|
Louis
|
 |
« on: March 21, 2011, 02:19:57 PM » |
|
I have posted these photos on the monthly forum, but thought it might be nice if I started a post on the plant here. It is the brightest orange of any hibiscus that I have ever seen. Its true to its name "Electric:" Blooms are in the range of 7 to 8 inches in diameter and are lasting two days for me in my environment. The bush is very manageable and very attractive. Louis |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Halibut
Posts: 47
|
|
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2011, 04:43:19 PM » |
|
Nice pics Louis! EO is one of our absolute favorites with it's bright color and contrasting eye zone and veins...
Hal & Jean
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
blupit007
|
|
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2011, 09:32:52 AM » |
|
Louis, can you post a photo of the bush? I love Saffron, and these are very similar... But this one is supposed to be a bit more electric!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
-Kristen
|
|
|
|
Louis
|
|
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2011, 05:18:17 PM » |
|
Louis, can you post a photo of the bush? I love Saffron, and these are very similar... But this one is supposed to be a bit more electric!
hi kristen, i will get a photo soon for you. louis |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Nievesgirl
Posts: 938
|
|
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2011, 08:52:41 AM » |
|
Nice Louis
I am waiting for mines to bloom I am really going to over haul My plants so they will all start blooming.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
~Kerry~
|
|
|
davidwood
David In Nha Trang Vietnam
Posts: 847
|
|
« Reply #5 on: August 05, 2011, 02:03:22 AM » |
|
Charlie I know a bit of a daft question but can you have the problem of Bud Drop [probably due to the heat] without the actual buds dropping off. I have a problem with my Electric Orange, the buds will be a few days away from blooming then the bud and stem will slowly turn yellow, its driving me nuts and I have yet to see a bloom develop from this cv. I am confident after over a months treatment it cant be Thrips and am at a loss as to what else it could be.
Is there anyone in Texas or the very hot States getting blooms on EO , I think its hotter there than Vietnam at the moment so if your getting them then the heat may not be the problem.
Charlie a good way to describe what is happening to the stem and the bud is it is the same as what happens when you do a cross and it dose not take, it just slowly all turns yellow but stays attached to the plant, well at least till I pick it off it does.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
David.
|
|
|
|
Charlie
|
|
« Reply #6 on: August 05, 2011, 06:37:38 AM » |
|
David, there are a few varieties - Dragon's Breath comes to mind - that are known to have this problem during the worst heat of summer. The buds develop and then just rot before opening. The symptoms are very similar to a thrips infestation so it can be hard to tell. As you have done, I always go ahead and treat the plants as if they have thrips. The treatment either works, meaning they did have thrips, or it doesn't, meaning there is another problem.
The other caution here is that if spinosad is used exclusively the local thrips can develop an immunity to it after about 20 treatments. It's helpful to rotate another type of chemical such as acephate into the treatment plan to prevent this from happening. For some reason a few of the miticides such as Avid and Pylon are good against thrips but these are expensive and few people have access to them. Acephate (brand name in the US is Orthene but it probably goes by many names around the world) is cheap and you may be able to find it locally.
I would not have expected Electric Orange to have a heat problem but you never know until you observe a variety in high heat.
Charlie
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
farmer d
Farmer D
Posts: 1109
Hollywood, CA
|
|
« Reply #7 on: August 05, 2011, 08:56:08 AM » |
|
Hi David and Charlie. The occurrence of buds turning yellow and then falling off right before they open happens to me a lot too. What I've observed is that it happens with my plants that are still rather young and are making the effort to produce their first blooms. It seems like once my plants get mature enough they seem to overcome this pattern. In fact I've come to expect this to happen until the misfiring plant gets bigger and stronger.
Currently I have several plants at this stage including Heavy Metal, Confection Perfection, Cosmic Gold, Bridal Path and a Tahitian Princess. I haven't seen any evidence of thrips here for a few months and the only other culprit might be over watering but it seems to happen over a wide range of CVs in all different spots on my property. Heat here this year has definitely not been an issue with our second straight year of cooler than average weather. After a month or two it seems to work itself out as the plants continue to grow and get stronger over time. My Flickering Flame did this for about a month back in March and April and now it holds onto almost every bud. Always with any 4" I get that has never budded I've come to expect to go through this stage.
BP is an interesting case as it is a mature plant but because I moved it during winter it took a big set back and has struggled to hold on to it's buds so far this year. And I'm talking right up to a day or two before opening when most of the flower is sticking out but yet to unfold. My other plants tend to have the buds yellow with just a little of the actual flower peeping through the green bud covering (turning to yellow with slight brown on the ridges on the bud cover). This happened yesterday with a bud I was so excited about with my Heavy Metal.
I'll post some pics of this as it happens David and you tell me if it looks like what you're seeing. It is really frustrating but they eventually strengthen as a whole and get past this. My Cosmic Gold has been doing it for many months now but that plant has been a very slow grower for me (it some how made it through winter as a little 4" dinker) so it is still in that stage but hopefully for not much longer now.
Farmer D
High Voltage Discarded Bud
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Charlie
|
|
« Reply #8 on: August 05, 2011, 11:01:21 AM » |
|
High Voltage is like a canary in a mine - first to get thrips and tells you they are moving in. Another good one to help diagnose thrips is Byron Metts. It rarely drops buds in response to thrips but when the flowers open you can see the dark little thrips running all over the open petals near the center of the flower. Note that both these varieties are light colored, which thrips seem to like the best.
