Hibiscus: Over wintering, 1 by

wrote:
Yes, I do, about every 2-3 weeks I give my plants outdoors Miracle Grow. Once they come in, they get the same as my hoyas, a very watered down fertilizer (MSU) with every watering. Maybe it likes the MSU better; the yellow hibiscus doesn't skip a beat though - it never stops flowering.

I had one of these "red hots" before, and it bloomed its fool head off for the entire summer; it was covered with dozens of flowers every day. I unfortunately didn't have room for it inside then and had to give it away. Maybe I just got a bad one this time. Its leaves turn such fabulous colors-bright red and dark green-when it gets enough sun; even when it doesn't and they're just green, they're a really lovely green. But maybe I should just try and get another one in the spring and start over.

I was just hunting through old pictures for pictures of my old one, and while I couldn't find a picture that was very good, I did realize something: I had that old plant on a balcony that faced south-it got dreadfully hot and blazing sun every day. When I put this new one outside, the sun burnt its leaves, so I put it in semi shade - it did get sun every day, but nowhere near the amount of sun the old one did. Maybe that's the key that I'm missing here-it needs way more sun than its getting where I've been putting it. Once it got used to being outside, I probably should have moved it to full sun.

What do you think?




C.