Thunder Egg

[Kyle]

I would like  to hear some comments from others about Thunder Egg and the habitat as in how much sun does it get?
Mine is doing well but it can be fussy.   It arrived in April, outside by mid may and I selective pruned it to keep it from getting 6ft tall.   It was growing so fast I had to stop it and fill out from the bottom.     It's been acclimating since May and mine is sensitive to sun.   I have it in morning sun until the shade hits at 11am.   By 11am all the new growth is wilting as its crying for shade when its 80°  with some clouds.
After 2 hours in the shade at 1pm it's perked up firm leaves and does great the rest of the day with out any watering till evening or night.
I tried cutting back on fertilizers but I also tried increasing the fertilizers because it was losing green color or just not turning green enough.  
I am ready to move it in the shade for good but with the days getting shorter I will leave it be for now as I want it to build resistance and bud by Oct.
The bush upright, vigorous, and hilarious.   My neighbor asked me "is that that crap they grow in Colara do"?   Thunder Egg is different and really fun to have.  

[Kyle]

I think I found out why my Thunder Egg was wilting after a few morning hours in the sun and it's my fault.
When the 4" arrived in late April it was still young and small.   I transplanted  late May into a tall skinny 5x5x7" pot.
In June and July it grew so much, I kept having to prune it by selective technique and shape the plant.
I kept having to water it almost everyday regardless of the climate conditions and a lot more often than any of my other CV's in small pots or the same 5x5x7 pot.    
In early Aug. I transplanted again into a 2gal pot.   When I slid the root ball out of the 5" pot I noticed excessive root growth that was starting to spiral that ran out of room.
Since I transplanted it, I water it less because the pot can actually hold some water now and the roots are able to spread out.
In addition to less watering the wilting has pretty much stopped and my Thunder Egg is now acclimated and doing very well with micro buds showing.
For me this was a lesson learned.    It took me a few weeks to realize what was going on.      Perhaps the root ball was so bound up and tight that it was having a hard time drawing up water and nutrient from the pot.    Since the latest transplant 3 weeks ago, the foliage has turned nice and green and my Thunder Egg is doing very well in the sun now.    I will have some photos to post in a few weeks.
Rooting hormones work very well but they will cause a vigorous cv such as thunder egg to outgrow a small pot in just a short time.


 

    

[farmer d]

Very interesting Kyle - thanks for sharing your experience!

Farmer D

[EdW]

This CV is a beast! Even after routine pruning, it has eclipsed the 7 foot mark and is the tallest plant in my collection. I seem to get the best colored blooms with a heavier potassium fertilizer mix.

Mine gets about 3 hours of direct sun.

Ed

[Kyle]

My Thunder Egg from April 25th - Sept 3rd.
It was selectively pruned all spring and summer until mid July and transplanted twice.
My blooms should flower towards end of Sept.

[Charlie]

Thanks for the feedback and photos - helps us understand the HV cvs better.

Charlie

[Ernest]

Kyle and Charlie, my Thunder Egg was planted in the ground about a year ago and is now about 5' tall and well branched. It gets direct sun almost all day and has outgrown the several other cvs I planted in the same locale at that time. It has produced a number of flowers but they haven't shown the speckling that I see in most pictures of the cv. This flower pictured here is pretty typical.

Erny

[Kyle]

Erny
My Thunder Egg loves to eat often but lightly.  My thinking is with all this new growth and crazy vigor, it needs extra nutrients to sustain new leaves and branching.
It wasn't that I use high amounts of fertilizers but more the repeated use of certain things and how often i fed it.
I targeted the  new growth by increasing micro nutrient absorption with liquid humic acid to green up new growth.    For the bigger older leaves I used booster just about every watering with the exception of transplanting and acclimating.    By mid aug i was boosting  ever other day in addition to fertilizing.     Again, it wasn't the amount of what I used but rather how often and light I used certain chemicals at certain times of the year and how each CV reacts to it.

Kyle

[Kyle]

1st bloom on Thunder Egg.  The plant was not happy being outside in the cold for a week before bringing it inside.   I'm going  let it bloom inside before chopping it down to see if the gold spots or blue tones appear.



 

[Kyle]

Gold spots begging to show now.   The blooms continue to change inside the house.   

