will learn something by what happens and it should be a favorable response the plant makes. They turn an amazingly deep green on this regimen. Don't go higher with the iron chelate than the 2 tablespoons per gallon or you risk turning the leaves an interesting shade of bronze. Cindy went up higher that that once and the plant leaves turned a strange green/bronze and then all fell off. The new leaves that grew in afterwards were a beautiful green though.

Charlie

[motherof4]

 charlie.....when you mix a gallon of fertilizer and whatever else you add....super nova or booster....do you put that entire gallon on 1 plant...if not how many plants do you feed with 1 gallon.....and how often do you recommend feeding...I hear some say they feed at every watering???..thanks..lynette

[davidwood]

Charlie,the iron chelate i get from you can i mix it in water.I have been making a hole and putting in half a teaspoon a month[i have run out and am waiting on the bigger jar].
Jordan's idea seems to be a bit easier so would it be ok.
The leaves on Night magic[the picture makes them look much darker than they actually are] which gets a lot of sun each day have gone a  very pale yellow,same as Acapulco Gold[they have both had a Spider Mite bath this week].Will the Iron bring them back green or is it just the sun.

I did have this theory that the hotter the sun the paler the leaves,and generally that seems to be the case but Magnifique blows away that theory,it could not be a darker green and its in full sun all day.

[davidwood]

charlie.....when you mix a gallon of fertilizer and whatever else you add....super nova or booster....do you put that entire gallon on 1 plant...if not how many plants do you feed with 1 gallon.....and how often do you recommend feeding...I hear some say they feed at every watering???..thanks..lynette

I hope Charlie answers this as i am also cofused. What i do is water my plants and then 30 mins later re-water with the  fertilizer added usuing about 1 gallon for 8 plants.  We will know soon.

[Charlie]

Good question - it is clear that generally speaking growing hibiscus with some shade causes larger and greener leaves with no other special care. The opposite of that would be smaller and lighter colored leaves in full intense sun. As you noticed with Magnifique, each variety is genetically unique and can react in different ways.

Some people find it easier to mix the chelated iron in water, or even mixed with their fertilizer water, and that works fine. I think Jordan is trying a technique where she mixes it in water and then fills a saucer with the water/iron/fertilizer. The pot is set in the saucer where it wicks up the water and nutrients as the pot dries out. This provides maximum feeding for the plant and has shown dramatic results for me, especially when nothing else seems to work for a particular plant.

I haven't seen Lynette's post yet but will look for it and answer that part as a reply to her. Thanks for bringing it up.

Charlie

[Charlie]

Hi Lynette, this question comes up for everyone when they start using water soluble fertilizer. Once the fertilizer and other ingredients are mixed in a gallon of water each plant is given just enough to saturate the root zone of that plant. It's fairly easy to tell with pots because some comes out the bottom when saturation is achieved but a little harder with in the ground plants. You vary the amount with the size of the plant and the root ball. Just make your best guess and you will be close enough for in-ground plants.

We've found that hibiscus and many other plants do best when given a small dose of fertilizer often, rather than a large dose at more widely spaced intervals. The way many nurseries do it is to inject fertilizer into the water all the time so that each time the plants are watered they are also fed. After all, plants drink their food and a steady diet is good for them. You can do the same if you have the time and want to. Just mix a lower dose, such as half a teaspoon of the HVH Special Blend, into a watering can every time you water. When the number of plants grows so that is too time consuming you can use a hose end feeder or another device such as the E-Z Flow injector that sucks fertilizer into the hose at the proper ratio or fertilizer to water.

If any of this is not clear, please ask again. Thanks.

Charlie

[motherof4]

Thanks charlie....the way I am doing it now is 1 teas per gallon once a week...and I apply to about 4 plants....I think I will try 1/2 teas...more often...what about the booster...most of my plants have buds now...thanks lynette

[Charlie]

There are many ways to use the Booster. I like keeping it simple which in this case would mean just substituting 2 teaspoons of Booster once per month instead of one of the regular fertilizer treatments. You can mix it up with other ingredients, or use it more than once per month, and see what happens, but I like the simplicity of using it once or twice a month instead of other ingredients. Problems from use can come when it is used in tablespoon amounts rather than teaspoon amounts. There are some people with experience in using it who push the envelope but I don't recommend it. Nitrogen is the "hottest" ingredient in fertilizer and the most likely ingredient to be used at too high a level. Since Booster (potassium and nitrogen) has less nitrogen than HVH Special Blend you are not likely to overuse nitrogen if you replace the Special Blend with the Booster. You have to be more careful if you combine Booster with HVH Special Blend.

Charlie

[Pachrian]

There's no worry about drowning the roots in a shallow saucer like you are using. The water and nutrients will continue to wick upward through the potting mix and be absorbed by the roots. Drowning occurs when the air spaces throughout the root ball are filled with water and the air driven out. This does not happen when water is wicked up from the saucer. As a general precaution don't refill the saucer constantly, but allow the mixture to be absorbed until none or almost none is left and then refill it.


Charlie

Charlie, I'm a bit confused by this statement because I've read you say many times that one needs to make sure pots don't sit in saucers filled with water that comes out of the pot during regular watering, that this could lead to root damage? How is this situation differnt?

[Charlie]

Watering is one of those tasks that requires changes in strategy depending on conditions. As long as water is moving through the plant, in through the roots and out through leaves as transpiration, as it does in summer conditions it is almost impossible to overwater hibiscus. When Cindy first got involved with hibiscus I proved this point to her by filling a deep saucer with 3 inches of water and placing a suitable hibiscus in an 8 inch pot into the saucer. She was pretty sure that would kill it, based on her experience with houseplants in colder, darker WA state, but in warm and sunny southern California the plant just sucked up the water over the next week or so and flourished. But, I would not do this in winter conditions when the water would not be used and could stagnate. Fungus and bacteria grow in stagnant water and can cause problems.

The way water works in a saucer is that the rootball is flooded up to the height of the water in the saucer. The rootball above the water level is not flooded because the water only wicks upward through the parts of the soil that absorb it well, such as the peat moss and coco coir, and does not flood the pot above the level of water in the saucer. The air spaces are preserved when water is wicked upward and roots remain healthy. It is best to allow the water in a saucer to get used up so even the small amount of roots at the bottom of the pot are aerated as the water level in the saucer falls. Once the saucer is dry more water can be added to it.

Remember, many plants are grown hydroponically, which means their roots are submerged in water all the time and there is no soil. Hibiscus can be grown this way, too. There is nothing wrong with water as long as the oxygen content is adequate and disease organisms are controlled.

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

Thank you for clarifying this, Charlie.  Regarding the amount of water hibs need in the summertime, I too made the mistake of underwatering last year.  I was terrified of overwatering, so I tried to let the top portion of soil dry out before I would water again.  All too often I would test the soil with my finger in the morning (very high tech test this is), leave for a half day, and come back to a wilted plant.  They really do get thirsty in summer.

It's cooler here now, but a few weeks ago when the temps were in the low 80s I was watering each of them every day.  They're only in half sun, too.  I am already planning to water at least 2x a day when it really heats up here.