4 inch pot plants ?

[Nievesgirl]

Hi Charlie

I would like to know what determines the time to ship them ? I received some 4 inch plants but was kind of disappointed with the size. Some look like liners no branching at all. 

[helixturnhelix]

Hi Kerry and Charlie,

i have also received a few "duds" last year, my Confection perfection was tiny and has really hasn't done much since then,  I am very interesting in learning more about this.

[Nievesgirl]

Hi Kerry and Charlie,

i have also received a few "duds" last year, my Confection perfection was tiny and has really hasn't done much since then,  I am very interesting in learning more about this.

Hi Chris, I gotten a few last year that where small one being Electric Orange and it has yet to bloom. Its also struggling.  I also had 2-4 4 inchers that where tiny die on me. I think they just do not do well for indoor conditions.

I will send my tiny 4 inch plants to my bf's house so they can grow out faster.

[davidwood]

Hi Charlie

I would like to know what determines the time to ship them ? I received some 4 inch plants but was kind of disappointed with the size. Some look like liners no branching at all. 

All the info is here http://www.hiddenvalleynaturearts.com/acatalog/productinfo.htm  , its to do much more with the size of the root ball than the actual plant [branches etc]. I had to consider this quite a bit, I much prefer the 4 inch as it means I can care for them from a younger age, and of course they are half the price, but with a 6 inch and bigger pot it holds more water for the big trip here and of course bigger shipping costs, so you make your choice.

[Nievesgirl]

All the info is here http://www.hiddenvalleynaturearts.com/acatalog/productinfo.htm  , its to do much more with the size of the root ball than the actual plant [branches etc]. I had to consider this quite a bit, I much prefer the 4 inch as it means I can care for them from a younger age, and of course they are half the price, but with a 6 inch and bigger pot it holds more water for the big trip here and of course bigger shipping costs, so you make your choice.

Hi David. I am aware of the what to expect as for size of a 4 inch plant. I am talking about inconsistency  of the 4 inch plants I received. This year I got a lot with one stem no branching and I spent a lot of money on big orders. I had two 4 inch plants that where actually nice but the rest where just one stem and super small.

[motherof4]

For that reason..I usually prefer 6 in...I am very impatient...although I purchased 2 -4 inch plants about a month ago and they seemed small(being that I am used to 6 inch)...and I have them indoors and they are doing very well ...a lot of new growth...and have almost doubled in size.which makes me very happy,being this is my first attempt growing indoors ....lynette

[davidwood]

Hi David. I am aware of the what to expect as for size of a 4 inch plant. I am talking about inconsistency  of the 4 inch plants I received. This year I got a lot with one stem no branching and I spent a lot of money on big orders. I had two 4 inch plants that where actually nice but the rest where just one stem and super small.

I see what you mean now and I expect Charlie will have the definitive answer, but to my mind consistency is not what you get with Hibiscus, a 6 month old Confection Perfection [I just got one] is a lot smaller than say a 6 month old Sherlock's Mystery [which I got at the same time], and when you buy a 4 inch plant that is what you get sent, a 6 to 8 month old plant, some small some big depending on how quickly that particular cv grows, I think its the age of the plant what determines him sending it not the size.

[motherof4]

I agree David

[Charlie]

David pretty much nailed it.

Some background for those interested - for the first half dozen years we only offered 6 inch pots of grafted hibiscus. By then we had a lot of requests for smaller plants so I reluctantly decided to try it and see what happened. Reluctant because I knew many people who lacked the experience or the conditions to succeed would order the smaller size based on price alone. Plus, the wait for flowers that might not come the first year did not seem like the best way for people to be introduced to hibiscus. And, I was right, there were then and still are people who should not get the 4 inch size. Even so, this size has been very popular and enough people succeed with them or are patient enough to learn from mistakes and try again that I think we can call the 4 inch size a success and we do plan to continue to offer it.

The 4 inch size was originally called a "baby" plant and still is. I've created misconceptions by growing many of them much larger than what might be called a baby and even pinching and pruning until they are developing like a 6 inch pot but that is a bonus and should not be considered the norm when ordering. 4 inch pots contain baby hibiscus - they will always have roots to the bottom of the 5 inch deep pots and are healthy and starting to grow well but there is no guarantee of anything beyond that even though many are shipped much larger.

David is very correct when he says that varieties will be different sizes at the same age. With 300 varieties in production there is no way to maintain consistency in size. A big nursery that specializes in a dozen varieties can do that but it's not what we do nor do I think our customers want us to limit their selection.

We also try to balance the desire of people to receive their plants fast while keeping the shipping as inexpensive as possible. So, if there is an order for example of 6 plants there may be 2 big, 2 medium, and 2 babies. We could keep the smaller ones for another month but the extra shipping cost of dividing the order into 2 shipments would be almost enough to buy another plant. What to do? As far as I can tell by feedback, sending them all at once to save on shipping and to allow the person receiving them to get them potted up in their conditions asap is the approach most people want.

There's also the luck of the draw in this as with most things in life. Sometimes you will get the biggest and sometimes the smallest but most times something in between. Such is life, eh?

Charlie