Perennials: Fireball Hibiscus, 0 by NCplantsman

NCplantsman wrote:
Hi Jenny,

I'm growing several Hibiscus including Moye Grande. I collected seeds last year, planted them after a few days of drying and none germinated. I founded out Hibiscus seeds need a period of cold storage to break the dormancy. This year I collected more seeds and stored them in the refrigerator. I'm doing some experiments to see how long the cold storage needs to be before they will sprout. I would recommend you take your dry seeds put them into an envelope or plastic ziplock bag or(an empty film canister works great) and keep them in the frig.

One of the problems with Hibiscus seed is germination can be sporadic. A few will sprout after about 10 to 12 days then a few many more days later. In order to get a more uniform germination rate storing the seeds for the proper length of time will help.

My Moye Grande seeds have been chilled for 48 days as of today. I will be planting some next week to see if they will germinate and keep the rest stored longer in case 48 days isn't long enough. I will post the results when I find out something.

Crosses: Interesting you asked that. I did a cross between Moye Grande and a red hybrid I crossed a couple of years ago between H. coccenius and Lord Baltimore. The seeds were viable and the hybrid plant bloomed for the first time this year. Here is a pic. I've named it H. 'Danabee'
I also crossed Moye Grande with coccenius this year. I will know more about that cross next season.

Ray

PS: the flower of Danabee is 10" across being about the same as Moye Grande, but with a slightly different shade of pinky red.

This message was edited Sep 18, 2004 11:13 AM