Hidden Valley Hibiscus Forum
March 29, 2024, 08:49:08 AM *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: 2011 HVH Online Store is Open!
 
   Home   Help Search Login Register  
Pages: 1   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Is my hibiscus dying???  (Read 9621 times)
Rebecca N

Posts: 2


« on: September 06, 2009, 02:49:48 PM »

I have 16 hibiscus at last count, indoors, all doing very well growing and blooming, all except one, that is.  This one has, over the last 2 months, dropped every single leaf.  I cannot figure out what has happened to it.  It was located with all the others, getting the same sunshine, the same watering, the same fertilizer. I checked for insects includng spider mites, but found absolutely none.  I've sprayed regularly.  I have trained it into a standard/tree form over the years, but that shouldn't be a problem.  On the entire plant there are 2 tiny, tiny (smaller than 1/16-inch) green, possible shoot-looking things - perhaps called adventitious buds - that I've been hoping would do something, but there's been no change in them.  I scratched a little bit of bark off in a few places.  In some areas it's green underneath, in other areas it's brown.  Is this plant dying, or in some strange limbo?  I'm terrified of over-watering it and causing root rot, but I don't want it to dry out completely either.  So I guess I have 3 questions: 
1) is this hibiscus dying?
2) what can I do at this point, including appropriate watering?
2) what caused this, so I can prevent it from happening to my others?
Logged
jpiper82

Posts: 178


« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2009, 04:13:11 PM »

Rebecca, Glad you are on the Forum, and welcome.  I am sure that Charles will ask you a whole bunch of questions in order to help you, and he will.  He will need to know what Hibiscus you are talking about, and as much detail as you can give him. He will respond and he has helped all of us so much.
Welcome
John
Logged
helixturnhelix
Seattle, WA

Posts: 1945



« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2009, 05:02:05 PM »

Hi Rebecca,

Doesnt sound good, but if you still have some green, then you are correct in thinking that it is still alive!  There are are few things you can do. The first being spraying the plant with HVH wake up spray.  Wake up spray contains Gibberillins which induce new shoot formation, and new leaves.  Sometimes when a plant is stressed and drops all its leaves, it may need some help telling it what it must do next and wake up spray does just that.  The next thing that you can do is try and prune the roots of your hibiscus.  It sounds like this is a pretty old plant, so root pruning may invigorate the plant and cause it to send out more top growth.  Trimming the roots is the quickest thing you can do if you need to order wake up spray.  Using both in conjunction will hopefully get your stressed plant to send out new leaves and eventually blooms.  Hope this helps Smiley
Logged
Charlie
Administrator
*****
Posts: 3646



« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2009, 07:47:43 PM »

Hi Rebecca,

Based on your scratch tests, I have to say this hibiscus has a disease that is trying to kill it. Most likely it is a fungus disease that entered the plant through the soil and roots. When only some branches are affected that is good, but it could still spread to the entire plant.

There is not a lot that you can do. I would remove all branches that do not show bright green under the surface. Cut back below the brown area until you find good clean wood with green cambium under the bark. Wipe your pruners with alcohol or other disinfectant after every cut into the bad wood or you could spread the disease with the pruners.

After that you could treat the soil or just wait it out. Once hibiscus have a fungus disease it is often a downhill battle, but they do sometimes recover so its worth waiting. While you do, water very sparingly and keep the plant in mostly shade (but not too dark). Some people have reported improvement following the use of Growth Enhancer and you could try that if you think it worth the cost.

Best of luck!

Charlie

Logged
Rebecca N

Posts: 2


« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2009, 10:26:44 AM »

Thank you so much!  It's not the best news, but it has put my questioning mind to rest.
Logged
Pages: 1   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by SMF 1.1.11 | SMF © 2006-2009, Simple Machines LLC