first attempt at growing hibiscus from seed

Help!! I have white texas star, and red, grown from seed, and can't find instructions, on keeping them going.I planted them in pots today, they are 6"-7" and thin, but I don't know what to do, as to move them outside, and keep them in pots, or will I be able to put them in beds this year, if so when.Any help will be welcome. Thanks, Mike

Mike. I planted the red last year. They only got up about 3-4 feet and they stayed skinny. had the one main thin stalk and some leaf branching and just a couple of buds.

I had transplante d mine into one gallon pots and then as they got bigger into 2 gallon pots. In the fall I ha d let mien die back naturally. They stayed outside all winter in those pots. I wasn't sure that they would come back this year or not, but after a coupel weeks of warm temps sure enough they did.

They sent the new foliage out from aroudn the bottom so I cut back the dead stalk to within just a couple of inches above the ground. This year they are branchign out very nicely and are alot fuller and sturdier.

A friend did hers last year and when they got big enough and the groudn and weather staye d warm enough she put hers right into the ground. So yopu can go which ever way you want with them.

I planted my red ones in the ground last year..... soon find out how they did... sorry I am no help to you
Allison

Thank both of you for the info, and in the ground they will go, and have them mwrked, so as to know where to look.The reason I'm so doubfull, is when they came up, it was like all at once, and they got a certin size, and stopped growing, or seemed.I planted them in ind. pots, and they look like they "need" the room, and seem to be taking to the pots very well.The little stems don't look like they will suport them, but I knew that I wouldn't get any flowers, until the next years growth.I have 6 clusters of the red,that yealded these many seeds, that I planted, and traded for some white, whitch I will try to contrast,BTW,I have plenty of the red seeds, if any one wants some.The older reds, seem to grow larger every year, and multiply. Allison, let me know when yours come up, thanks again,Mike

will do.... the way we are going won't be till July

:)

I put my White Tx Star in the GH this past winter. Stupid me, no label.
Something started growing out of a 5g pot. Couldn't remember what it was until it got about 2' tall. Oh, yea. White Texas Star.
Even down here it died completely back to the ground but is coming on strong. I swapped, gave, & grow all the seeds it produced last yr & am so tickled that it has come back again this yr fr the roots.
Definitely a hardy hibiscus!!!
:~)

Update....
Well, I have such brave teenage deer. You will never guess what they are doing now! They have started getting up on my deck & helping themselves to desert, probably after having a corn dinner @ my next door neighbors'. They stripped 6 tomato plants, 1 yellow hib, 1 white Texas Star hib, 2 yellow columbines, 2 rose bushes & that is all I can remember right now. They are so careful when they do these things. They never break a stem, stalk, or vine but will come back in 3-4 wks to strip them again. They do the same thing to my Skyflower vines & Hyacinth bean vines.
Anyway, the white Texas Star that wasn't stripped, has now been blooming for a wk. Nice pretty flowers. Hopefully more seed soon.
Time to go get some more cattle panels for my deck! lol

Mike if you are still watching this thread.... mine are showing no signs of life

:(

Allison, yes, I don't miss much, and sorry yours didn't make it, could have been the weird weather we had this year.Mine are doing fine in pot, and some sun(they like sun), but what we have is miserable, but we had a little rain this evening, funny how people come out and watch it rain, after so long a time without.What I'm hoping for is white tx star, I have about 10 babbies.
Thanks for keeping me in mind. Mike

hope you have better luck than i did
Allison

Allison..... How did you try and start your seeds? Do you have any seed s left to try another way?

Hello everyone, (waving at Mike).
May I join in? Though, I didn't propagate my hardy Hibicus, I do have one planted. A large Pinkish, unknown cultivar. They're surely hardy here, and does self-sow if I don't deadhead them. Matter of fact. I've recently discovered a seed has taken root in my tropical Hib.'s pot, and it's growing there happily to about 1.5' now. (The characteristic of the leaves different than that of the tropical hib. was a positive identifier). The parent plant is now making flower buds.

