Prune for more branches

[Kyle]

"Hey Kyle, how big did your Wow Factor get this year before pruning?  Mine was blooming at about 2 ft., then went into another growing cycle and is now over 4ft. I'm reluctant to prune it at the moment as it has now began budding again at the top and I love the blooms so much.  I'd like to get it to bloom with more branching and at a much smaller height next year and was wondering if you had any suggestions?  Right now it's really just one large stalk with another small stem branching out about 3.5 feet up.  I wish the smaller stem had branched out at a lower height so I could prune right above it"...  David

David,
I can talk about pruning for a while and I will start by saying it can be very difficult to make a potted hibiscus branch on it's own regardless of conditions.
The next thing I'm going to say is just because a certain CV is known to branch doesn't mean it will for me.
I could not get my hibiscus to branch indoors over the winter even when I had led's shining right on the nodes.  
For an indoor hibiscus to branch it needs to be forced and how you do that is by cutting.
   Let's see I received my 4" Wow factor early summer and I wanted to prune it real bad even though it was pinched a few times at the greenhouse.  I decided not to prune it after I received it but it grew to much on 1 side of the bush.  I finally cut it down last week and the main branch was about 3.5ft tall from the base.  It actually grew a lot if you consider it did not have direct sun  and all this happened within 4 months as a 4" houseplant.   Keep in mind the 4" plant appeared to be pinched twice at the greenhouse so they forced the branching for me.    
     I don't care for tall hibiscus with 1 or 2 breaches.   Every time I see a tall lanky hibiscus I just want to prune it.  To me it's more important what  the bush is going to look like next season or how I want the bush to look like in the future rather than a few small blooms over winter.   Do I really want a 5ft tall bush with 2 branches that becomes to top heavy and blows over if I bump it? No
  I noticed hibiscus grow in spurts.   I call it the up slope and down slope.   After Labor Day all my hibiscus are  on the down slope mainly because they don't get much direct sun after Labor Day and it's already cooled off.      To get them back on the up slope it takes pruning and pinching  to jump start their hormones as I patiently wait for the days to get longer again.  I noticed that when I force my hibiscus to stop blooming and slow them down by pruning, they come back better than ever on next up slope (days get longer).   I will use my cat as an example.   When I'm gone she is passive, chills out, eats, and lays around.  After being gone all day when I come home she is literally bouncing off everything and has this crazy energy.   My hibiscus are similar,  if I can put a lid on them for a few months while shaping them,  they explode the next grow season.   Due to my weather, conditions, pot size, I can't expect my hibiscus to branch on their own so they need lots of help to force them to branch.  For me it takes a hard prune, or multiple prunes, and then multiple pinching off the new growth to finally get them to branch where I desire.  
  Your hibiscus at the office is a special exception.  Their downslope could be minimal and shorter but they to will need help with branching.  However since they sunlight from many angles  they have a better chance at branching on there own or they may only need 1 prune to get the branching going.  However if the plant is tall and it blocks the sunlight from reaching the bottom it may not be enough light to branch where you want.  Another reason why it's so difficult for my hibiscus to branch is because they are in smaller pots.  A smaller pot could limit on how the hibiscus will branch.  If I use to big of pots, the soil stays wet for weeks and my plants can't get the nutrients they need.  
  When you do the actual pruning get a nice pair of pruning shears and sterilize the blades before moving on to the next plant or if you cut diseased branches.
I'm not talking about Friskers either because they are useless.  The pruning shears that Charlie sells are exceptional and work great.
Don't be afraid to prune, the longer you wait the more difficult it is for the plant to branch.   As the wood gets thicker and older the nodes begin to die off and eventually the wood has no way to branch.  The newer younger wood has more nodes so prune before the wood gets to old!   As the wood matures and gets older the few remaining eyes may point in the wrong direction and limit your shaping.
  Is there anything you can feed to your plants to help it branch?   Not really.  I have not noticed any advantage of using kelp to aid in branching.  
The one thing that will help wake up nodes and dormant growth is Wake Up Spray.   Wake Up Spray will help that stubborn growth  get going but it's not intended to be used when the true leaves grow in.    I like to use Wake Up Spray after I prune on only certain parts of the plant (bottom).  
  After you prune 1 time don't expect the bush to grow side branches.   It's likely gong to take several pruning sessions and then the new growth will need to be pinched off the tips so that you force the energy to the dormant areas of the bush.   Since we are pruning in the fall, winter, indoors, its even more difficult for the plant to branch where we want it.

