Small blooms and cupped, not opening

[Gil]

Within the past few months, several CV's have shrunk to 3 inches and don't open, or have curled ends.
Vin Beaujolais, Wild Allure, and Hot Buttered Rum. They all bloom frequently, just are small and don't open completely.
I fertilize with each watering (when not raining) using HVH spec blend, booster, and SuperNova. They get full sun all day.

Could the heat of S FL be the cause, or could it be root bound, or something else? Plants all look healthy with lots of dark green leaf growth. All my CV's are in 24 inch pots (3 CV's per pot). Too crowded?

Thanks, Gil

[Charlie]

Gil its almost certainly the heat. Once it cools down in Sept or Oct they will return to normal.

Charlie

[Gil]

Thanks Charlie!

I guess some CV's handle the heat better than others.
The temps here are low of 75, high of 91 every day, with 1 hr of heavy afternoon rain.
Look at the forecast for next 10 days!

[Gil]

Here are today's Vin Beaujolais and Wild Allure

[farmer d]

Gil I see the same thing here a couple times a year when we have our summer heat waves.  Last time was end of April when it was over 100F and very dry for three days.  All my blooms got small, a few like Vin B had trouble opening and my plants lost about a third of their leaves.  Not much you can do except spray them with Supernova to help reduce the stress and make sure they are well watered.  Also important to cut back on feeding them as they will increase their uptake during very hot weather and can get fert burn much more easily than usual.

It is tough in Florida from what I am seeing of your blooms so far this year.  It seems like spring and fall are great months for blooms but summer is just too hot.   That is a long stretch and then to deal with all that rain you had recently...

Kuddos to you for hanging tough - your reward is coming soon again.

Farmer D

[Kathleen]

  I know just how you feel.  I live in Florida, around the Tampa area.  All summer I have had to deal with wilt and sunburn.  Then, in September when I should have been seeing fall blooms begin, it rained non stop  for weeks.  Lost 4 plants because they stayed so wet and I still have three that look like they won't make it.  I haven't  had more than a handful of blooms all totaled since spring.  I get lots of buds that stay small, turn yellow and fall off.  I stopped growing roses because they required just too much work.  I am about to give up on hibiscus for the same reason.

Is it too much water, or not enough water?  Is it getting too much direct sun, or not enough?  Too much fertilizer, or not enough fertilizer?  And I won't even start on the bugs.....

Could my potting mix be the problem?  I haven't watered in three days and they are still wet.  They are planted in a mix of 2 parts Miracle Grow potting soil, 2 parts peat moss and 1 part pearlite.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

Kathleen