Smockette;
...."teenager- deers" lol, I thought I was one of the few that referred to rambunctious pets as "teenagers". They fit the description don't they. I love to see them from a far in the woods. But, luckily no problem with them in my garden. But, I assure you we have plenty other pets visitting pets such as squirrels, chipmonds, ect. You've mentioned of your skyflower vine. Is that Thunbergia grandiflora? If it's. Is it hardy in your zone? A friend of mine lives in La. and is in zone 8B. Should this vine hardy (lives year round, and bloom all winter, I need to let her know). Thanks much.
Kim

LL, yes to the Grandiflora. I also have the 'White Cloud'. They die back to the ground but come back in the spring if they have a good blanket of leaves or pinestraw for the winter to keep them warm.
Now, if your friend lives in a neighborhood, it might not go all the way down. But I live on top of a hill, n of Hou, & I get about 10 degrees colder than Hou.
Where in LA does your friend live? I go over there & MS about 5-6 times a yr or I did b4 the gas got so high.
I refer to the young deer as teenagers b/c they don't have sense enough not to eat everything in sight.
Plumerias are not normally eaten by deer but I had 15 in 5g pots & the teenagers ate every leaf off of them. Not one single leaf on the ground either.

Mike, good lucks with your hib. The 'baby' I mentioned is making flower buds. Go figure! It's only a foot and half tall. Since it's sitting/sharing my tropical Hib. like I mentioned. I'm not sure if it's new or has it been sitting, escaping my watchful eyes. lol

Smockett; Thanks for your response. Experience is so valuable, and thank you, for sharing. My friend is in Lousiana, where she grows certain type of Palm that even blooms there for her. So I thought Skyflower may survive the winter for her to enjoy. The flower is treated like herbaceous (sp.?) perennual here in my zone as well.

Alison,
Since your climate is a tad cooler than ours, perhaps it will take a little longer to germinate? ...

Starlight; where in Al.? How far from B'ham? I'm near Pell city, good to see a neighboring DG'er.

Kim

Same her e Kim but I about or 5 hours away from ya.

Allison..... Hibiscus need certain temps before they even think about germinating. they need to be nice and warm and soem of the seeds can take as long as 30 days to germinate. Don't giv e up on them.

if anybody gets blooms and seeds from the white texas star sure woudl love to get some.

Like that about deer being teenagers. LOL how right ya are abotu them eatign anythign and everything in site.

I have never heard of "white cloud", or maybe it has another name.Sounds beautiful, would like to look it up.I have not been a hib grower long, and don't remember where I got my start, but have 6 clumps of texas reds, that get 7', and bloom every day until the weather chills, then die back, and come up fresh in spring.
I think the pink, is a cross between the red, and white.I have never seen it, but have heard about it, and that sounds beautiful too.
I have never gotten a confederate rose to root, without dyeing, and have one in its last stages now.I get a cutting, now and then, and keep it in fresh water, and in the dark, it will put out stems, and leaves, then die, and I don't think I'm exposing it to sun too quick.It will have a moldy look about it.Anyone know???
Some times it takes me a try, or two, to get things wright.Mike

I'm with you,Allison, this is the part where you take the chance, and send them out on their own.Here is where it is cridical in the growth, and developement of any cultivar, and one whitch the gardener needs to know and understand the plant in question.I, like some of you, have been "lucky", and was sucessful in planting a seed, or make a cutting, and have it grow to maturity.What I am striving for is to seek the experiences of those who have been sucessful, without the luck.Who can make it grow every time, and is willing to share "their recipt".Mike

Mike.. when ya bring it out into the light are you still keeping it in the water ? Are bringing it from the dark into your house or out into the outside light?

I'll see if in the next few days I can get Carolina Moon to come here. She propagate s them and ha s enormous success. She uses willow water for he r cuttings and beliv e it hormone #3 which is for woodies.