Finally, now that all of my hibiscus have been pruned, it sure is a nice break.
Pruning has given me a much needed break and makes things much more manageable.  Its really nice not having to deal with any mites for now.
Kyle
 
I added a photo of Laughing Fountian.   It was pruned about a month ago and last week. To get the desired shape for next year I cut it fairly low so the bush is forced to branch from bottom.  Since the new growth is coming in just below my cuts  I will pinch off the new growth at the tips throughout the winter to try and force the bush to branch more from the bottom.  This is still a young hibiscus but since I pruned it while it's young, it should result in a more compact fuller bush. 

[DavidU]

Thanks for the feedback Kyle. I agree that this is a process that may take several sessions before getting the desired full bush that I want starting from down low. My concern is always cutting too low on the main stem (at times it's the only stem) and risking permanently damaging the plant by doing so.  I try not to go below 1 ft. on the bigger plants I have and hopefully this forces some more bottom growth as well. I do pinch my 4" smaller plants and it has certainly helped with the branching and yes, I have good HVH shears and they are awesome.

I suppose I'm being stubborn with my thinking on some of my potted cv's as well as I understand that many varieties are intended to grow very large before they begin spreading out and that many are best suited being planted in the ground.  It's just frustrating with our conditions here on the east coast and there's so many varieties that I love and want to grow compact in pots with multiple blooms 

[Kyle]

David,
I cut as low as possibly on the main stem not sure what you mean by permanent damage.  Hibiscus respond really well to pruning.  Sometimes you just gota do it to believe it takes time.    In the past I have pruned all the wrong way but I learned how things work.     Just as long as you have healthy roots and can see 1 or 2 nodes below the cut, go ahead and cut that main stem down because your goal is make new wood and replace the older wood.   Since you have sunny windows or artificial light it will recover faster.  If I can't make my cuts low enough, I let the bush grow in a bit and then prune again cutting lower and lower forcing  that energy to the side branches.
You control how your potted hibiscus branch out.   If you want a compact shorter bush train your hibiscus when they are young and force it to branch where you want it even if it means to be patient for 6 months - 1 year.    Our conditions is all the more reason to prune early and often to help the bush branch.     
The 2 gallon sale stock plants is a good example of how to get branching.   
Those stock plants have been cut over and over and the next grow season they are going to be full of branches and blooms.  Those 2 gallon stock plants are going to be something when they bloom again.
Kyle

[DavidU]

Kyle,

Thanks for the tips. The 2 gallon stock plant that I received this year was exactly what I used as an example when I began pruning after bringing the plants in for the winter so I'm excited to see the results next year.  In the meantime it's pretty neat observing the plants slowly regrowing as the weeks go by.  I only have one plant left that needs to be pruned for the winter. I really need to force my Black Dragon to branch out, but I am holding out for one bud to bloom as they are so beautiful.  I know you're probably thinking "cut it back now!" I'll suck it up in the next week or two and cut it back.

[Kyle]

David,
I can't always prune the bushes real low because the stem below the cuts is to bare and I can only work with what the bush gives me.   It seems like if I don't prune the 1st or 2nd year the lower stems get to bare and most of the new growth dies off and then its really hard to keep the bush from growing in to top heavy.
When I receive a new hibiscus I like to study the way it was previously pruned or pinched in the greenhouse to learn how they do it and get an idea how the bush is going to grow in.
This year I had exceptional weather over fall.   It wasn't that I left my hibiscus outside longer but rather the amount of sunny days over cloudy rainy days has brought in some reflected sunlight and helped the new growth.       I'm done with my pruning until the days begin to get longer again.    Most of my hibiscus only get watered weekly or bi weekly as I try not to water them to often over winter because the water in the pot has no where to go.
Kyle