[Kyle]

the shape of the flower by evening.         

[Charlie]

Its getting there, Kyle.

Darren recently took a photo of Thunder Egg at the greenhouse on the original seedling plant that I had lost track of. One of the nicest Thunder Egg blooms I've seen. I've attached it below.

Charlie

[DavidU]

Here's a shot of a nice Thunder Egg bloom indoors under the T5's...

[Kyle]

Excellent flower Dave, this photo would look great blown up on a canvas.   
The mysteries blue pigment continues to confound me even more now.   

[Gil]

My Thunder Egg just recently started blooming after almost loosing the plant to spider mites. Mine is now in full sun all day.
In my very hot S FL climate, I have found if the roots get too hot, either due to a small pot, or visible roots on surface, the plant can wilt mid day. Cool water brings them right back! I can't have anything in a small pot here. Make sure the roots are covered.

[Charlie]

Good info, Gil, and great photo!

Charlie

[DavidU]

Kyle - Thanks for the nice compliment back on 12/26 and sorry for the delayed reply!  These beautiful flowers sure would make for exquisite artwork! Your TE plant is especially beautiful with the selective pruning you have done.  Mine is getting a bit leggy, so I should prune it this spring before I bring the plant back outside.  I'd love to see some updated photos of your plant in the near future.

Gil - really nice bloom from the end of last year!  By the way, I saw some of your driveway shots online and your potted plants look amazing out there - great job!

Here's today's thunder egg bloom, again indoors under the T5's.  This shot shows a bloom creeping out from right under the light fixture!  It really is amazing how much gold spotting this cv seems to get under the artificial lighting.

[Kyle]

David,
My Thunder Egg has gone through some big changes since Oct and I'm not done with it yet.   I regret selective pruning it over summer and this is why.     I don't have room for gigantic bushes.   I love the foliage on Thunder Egg but I'm not growing Hibiscus for the foliage.   The bush grew so big no light was getting at the bottom.   I did manage to grow this amazing rootstock on what was a 4" baby.    Since I pruned it may,june,july and early Aug. I lost primary month for blooming where I live.  By the time my T.E. bloomed it was beginning to shut down as the winter solstice was approaching fast with nights dropping in the 40's and barely making it out of the 50's during the day.    Here is what my Thunder Egg looks like now.    1 more prune to go and its' off to bloom for the summer solstice because I want to see blue, brown, and gold flowers this year!!

Gil I must say all the Thunder Egg flowers I see in FL look similar and I can't wait to see yours as we approach spring/summer.   The foliage grows so different in FL from what I see.      Under no circumstance will I water a wilting plant to perk it back up only unless the soil is bone dry.    I can't be home to do that every day when it's hot and sunny.   They need to build up resistance to heat and sun on their own and not rely on me.    I make mine wilt it out because after a few hours it will perk up on it's own without water.     I wait until evening or night to water it or after it perks up on it's own.   

Thank you everyone for posting your comments and photos of Thunder Egg.   I am begging to learn about this mysterious cultivar. 
Kyle
   

[DavidU]

Your TE looks healthy and poised for plenty of awesome blooms this summer, Kyle.  As mine has been getting a bit leggy this winter under the T5's, I plan on pruning a bit next week and hope to have mine ready to burst this summer as well.  I'm excited to see the flowers change in colors once I able able to get her outdoors.

[DavidU]

Some recent Thunder Egg photos since I've moved this CV back outdoors for the summer. I love how varied conditions impact the flower on this CV.

[Kyle]

Thunder Egg 8-30-15 6pm

[Kyle]

A little selective pruning over the summer directed some energy to the dormant growth at the bottom of the bush that you see here.   This is the time of year my outdoor hibiscus come back inside for the winter and get pruned.

For the 2nd summer, the bush grew tall with long upright branches fanning out from the main stem.
I used hack saw to cut down the main stem since it was so thick.

End of season 2

Kyle

 




   

[Kyle]

Thunder Egg in the morning as a houseplant Nov 2016.
Responded really well to being a houseplant after a hot and sunny summer outside. 
This year a deer did the pruning for me in early summer.

[Cindy]

Excellent color for being indoors!