Sorry about that Allison. Giv e it time to come up. Yoru outsid e temps may be warm now to you, but yoru groudn temps may still be in the 40's or 50's and too cold for them to start coming out of hybrination yet.

The 'White Cloud' is a skyflower vine not a hibiscus.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nparks.gov.sg/nursery/uploadfiles/thunbergia%2520grandiflora%2520alba%252001.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nparks.gov.sg/PlantInfo.aspx%3Fprint%3Dyes%26id%3D6110&h=768&w=768&sz=105&hl=en&start=54&tbnid=XagMsue7K6yeDM:&tbnh=142&tbnw=142&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dthunbergia%26start%3D40%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26ie%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DN
Don't know if that link will come thru for you or not. Just google (images) 'thunbergia' & scroll down the pixs to the white one.
Now, the white Tx Star hib is another story! Have it blooming on my deck as I type!!! Hopefully, it will make seed & they have Starlite's name on the first ones. The seeds grew extremely fast last summer.
If you have never seen one in person, let me tell you it begs to be touched. It looks so .......? It doesn't look real. It looks like artifical or plastic until you touch it.

Hey Mike,
Since I'm sending you C.V. and uncertain if you'll have success with them. Would you like a Pink hib. as a bonus? Or a small Conf. Rose? I have to move my 3 year old bush this spring, (same one was moved before and due to wrong site-selection it failed to flower for me last year due to too much shade). It seems to be growing vigorously in a new location. Though, I can't promise on the Conf. Rose. The smaller one is quite big, I don't know how practical it's to package it during the growing season.
Don't give up on me just yet on the C.V. As the weather heats up. If I missed the early morning hours for gardening chores, I'll have to look for the next day opportunity. Since it's sooooo, soooo hot. To top it off, our drought has been so severe. If we weren't watching the rain, we'd be doing the "rain-dance" lol.
Kim
p.s. Mike, BTW; I've successful rooted the vine before. It's relatively easy when you've the material fresh. So, I conducted an experiment. I've since then try to root some C.V. I've one pot outdoors, and another indoors. Thus far, the outdoors cuttings, one out of three took root. The indoors' I try to root it in water. 8 days went by, no new root noticed, but the foliages all are still green, and I thought I even saw new leave growth at the tips.

it's funny the lower parts of the plant are looking alive and the tops look like they are bone dry... just going to give them some more time and see what happens

Lily Love.... I think the only way you can grow the Thunbergia grandiflora maybe up your area, but only if it is kept in a pot and brought in or put under some shelter.

I have some cuttings here growing and blooming and hoping to get some ants to pollinate them to get some seed s on them to share.

I had one for two years in the groudn and then the one year we got colder than normal and it croaked and your way more colder than me.

Cuttings growning now.....

Thanks Smockette!! need all the seeds I can get for my Dreaming Green Project.

I have these Luna White Hibiscus I grew from seed coming on. They got plenty of buds and they have white bloom with a red eye and since we are short on bees this year as soon as they get open I wil be out hand pollinating them and will have bunche s of seed to share with folks.

I thought i was gonan los e them we went from 100F one day and sever drought to another hail storm the day before. I was out stringing sheets in the hail over them to save the blooms.

Well ofcorse, Kim, I'm in to growing plants, and have a natural love for them that goes way back to early childhood.The "hardy hibiscus" needs more sun, and can take full sun.However, you may ought to look at moving, after the weather breakes, maybe Sept.Whenever you move, LMK, and yes, would like a cutting, of Conf. rose, and pink hib.As for the CV, I am quite sure I will be able to sucessfully root it, and enjoy the results.LMK, the best way you had success, wheather w/ water, or harmone, and sandy loam.I would guess that willow water, would be good.Mike

I have the "black eyed susan" thunbergia, and its prolific, it comes back heaver each year, must be from seed.I will have to try the white cloud, and I can't wait for the white Texas star to bloom.My seedlings are about 8"-10", but the stems are getting sturdier, maybe I can hope for a bloom next year.

