Hidden Valley Hibiscus Forum

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Some incredible banding on Zest For Life - WOW!

Farmer D

Everyday I have people stopping by and going crazy over the hibiscus. This day the police even had to stop and admire them...way cool!

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

These photos are amazing.  I can't even keep one plant alive, but you have created a spectacular hibiscus wonderland.  Beautiful!

Fantastic flowers everyone!

This is my first bloom from my first seedling! It's a cross between Silver Lining and Blue Ballerina. It looks purple grey on top, the underside is reddish.

That is a beautiful bloom Grace - congrats and good job crossing. Fun to see those unknown outcomes.

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Tangerine Fusion is a super bloomer...

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

David great flowers from Oct.  The drip system is great.
Rebecca nice dark Clair De Lune. My 4" has been dormant since last fall.  I can't get it to grow or root.
Darren amazing colors.  LoL is stunner.  Thanks for showing us before and after and the temp thing.
Grace that is a great cross keep us posted on that seedling.

I'm still trying to figure out this bud drop thing.    
Also,  over summer I had a few go dormant and or show signs of burn.
I flushed 1 of my pots Thunder Egg with R.O. water 0ppm and the run off was over 3000ppm.  I had transplanted in spring and hardly fed/watered.
Charlie's media will naturally make the run off have a higher PPM count but  not 3000ppm.   I think I over did soil amendities like minerals, calcium, time release fert.  
I'm dosing it  with  "Drip Clean" by House & Garden to remove salt build up and free up the media.  
I'm also trying a super high oxygen  perferated PVC pot  called "Radicle Pot's" a better type of fabric pot to help dry out and give more air to the roots.      
Minus the bud drop, everything going pretty well.
There have been several hibiscus inside and outside that do not drop buds same nutrient water same media.
My nerd glasses are on the entire winter.
All my hibiscus are inside or in the covered porch for winter.
The porch is heated and won't drop below 55F.
Even over winter a  cold sunny day could reach 80F by 11am from the greenhouse effect.  
Kyle      

Some extra holes that I made in 1 of the pots for more air. I flush my pots periodically but salt build up is still present.    I think brown stuff is beneficial bacteria or possibly dead bacteria as it hits the air.      Drip clean contains potassium and phosphorus but they are engineered incomplete elements that act like magnets pulling and  cleaning dirt and salts from the drip system, plumbing,  and the potting media.   I have no idea what will happen but I'm testing it on a good candidate hibiscus.

I left Space Oddity outside until Nov 1st.   It was cold and rainy 2nd half of Oct.   50s,40's, upper 30's cold rainy with occasional sunny days.  I watered at night with luke warm water.   It was profusing and wanted to see if it would drop buds from stress or cold.
I brought it in my porch in Nov and the last few weeks it's been opening most of it's buds in cool fair condition.
The previous post contained 1 of the blooms.

Kyle - you are really into the minute details of your soil mix and nutrient composition. It shows how much you enjoy it and your ability to apply some high level concepts to your growing arsenal. My approach would be if you continue to see bud drop and it is driving you nuts is to simplify things to the basic core elements on some of your problem plants. Repot in HVH soil and use just their Special Blend fertilizer. That's all I feed my potted plants along with a capful of Supernova and the results are great. Charles has done all the research already to give us what exotic hibiscus need. My overall summary for them is they are energy hogs - can't get enough energy and there are various forms and ways to get that to your plants. I would then compare to your other problem plants to see if you get any improved results. If you still don't like what you see then add in a new element one at a time and see if that helps make progress. Also each cultivar has it's own personality too - sometimes you can see from their gene pool from their lineage which might be less challenging to grow but then again some have great lineages and are still a challenge but for the most part it is consistent.

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Darren,
I can't seem to pin point the bud drop.    I'm seeing it with new arrivals and we'll established oldies. I see bud drop with other nurseries media that have not been transplanted into Charlies media yet. My outdoor plants had a very consistent nutrient program all summer  of Special Blend and Booster and every watering I checking and verified  TDS around 700-800ppm and go as far as checking pH of nutrient water and adjust if needed.   It doesn't appear the bud drop is from the Charlies  time release fertilizer because most of the my hibiscus  thrived in the same  media same nutrients.   I like to  water with plain water sometimes over summer because it's hot and easier for me to feed with some time release in the soil.     I also have some hibiscus in my porch with plain  Charlies media that only  feed with  Houseplant Formula and they also drop buds as soon as the flower pokes through the case.   I also have hibiscus in my porch that never drop buds and they feed with the same Houseplant formula and have amended  soil with run off 2000-2500ppm.       75% of my hibiscus don't drop buds, where the other 25% do drop buds.    I have watched them drop buds right before my eyes.    I see a trending pattern that they drop buds when the sun shines on them either outside or inside with filtered sun.   Right before my eyes they  have dropped buds at  9:30am when the sun 1st hits.
I have  also seen them drop buds at 11am sun.  The sun seems to be the biggest culprit of bud drop.   
It's possible the roots are not getting enough air or being choked so when the sun hits the top part of the plant is not getting enough water  and as a result the water/sap flows back to the roots and causes bud drop.   The 1 thing that is consistent is the buds only drop when they poke through the case about 2 weeks before opening or  a few days before opening.
I'm running out if possible causes  but it's all adding up to no not enough air at the bottom of the root zone. This is why I'm taking a close look at media types, porosity, and types of garden pots.
 
There is a topic called "What could be the cause of bud drop".  Davidwood was having the same problem.   No pest with  healthy  bushes.   Charlies talks about a nasty hormone called Abscisic ABA which can cause bud drop from any little stresser.   His solution was use hormones (kelp) to reverse ABA hormone.   I give my plants kelp all the time and I tried foliar feeding with kelp for 7 days.  The top of the bush profused  but it turned into a profusion of bud drop late Summer into Fall.
I appreciate the kind suggestions and possibly solutions.
I'm going through and checking off every possible reason for bud drop.  Doing simple  things like back to the basics of nutrients and watering.   Letting the soil dry more or keeping it evenly wet didn't reduce or help the bud droppers either.   I even over watered but that seems to make things worse when the sun shined.
I didn't really have bud drop problems at my other location with NE exposure with the exception of doubles in heat.
This past summer I was able to stop bud drop  by moving hibiscus to the North side of the home but space is limited (Pink Panther, Spaced Oddity)  After 2-3pm they got full sun and was getting 10" flowers on both of those CVs.    Yes I was able to stop bud drop by shading those  hibiscus until 2-3pm.   


Couple different views from the same Pinot Noir flower.

 
 

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Georgia's Thunder is super pink this time.  Love the speckling on Silver Dragon.

Fantastic blooms Rebecca! A joy to view - great job!

Kyle great info - your passion for learning and diving into the minute details of the world of soil and plant nutrition is really amazing.

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D

Farmer D