Farmer D, if you don't see any scratch marks on any flowers that does suggest something else at work. OTOH, when I've had a lot of bud drop in the garden and have gone ahead and treated for thrips whether confirmed or not the bud drop almost always is way reduced. It's a challenge to figure it all out but you get to know your own hibiscus well and can read the subtle signs after awhile.
Charlie
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
davidwood
David In Nha Trang Vietnam
Posts: 847
|
|
« Reply #9 on: August 05, 2011, 11:57:05 AM » |
|
Thanks Charlie Darren, once again all very interesting. As I have never really suffered with bud drop here through the heat I am suspecting Darren may be right and the cause being that its young, it is growing very fast and that also may be a factor.
I have temporarily moved it into a slightly cooler place and sprayed with Neem Oil, so I will slowly figure out for sure what the problem is.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
David.
|
|
|
|
motherof4
|
|
« Reply #10 on: August 05, 2011, 01:08:04 PM » |
|
I have been having a lot of bud drop also....darren mine looks just like yours....I thought maybe from the heat...I dont know  and not on all of my cvs...just a few...and yes some are new bloomers...I di spray for thripes just in case..... |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Halibut
Posts: 47
|
|
« Reply #11 on: August 06, 2011, 10:53:57 AM » |
|
Hi David and Charlie. The occurrence of buds turning yellow and then falling off right before they open happens to me a lot too. What I've observed is that it happens with my plants that are still rather young and are making the effort to produce their first blooms. It seems like once my plants get mature enough they seem to overcome this pattern. In fact I've come to expect this to happen until the misfiring plant gets bigger and stronger.
Currently I have several plants at this stage including Heavy Metal, Confection Perfection, Cosmic Gold, Bridal Path and a Tahitian Princess. I haven't seen any evidence of thrips here for a few months and the only other culprit might be over watering but it seems to happen over a wide range of CVs in all different spots on my property. Heat here this year has definitely not been an issue with our second straight year of cooler than average weather. After a month or two it seems to work itself out as the plants continue to grow and get stronger over time. My Flickering Flame did this for about a month back in March and April and now it holds onto almost every bud. Always with any 4" I get that has never budded I've come to expect to go through this stage.
BP is an interesting case as it is a mature plant but because I moved it during winter it took a big set back and has struggled to hold on to it's buds so far this year. And I'm talking right up to a day or two before opening when most of the flower is sticking out but yet to unfold. My other plants tend to have the buds yellow with just a little of the actual flower peeping through the green bud covering (turning to yellow with slight brown on the ridges on the bud cover). This happened yesterday with a bud I was so excited about with my Heavy Metal.
I'll post some pics of this as it happens David and you tell me if it looks like what you're seeing. It is really frustrating but they eventually strengthen as a whole and get past this. My Cosmic Gold has been doing it for many months now but that plant has been a very slow grower for me (it some how made it through winter as a little 4" dinker) so it is still in that stage but hopefully for not much longer now.
Farmer D
High Voltage Discarded Bud
Hi Darren, For what it's worth, we experienced quite a bit of bud drop at one time and we sprayed w/Spinosad which really helped, but we still had some bud drop, so we used a systemic Insecticide w/Safari and that pretty much cleared it up for us. In our experience, overwatering showed up in yellowing leaf color. Easy for us to correct as everything is in pots. Good Luck! Hal & Jean |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
farmer d
Farmer D
Posts: 1109
Hollywood, CA
|
|
« Reply #12 on: August 07, 2011, 03:47:47 PM » |
|
Great input from everyone! Keeps my perspective wide open and thinking of more and more possibilities.
The one thing that makes me think this is not Thrips as the main cause is that the plants seem to go through this as a stage of growing up. I have a perfect example today with my Some Like It Hot. It has never bloomed in it's short life but it is very close. As you can see from the picture there is one bud yellowing and preparing to fall off before it can bloom and right across the branch there is another bud that sure looks like it will make it to being the first bloom of the plant.
I would be really surprised if one bud has Thrips and the other doesn't but these days with the hibs I am done being sure about anything.
Thought I would share this so that people won't get too frustrated in case they are experiencing significant bud drop on their young plants.
Farmer D
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Doll
|
|
« Reply #13 on: August 07, 2011, 04:10:05 PM » |
|
I'm hesitant to spray for thrips unless I know for sure they are the problem. I usually wait to see if I see any scratch marks on any of my blooms. I'm not sure if scratch marks would be very visible on High Voltage.
Years ago I had 3 large Seminole Pink hibiscus. They would bloom like crazy in the spring and fall but would lose almost 100% of their buds during our hot summer. And they were well established plants that I had planted in the ground.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"An addiction to gardening is not all bad when you consider all the other choices in life."
|
|
|
|
Charlie
|
|
« Reply #14 on: August 10, 2011, 05:46:12 AM » |
|
John D, you're right that scratch marks won't show well on High Voltage but the thrips themselves can easily be seen against the white background of the petals. Thrips are long, skinny and dark and are often described as looking like a pencil mark on a sheet of paper. In fact, one good way to look for thrips is to take a sheet of white paper and tap an open flower over it. If there are many thrips in the flower some of them will fall onto the paper where they are easily seen as moving pencil marks. With white blooms like High Voltage and Byron Metts you can see the thrips without shaking them out onto a piece of paper.
Charlie
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
