Rain, Rain and More Rain

[Kathleen]

OMG, the Rain!  I has  been raining for days now with no end in sight.  It poured all day Friday, Saturday and half of the day Sunday.  Today, Monday, it was fairly dry, though cloudy, until about 4:00 this afternoon.  Then the skies opened up and it has been pouring down ever since. If it ever lets up enough tonight, I'm going to move the plants onto a covered porch and give them a chance to dry out.

The question is, if I put a liquid fungicide on them, will it help the fight root rot?

[Brenden]

I don't know about that product, but I think you and I will be in this quite a bit together. Let me see a picture of your plants. I feel a bit out of place to give advice but anything can help, my California  beauty  is roughly a week away from  blooming, I'll show you them when I get home. In the difference with me is the fact that I keep mine inside, I am gone majority of the day, and cannot. I REPEAT cannot afford anything to happen to them while  I am at work. A picture of all you got, and where  they are will greatly benefit all of us. I want to help you!

[Charlie]

Fungicides are hit and miss. They work best to prevent a problem rather than as a cure for an existing problem. One reason is that each fungicide is effective against only specific fungi and it is hard to know which ones are involved in a problem. Anyway, its worth a try if you are worried about it. Good drainage helps a lot. Our plants are thoroughly watered every day in the greenhouse but do have a chance to dry out between waterings.

Charlie

[Kathleen]

Thank you for the help, Charlie and Brenden.  I didn't have a chance to move the plants onto the porch last night....it poured down rain all night and never let up until about 8:00 am this morning.  I have now moved them onto the covered porch and am going to leave them there until the weekend.  The rain chances are supposed to lessen on Saturday.  I have changed my soil and my pots so I think I have pretty good drainage now, but when the rain never stops, they still stay wet.  I wish this were the end of it, but our rainy season doesn't end until October.  Keeping the plants inside isn't an option as I don't get any sunlight in any of my windows.  Nearly all of my yard is shaded by trees.  I wish I could post pictures, but I don't have a clue how to do that.  Any other thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Kathleen

[Brenden]

Haha  honestly  it is simple. Google how to upload pictures on Internet ☺I'll help you, or email me privately, and I can better walk you through  brenden.reinhart3@gmail.com 

[Kyle]

Kathleen,
To help you with posting pictures, I will explain what needs to happen.
Cameras and cell phones now days have high mega pixels which means they capture lots data and store that as a large file also known at a digital photo.  As an example let's say you are using a standard point and shoot camera or your cell phones camera to take the photos.    When you take a picture of a flower your camera takes the picture and saves the information into a file.    That file (likely a JPEG) has size and takes up space on a memory card.   Each photo can be a large file of 2.0mg 1.0mb or 800kb and pro cameras can easily take 30-50mb for 1 photo.  Charlie has the Hvh forum set up to accept  400kb photos or less.    Its like that so the pages of flowers don't take forever to load up on your computer or tablet.   Plus, people will not be able to steal the photo and blow it up for  professional art work because 400kb is to small to do anything with. 
What you will need to do is take your photo and resize it smaller.   You can resize your photos by transferring them onto a computer or with an app on a cellphone/tablet.   If you use a cell phone or tablet I can tell you what  app to download so you can resize your photos.   You can also use your computer or laptop to resize the photos and save them to your computer so they are available to post on the hvh forumm. If you can import photos onto your computer from your camera you can resize them into small files with a few extra simple steps.
As far as your rain rain rain, look at it this way.    Its been really hot in FL and they can use a break from the heat, hydrate up, and flush the pots out.  Just make sure you don't let the pots sit in a tray of water and make sure you have holes at the bottom for water to drain out.     Also keep an eye on the surface of what your pots sit on.   Mold/mildew can grow fast under a pot. 
Take preventative action to fight fungus like don't let the pots sit in standing water and have some drain holes at the bottom of the pots. 
      Moving them under the covered porch is a good idea but don't cut out all the direct sun.  They could go into a light shock from a sudden change and not be happy they are not getting some direct sun.   If you can and feel like it, move the plants under the covered porch before it rains as a temporary shelter until the rain stops but put them out again when the rain stops.  I will warn you that if you keep them in the shade for a few days or weeks and then you move them back into the hot direct sun, they could wilt, burn, and or drop all their leaves if not acclimated back in the sun.    I like to take preventive action against fugus by using soap, peroxide, or vinegar to fertilized water.
Kyle

[Kathleen]

Thanks for the great advise, Kyle.  Do you think that instead of moving them onto the porch I would be better off getting a few pallets to set them on so they aren't directly on the wet ground?  I would think that would allow for better drainage and I wouldn't have to worry so much about fungus growing under the pots.  Please tell me more about adding vinegar to the water... what does it do?  How much do I add?  Is it safe for the very young plants?

