Which Fertilizer Should I Use?
You have so many fertilizers! How do I know which ones to use?
When visiting the fertilizer page in the online store, you are confronted by 4 types of fertilizer at the top and 5 more nutritional products below the fertilizers. Help! Which ones do you really need to grow a good, healthy hibiscus?
The answer may be a surprise. The type of fertilizer to use depends a lot on you. First, ask yourself these questions:
- Do I like to work with the plants every day, or do I prefer to get them planted or potted up and then just enjoy them with not much more time and effort expended?
- Do I really have the time and energy to give them the best possible care, or is it more realistic to expect only occasional care?
- Am I on a budget and do I need to be careful with what I buy, or do I want the best possible care products?
Once you answer these questions it becomes easier to select the right fertilizer for your hibiscus. Below we match your needs to the right fertilizing program. If you answered...
I want the very best care possible and have the money, time, and energy to give the plants everything they need.
Use the HVH Houseplant Formula with every watering. This combines all our best products, including fertilizer, booster, growth enhancers, chelated iron, and chelated magnesium, along with some protection for soil and roots - into one convenient bottle.
If you really want to spoil your hibiscus, as an extra option, you can spray the plant leaves weekly with Seaweed Extract or Growth Enhancer or any combination of Seaweed Extract, Growth Enhancer, and Iron. Plants quickly absorb micro-nutrients sprayed onto the leaves, but cannot absorb as much of the main fertilizer ingredients (found in Special-Blend) as they need this way.
I want the very best care and have time and energy to give to my plants, but I'm on a budget.
Use the HVH Special Blend Fertilizer with every watering. Use the HVH Booster once every 2 weeks during blooming season in place of the Special Blend. If you can afford it, use Growth Enhancer in spring and whenever you suspect the plants are extra stressed by weather, insects, or after pruning.
I want to give the plants good nutrition, and money is not a problem, but time is a very big problem.
Use the HVH-Timed Release Fertilizer in spring. Once a month, or whenever you can find the time, apply the HVH Special Blend and the HVH Booster to enhance flowering. Add some Growth Enhancer to your monthly mix in the spring, when your plants show signs of stress, or any time you want an extra boost for them.
I want to give the plants the basic nutrition but I'm very limited in both time and money.
Apply the HVH Timed-Release
Fertilizer once in spring. If your plants stop blooming, use the HVH Booster when you can.
Note: If you know you live in an area where the irrigation water has higher than normal pH and alkalinity, for any of the above, substitute the HVH Acid-Blend Fertilizer for the Special-Blend Fertilizer.
We hope this helps simplify the complexities of all our possible fertilizing programs! For more detailed information about hibiscus nutrition, go to the Feeding and Fertlizing page of our website, as well as to the individual product pages in the links above.
Hibiscus Leaves
Who knew that hibiscus leaves could look so strange?
Hibiscus are so well known for their bright and beautiful flowers that the appearance of the bush and the type of leaves they display is rarely considered. The older varieties of hibiscus are fairly uniform in leaf and bush. They have an attractive appearance, but they are simple and nothing out of the ordinary. The new hybrids of hibiscus vary a great deal more. Some have huge leaves and some have leaf forms that are nothing like the common landscape hibiscus.
This month we will look at the unusual leaves that hibiscus can display. Since the plants do not always have flowers but are always green with foliage, the leaves can be considered a significant feature of each hibiscus variety.
A seedling hibiscus with multi-lobed juvenile leaves
These leaves usually disappear within a year
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A seedling hibiscus with heavily-serrated leaves
Soon to disappear
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Juvenile leaves on seedlings can be multi-lobed, deeply serrated, with very different colors. Unfortunately, these extreme variations almost always disappear as the seedling matures - usually within 6-12 months and before the first flower blooms.
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A seedling hibiscus with dark-colored leaves
These leaves also disappear within a year
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Unless you hybridize hibiscus, you have no way to know how amazing the leaves of the new hybrids planted from seed can be. Hibiscus grown from seed, what we call "seedlings," can be quite fascinating in leaf form and even color.
A seedling hibiscus with needle-shaped leaves
that will disappear when the plant matures
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'Crème de Cacao,' has now become the mother of a group of new hibiscus hybrids that all have some variation of the 3-lobed leaf shape: 'African Princess,' 'Arabian Princess,' 'Pinot Noir,' 'Wine Spritzer,' and our newest seedling, 'Red Buttons.'
We think these new hybrids are collectible just for the foliage alone, although they have equally fascinating and wonderful flowers as well. We hope you find them as delightful as we do!
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Occasionally though the strange juvenile leaves don't disappear after the seedling plant matures. We have a growing number of rare new hibiscus hybrids that keep their juvenile leaves. One of the earliest hybrids to keep its juvenile leaves was 'Key Lime Pie,' and its offspring, 'Crème de Cacao,' also kept the same 3-lobed juvenile leaves.
Brand New Hibiscus Hybrid 'Red Buttons'
With large, deeply lobed leaves
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Hibiscus 'Raging Bull'
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Seedling of the Month...
'Raging Bull'
June's seedling of the month is the new giant hibiscus 'Raging Bull.' It blooms with huge 8-10" vivid red single flowers, with a contrasting white eye, and hot yellow flashes that develop in warm weather. The hotter the weather, the more yellow flashes the flowers develop. In cool winter weather, the flower is pure red with a white eye, like a giant, red version of it's mother, 'Saffron.' Father, 'Black Dragon,' contributed plenty of pigment, and the flowers of 'Raging Bull' hold their color even in mid-summer heat. It's a great bloomer on a nice bush with a giant flower that commands your attention like a bull in full charge!
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