Starlight, I put the conf. rose in fresh water, and a dark room, @ about 60 degrees, and kept them there until warm enough to move outside, and exposed them to light slowly, but they grew what looks like a fungus on the wood, and new stem, as well as leaves.I don't know what I did wrong, but must have been something.Maybe I need to add a funguscide, still trying to find out. Mike

Starlight;
I have no idea young cuttings would make flowers so early. You've definately got a green thump. Mine is a few year old, 4-5 maybe. Thus far, it survived the odd weather we've had. I creditted that to "luck", though, microclimates speak volumn. For instance, I've two Azalea shrubs grow side by side. One flowers abundantly, the other gave less blooms. In close inspection. One does get a little more filter sun than the other. Thus created a total different result.

Mike... when you take them out of the dark roon, if yoru still gonan leave them in water, put them in clean water and a sterile container and before ya put them in the clean contaienr giv e them a uickie bath and rinse in some antibacterial dish soap. I use AJAx, but if they a few good roots on them I would take them from container and put in soil, with alot of perlite in it and no fertilizer. leave them for at least two weeks before ya giv e them weakened miracle grow. Sound s like they getting so much water that it litterly rotting yoru stems and causing the fungus.

I don't have acar right now, it has bit the dust and the guys are workign on it, but have no idea how logn they gonan be at it, but when I can I have a two year old condeferate ros e that stil has your name on it.

Mike,
I've found a book that every gardener ought to have, I'll see about find it to share it with you. Great tips on propation. Different types of cuttings, dividing, seeds, grafts, and "timing" of certain plants.

Starlite: Your 6:45 posting sure looks like what we call 'Mercer Blue'. It is a Thunbergia but not the Skyflower vine. It is more of a bush-type.
May just be your camera but it sure looks like a richer color than the regular Skyflower.
I'm interested in seeing your Luna White H. Anxious to see some pixs of them.
Where is Seale? Spent a wk in Mobile @ the USA Med Ctr in January.

Ella, your plants look like they have a lot TLC, and thats half of growing.When a person gets down to the root of the matter, one feels a knack for the plant, and how it grows.Your plants look healthy, and well cared for.Sorry about the transportation issue, but sure sounds familier.The second year of our marrage, we lost car, pickup, and the only thing that would run was a 2 ton pulp wood truck, and my wife drove it to work, an 8:00-4:00 job, and I finished at the local cotton mill at 3:00, and I would try to have a load on the truck, and she would haul that by the wood yard, and then go to work, as a secratary, in the dept. of genetics, amoung those who would't have a clue what went on at 7:00AM.Life has been a blast.A winner finds a way, but a loser finds an excuse.

Kim, whats the name of the book.Maybe I could find it in the library, I need all the help I can get.Thanks. Mike

I've thousands and thousands of cuttings and woodies are the hardiest to propagate. I've trie d lots of different ways, but the best way I have found and is what I did on all of the above is take the cuttings making sure I have two nodes at least at the bottom and just one or two sets of leave s at the top.

I then take the few leave s that are left and cut all of them in half so that there is only a little piece of leaf left attached to the stem. Then I stick them in a mix of peat, pine bark and pertlite in thos e little 6 packs that annuals come in. Makign sure no fertilizer at all in the mix if I use a bag mix.

I them put them under a mist system. They get a 5 second mist every 5 minutes for anywheres between one month to two months. The cuttign of the leave s while looking bad, actually increases the photsynthetic area and forces the plant to produce roots instead of leaves. Also with havign such a small leaf area, the water does not stay around to mold or mildew and the roots are kept on a constant damp

You can build a real cheap mini mist system from pvc pipe. Ya just build a small bed with 2 x 4's for a frame on the ground, lienit with some weed mat, run a water hose to pvc pipe using an adapter.

Ruin a lenth of pcv pipe down the middle of the bed on the ground, and evry two feet make a pvc riser with a mist sprinkler head which ya can get from Lowe's. Cap of the one end and at the other just attached a timer. Timer the most expensive. You can find a decent one for about 40 bucks.

