Pruning and Supernova.

[davidwood]

Below you will see a photo of a heavily pruned Think Pink cv, and a photo of it 4 weeks later, the cv is 16 inches tall with 17 new developed nodes, to my mind a huge success and I thought I would share how it happened, and before I do let me say up until now pruning has only really brought me a better shaped cv, I may have occasionally got lucky with an extra branch where I pruned but that was about it.

So I looked back through the Forum and found that Chris had wrote back in 2009 that maybe the best time to prune was as the cv was in its growing stage, not when blooming but the bit before that as its developing new leaves, well that is what I thought Chris meant so I studied how they grew, and they do seem to grow in a sequence of bloom dormant grow bloom dormant grow. {Maybe Chris can tell us exactly what is happening}

So what I did when it had finished blooming I watered heavy with Supernova for 3 weeks, heavy being 3 teaspoons per gallon and then pruned, and believe it or not and this is why I think I have had such success I HAVENT watered since, but what I have done is with that same 3 teaspoon Supernova solution is spray the bark of the plant and now the leaves up to 4 times a day.
It was done by accident at first, the Think Pink stick just happened to be next to my  cuttings which I  spray a lot with Supernova for better results, and I happened to notice a lot more green on the bark of Think Pink where it was getting wet, round the back of the bark [the bit which was dry] the nodes hadn’t developed much at all, this sort of told me that spraying and keeping the wood wet was a good idea, so I then I made sure that the whole wood of the cv was sprayed 4 times a day and as you can see nodes came out everywhere, in fact there are green shoots coming out of the bark where I hadn’t even know there was a node.

Think Pink is easily one of my favorite blooms, but the bush really let it down, I think that is soon going to alter and I could end up with a real beauty.

For anyone wanting to try what I did the timings are below.
1, Water with Supernova for 3 weeks when blooming has finished.
2 Prune and then do nothing for 2 days [allow the cuts to heal].
3 Then start to spray the bark of the tree and any leaves with Supernova, for at least 3 weeks 3 or 4 times a day.

I thought it might be a bit of a fluke so I used the same method with Saffron, I did it 2 weeks ago and have a heap of nodes developing on that as well.

Third photo shows my Acapulco Gold cutting at 2 months; this is what I was spraying with Supernova when Think Pink got wet.
 There was a bit of talk on the forum this week about Supernova, well I think this photo proves its worth.

[blupit007]

David, This is great!  I will give it a try.  I don't really know the cycle I am in right now.  Coming out of winter, I can only think that I am going into a grow stage... I water with SN every week, not as strong as you, about 1 tsp per gallon.  Can I get blooms in the grow stage?  Because I do get blooms.

I will start spraying with this solution though.  Thanks a bunch for the great tip!

[Charlie]

Excellent, David. You did good with this approach. I use a similar technique with our baby plants in 4 inch pots - helping them to branch out more after pinching the growing tips. What is particularly impressive about your experiment is that Think Pink is naturally compact and slower growing. If using this technique causes Think Pink to make new growth then it will work even better on faster growing cultivars. For instance, it would be good to try on Acapulco Gold so that some of that fast growing energy it has can be guided into making more side branches.

Charlie

[Doll]

My Stolen Kiss completely defoliated because I left it in the ground when it got down to 25. I dug it up right before it got down to 16 and kept it in my cold garage for 2 weeks. I figured it was a goner. But I planted it back in the ground on March 1st and sprayed it with Supernova everyday. It is putting out growth from every leaf node now. It will be a very full bush this summer. I still can't believe there was no damage to the stems at all. I didn't have to cut it back even a little bit.

[davidwood]

Excellent, David. You did good with this approach. I use a similar technique with our baby plants in 4 inch pots - helping them to branch out more after pinching the growing tips. What is particularly impressive about your experiment is that Think Pink is naturally compact and slower growing. If using this technique causes Think Pink to make new growth then it will work even better on faster growing cultivars. For instance, it would be good to try on Acapulco Gold so that some of that fast growing energy it has can be guided into making more side branches.