Kathleen

Oh, by the way........it's raining again!!!

[Kyle]

Kathleen,
I have put my hibiscus on pallets before and was able to tie them down securely with bungee cords so they were less likely to blow over.    You can give it a try as a way to be able to get them off the ground to.   Just watch over time if mold or algae start to grow at the bottom of the pot where they sit on the wood.    I would sometimes spray a weak solution of bleach and water where the bottom of pot meets the wood.         
 
Maybe Cindy can explain  better what the point of using soap, peroxide, and vinegar in with your fertilized water. 
I add soap and peroxide almost every time I water, unless I use the houseplant formula.   I'm talking about a tiny little bit.   
For every gallon of water, I use 1-2 Small drops of NON anti bacterial dish soap that has peroxide in it already.   
I stay away from ultra concentrated dish soap and never use an antibacterial dish soap.   
I don't use bleach but some people do.     
For every gallon of water I use, I add an additional cap or 2 of peroxide but I don't know what strength the peroxide is offhand.
Vinegar not so much because the filtered water I use it not alkaline and the acidic properties of the fertilizer take care of that for me.     
The same dish soap with peroxide in it, I have also been using it as a way to wash my plants down several times a week instead of pesticides and Neem.     It's super cheap and it's been  safe on all of my hibiscus just as long as I use it in the evening when the sun is down.   Take a durable 1qt spray bottle, fill it with water and add 1 small drop of dish soap, spray every part of the plant focusing under the leaves.    After I blast off the leaves and braches I spray the pots, lips, dirt, and the floor to wash it all away.       You will be surprised to see how well dish soap works instead of pesticides and the foliage is squeaky clean!   It also worked very well for us in FL.   

Good luck, don't use to much but I think your plants will benefit from a little soap and peroxide in your fert. water. 
Farmer D also  has some experience using peroxide in the fertilize water.  We have drifted off  topic here but there are a few other post on the forum about using dish soap and peroxide and the benefits they bring. 
Kyle 

 

[Kathleen]

Well, I am in an emergency situation now.  It has been raining almost non stop for weeks now.  We just got a shot break so I went out to check my plants.  Even with well draining pots and soil, they are still very, very wet and about a half a dozen plants are showing "WILT".  I went ahead and moved them all onto the covered porch...... I'll worry about re-introducing them to the sun when we actually get some.  I know with wilt I have to act fast.  What should I do?  Every year I lose 4-6 plants this way.

Please Help!  I'm desperate.

Kathleen

[Kathleen]

Finally had a day with NO RAIN.  Got my plants back outside for some fresh air and sunshine.  I clipped off the branches that showed signs of WILT.  Hope that now the sun is back out, I can save the plants.  Going to treat with fungicide tomorrow and hope for the best. 

We had 18.5" of rain in just 10 days.

Kathleen

[DavidU]

Wow that's a lot of rain!  Are you in a climate where this is always an issue?  If so, another option for you is to create an indoor grow area with artificial lighting.  I keep several hibiscus indoors under T5 florescent grow lights and the plants do well and bloom under them year-round. Some CV's do better than others indoors, but any plant I've grown under these lights have done pretty well, some just bloom better than others in these conditions.

Many people worry about the costs associated with keeping grow lights on, but with the latest T5 florescent lighting fixtures I've barely seen my electricity bill increase and I have them timed to be on from 8am to 11pm everyday. Just another option for you to consider...

[Kathleen]

Thanks David. I live in the Tampa Bay Area here in Florida and this is our rainy season.  It is not unusual for us to get heavy rains for a hour or so each day this time of the year.  That creates enough problems.  The rain we had in July however was unprecedented.  Fortunately, I live in a pretty high area and while I did have 4 to 6 inches of water in my yard, I at least didn't get water in my home.

I considered keeping the plants indoors with some sort of lighting system.  I was among those who thought it was just to expensive.  Not just the cost of buying the bulbs, but I worry that the amount of heat they produce will make my A/C have to work much harder to keep the house cool.  I will have to research it a little bit.

Kathleen

[Brenden]

Yea, I would like some lighting during winter, but in terms of the cost, too much  for  me right  now.