Lily Love... Thos e Thunbergias were stated way back in the end of Nov. Onc e they rooted, they spent the winter sittign in front of a bedroom window and rotated every couple days til the outsid e temps got up to at least 50F during the day and then came in at night til the temps stayed constant. It was a pain dragging flats of fowers in and out and in and out everyday, but very worth it in the end.

Smockette.... The orginals tiny cuttign came from that well known tropical and unusual place out there in CA. Can't think of there name, but a little two inch rooted cuttign was like 15 bucks. It is the T. grandiflora. I am the worsted picture taker. Just got a camera and only know how to pres s the button and just learne d hwo to download. I have no idea what the other buttons on it are all for. It wants to vine and I keep them apart, so that they will spread out a bit so folks can get a stronger stock and then put them where they want to grow them.

I also have the Bengal Clock vine. Had lot s of cutting s of it but only 6 survived. It one that drives me crazy trying to root. It fussier than all get out. Have tried many different ways to root it, but it doesn't seem like like anything and took almost months before I could even get the first roots on it.

The best way to think of Seale, is find Phenix City , AL. / Columbus, GA. I kind a in the pickle of both cities. I've been to Mobile once. Take s me almost 5 hour s to get there.

Mike... You hit it right on the nail. I am lucky in I have ha d some well-known mentor s to answer my thousand and one questions and tag along and get my hands into the " dirt" so to speak.

Their motto is " Take care of the roots and the top will take care of itself." How true that is. The wrong soil, the wrong nutrients, wrong enviromental contitons and once the root s gone the plant itself gone.

One of the things I do when I have somethign new to propagate or if I try and it don't take is I go to google and I type in the words,

" propagation of ( name of plant) " then I start looking at all the university sites and reading through them. I have foudn some of the best information that way and alot of things I didn't know. Of course reading it and actually doing it are two different things. LOL I just keep trying until I find the right combo that works for me.

LOL your story brings back memories of having to hitch a rid e in a cement truck everyday to work one time when my vechile was broke. Can't blame the car to much cuz poor thing 24 years old, gues s it getting tired. Think next time somebody come s to take me to town, gonan get a tire on my son's bike. Gott a be better to try and learn how to rid e it than walkign 20 mile s to the store and back every few days, but thank goodnes s for legs. : )

I like everybody els e have problems with plants too. Got these Digitalis that I have no ide a what they want. They just don't want to grow up. Nic e healthy plants but they just sit and sit and and dare me to touch them. In two an a half months they have only grown about 2 1/2" . I am stumped.

Hey Starlight, you're a real trooper!!! Actually you 'sounded' like a true Master Gardener to me. Your propagation techniques are very helpful. I've tried some, only thing missing is an irrigation system. I'm gonna have to ask hubby built me one. :-)
Your Foxgloves look like they need some "leg-room" if you give them bigger pots, I'd bet ya they'll be much bigger.

Mike; The book is "American Horticultural Society Plan Propagation" by Darling Kindesley Publishing. yep, yep. I checked it out from a local Library, then paid late fee for it 'cuz I couldn't put it down during the winter. Now I've a copy of my own. :-)

Lily Love.... I have my degre e in Horticulture.. greenhosue and nursery Mgt. and my minor is plant pathology, but I tell ya allthe book learnign in the world can not compare to havign to get out ther e and actually grow something. The knowledge is a big help, but until I actualy got out ther e and starte d growing new seed and others in trial gardens for the big seed companies ya really get a taste of what plantign and growign is about.

I love to grow and love to mess with the genetics of things.

Thanks, I'll go out her e in a fe w minutes and step em up into a two gallon pot. Appreciate the advice and help.

This is a species cultivar and a ne w one for me to be playing with. The hybrid s are beautiful and I go ga-ga over them, but I really enjoy growing the species and tryign to preserve them and find ways of gettign them to adapt to new areas. So many plants are heading toward endangered or extention and that saddens me, plus alot of te newest and prettiest are sterile and that hurts the beneficials from getting pollen and surviving.