Charlie

Thanks Charlie, here is a picture of a Acapulco Gold cutting at 2 months, I am holding up for a better view and its in a 4inch pot, I haven't pinched it yet but with being sprayed daily with Supernova it seems to be doing ok without, would you pinch it now anyway.

[farmer d]

Thank you so much for sharing.  I'll try this technique on my AG as well as Rise and Shine.  I have a bunch of Tahitians that have really open and skimpy foliage so this would be a huge help as I need full & lush plants as well as pretty blooms.

All my plants right now are in growth mode and have been getting SN daily for a week now along with HVH special blend.

What do you think would happen when I'm on vacation and away for 2 weeks at the end of May?

Farmer D

[farmer d]

I am spraying away...a big thank you again David!

I'll also test this technique with these shocked and shut down Tahitian hibiscus.  They were sent bare roots and went into severe shock now over a month ago.

Also one barely alive winter tragedy Melon Melange and a baby Electric Orange that is struggling from winter too.

I've got a feeling that with it being spring now and these Tahitians being mature plants this might be what they need to re-awake.

Farmer D

[davidwood]

Good luck with those Darren, I would say looking at them that they certainly don't need watering, the run of from the Supernova will be enough as there are no leaves.
Once you get growth on Melon Melangie take a cutting,if there is an easier cv to root I haven't found it yet.

[farmer d]

Fantastic advice David.  I am going to also try the wake spray on those suffering Tahitians.  They all have green wood underneath so I need to get them out of the dormant shock state.

I did find one side effect that you forgot to take into account with the spraying SN program and I'm not sure what to do about this as it is something I have never encountered before.

You mentioned in your experiment that it was the accidental overspray that made you realize the effect SN was having on creating new nodes where there was none before. 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE SPRAYER GETS OVER-SPRAY ON HIMSELF?

OH-OH!!!







Farmer D

[davidwood]

That's an Hibiscarm, its okay but will only bloom for a day, and even in Holliwood you will get some strange looks when you start spraying yourself with Spinosad.

Can you post a link for that World gardens in Oz so I can also have a look at the pictures please.

[farmer d]

David I was able to find some time between sessions of spraying myself with Spinosad to paste the url for the world gardens Australia link:

http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/world/australia.htm

Again I can't wait to see how your new plants do and the blooms you get.

Congrats on the new shade you installed, looks great!

Farmer D

[davidwood]

David I was able to find some time between sessions of spraying myself with Spinosad to paste the url for the world gardens Australia link:

http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/world/australia.htm

Again I can't wait to see how your new plants do and the blooms you get.

Congrats on the new shade you installed, looks great!

Farmer D
Ha ha, I did not realise when you said Australia World Gardens you meant the one on this site, I was tapping it into Google.
There sure is a big difference grown in the ground as to grown in a pot, they look lovely as well, can see now why your Chariots of Fire does so well.

[jpiper82]

Hi All!  It's John, I am back! Had to take a little break, but Iwould like to comment on SuperNova. I have been using this product for two years now, and highly recommend it. Charlie, turned me on to it, and what a difference it has made in plant growth and sustainability over the winters here in Texas.  Last fall I was just going to pull all the CV's and throw them out, because I did't think I was very succesful at over-wintering them.  A friend wanted them and took them home and SEVERELY pruned them back to 6", and I am not sure what else they did.
Two months ago they brought them back, and they were starting to grow, so I called them "My Wounded Warriors", and put them back on the growth cycle feeding regimen that I have been using for two years.

Everything David, has said is correct and I basically do the same thing, only I make sure to bring them inside if the temperatures are going to be less than 50 deg. at night.

[Mike]

Hi Charlie
I have a question ?
on some of my plants that are about two feet tall they have real big leaves that come right off the main trunk and kinda lay down and underneath are small branches about one to two inches long . But they never grow because there being shaded buy these leaves, so if I cut these leaves of it allows  the sun to reach them will that make them grow . I'm also using supper nova maybe that will help? I have a hole bunch of tinny branches up the trunk like about 15 or so they just stay about 1 to 2 inches.

[blupit007]

Great question Mike.  I have the same issue with Cindy's Heart.  Leaves are big and lay down, not out.  And there are plenty of tiny branches... Thanks for bringing it up, would love to hear his input.