Blooms getting smaller and not as bright

[Louis]

Hi All,

I have a nice plant of Rockets Red Glare. In the past the blooms were huge, up-wards to 9 inches. Now the blooms are as frequent but are  small, around 5 inches and not as colorful as in the past.

I am fertilizing with HV fert, supernova and magnesium (monthly).

Does anybody have any ideas what i am doing wrong. Some of my other plants are exhibiting smaller flowers also. and some have huge blooms.

Thanks,

Louis

[davidwood]

Hi All,

I have a nice plant of Rockets Red Glare. In the past the blooms were huge, up-wards to 9 inches. Now the blooms are as frequent but are  small, around 5 inches and not as colorful as in the past.

I am fertilizing with HV fert, supernova and magnesium (monthly).

Does anybody have any ideas what i am doing wrong. Some of my other plants are exhibiting smaller flowers also. and some have huge blooms.

Thanks,

Louis

Loise, I am no expert but you may be doing nothing wrong. Hibs do seem to have a mind of there own sometimes, and a slight alteration in the weather will trigger all sorts of differences. I have give up worrying about bloom size, nothing I seem to do ever seems to make a difference anyway, as long as the plant is healthy that's all I care, and if one day its 4inch then next week its 6 then so be it.
The only thing that would concern me slightly is when you say the smaller blooms are losing there colour, normally I find the opposite to be true, so best let the real experts advice you on that.

[Louis]

Loise, I am no expert but you may be doing nothing wrong. Hibs do seem to have a mind of there own sometimes, and a slight alteration in the weather will trigger all sorts of differences. I have give up worrying about bloom size, nothing I seem to do ever seems to make a difference anyway, as long as the plant is healthy that's all I care, and if one day its 4inch then next week its 6 then so be it.

hi david,

i appreciate your comment, thanks,

louis

[blupit007]

Louis,

 My blooms are smaller too and I think it is because it is in the 60's + 70's inside my home, but they are happy because they have a great source of sunlight.  They also all change in form and color from one bloom to the next.  I am thinking that my changes are due to 1) cooler temps (which I think you have the opposite, right? with the greenhouse and all)  2) Not a constant light source.  Some days it is very grey out, and sometimes that lasts for a couple days.  That is what I think my variation is coming from.  We have had such ups and downs here in CT with the weather.  Hot / Cold / Sunshine / Blizzards!!  Maybe that is what your issue is.  Also, I am no expert so maybe Charlie will come up with something smart...

Kristen

[Charlie]

For sure the weather is the main factor. Even when you have "great light" in winter the day length is so short that there is still a deficit as far as the hibiscus is concerned. If you have overcast days the deficit is even greater. Same holds with temperature in most cases - day time highs may get quite high, particularly in a greenhouse, but the time at that high temperature is relatively short and the cooler temps from late afternoon through the night and through mid morning before finally warmed by the sun are very long. With so many potential variations in this it is hard to predict how the hibiscus will react but what we all see is that they DO react.

It's sort of fun to see how it all plays out through the year.

Charlie