Thanks, Kim, I'll check it out, and apply it to the situation, one needs to know what they are doing, to make the nature of plants work for them.A plant is not going to germinate in a bucket, with a lid, and the sooner we realise that, the more we conform to nature.

Ella, I missed a lot of education, because folks in the know, thaught I didn't, and I had to learn to read on my own, and had to learn to think, like nature does.Its never wrong, and follows the laws there of.(ie.what goes up, will come down),no matter how much better idea we think we have, the laws of nature are solid.The best teacher I have ever had, was experience.It gave me the test first, then the lession.It seems to me that you have picked up a lot of that, and you, like myself, are open to new horisions, and our deffinition of "impossable", is hadden been done yet.Your idea of the soap is fantastic, and I can see a difference in a hibiccus already.Thanks
Kim I believe is wright about the digitallis, because I sowed a bunch of seed, and one by one lost all but one, in whitch i put in a flower bed, and forgot about it, until my grandaughter ask what this was growing, and it has survived,ie.,it had space.Mike

Starlight,
I concur. Book knowledge is one thing. Actual experience is invaluable. When the two combined = Priceless! All these combined with love of nature. What can I say? A Gem?

Mike,
It didn't occur to me. My Pink Hibicus self-sown, but who knows what color it's going to reverse back to...White or Red? Which of the parent's characteristics would it carry forth? NOT pink, is for sure. Any how, I'll send you a couple of those seedlings for you to find out along with me. I've a bunch of them, I don't have enough room to spread them out. (After I found the young one in the pot, I then found a cluster of more than a dozen babies, next the older bush). PLMK
Kim

You got me there Kim!!I would imagine that it would be a pink, from all indications, but have never gotten that far with the cross polination, and would it become a hybird?I am sure you can hybirdise most any cultivar, but have never heard of that with coccenia.Maybe some one out there might know
Anyway, I don't have a pink, and would love to try.Mike

Mike;
I believe Starlight could help with some helpful info. in this area. Let's hope he'd check in.
Kim

P.S. I'd send you a couple along with the C.V. any how. Will look forward to go to P.O. on Monday afternoon.

Kim.... LOl I am a girl... : ) Just checkign in and seeign what happenign on Dave's.

You don't happen to know the name of your pink do you? if you knew the name I could trace it back . With out knowing what cultivar you have it a roulette game. Selfers should come true and you should have all pink that if you have one plant and it pollinate d by itself.

If you have more than one pink, it possible that a bee has pollinated before it could self itself then your gonna or should end up with at least 3/4 that is pink. the other quarter can be white or red or even a different shade of pink. But even then ther e no quaerente e because latent ( hidden dormant genes) can pop out and do and produce the mutants that make the brand new cultivar on the market.

Take the Luna white I that gettign ready to bloom. They will produce alot of seed but they are a hybrid so while I will have lots that look like mom there going to be some of unknowns in the mix and maybe even a new cultivar as recessive genes pop out . That part of the fun of hybridizing and planting so many seed. It take s thousands and thousands of sproutign seeds to find a genetic flaw but somewhere along the way a new cutivar will pop out eventually.

I also gonan take a coupel of the Luna Buds and pollinate them with a deep red hibiscus that a friend sent me a piece of. I expect to get somethign new and different out of the cross. Hopefully somethign good, but sometime s ya just get get dogs.

I had a pink selfer hibiscus that produced tons of seed and so far all that I have sowed and given away wer e pink.

I planted thousands of Gallardia seeds. Out of all thos e seeds I discovered one that is a mutant. it has smooth leave s and the bloom while lookign like mom is only about a half inch wide. I pulled it otu and have it growign seperate. It a mini. I pollinated it to itself and when the seed ripe I will germinate them to se e how many if any become mutants and who comes out lookign normal.

When I was out watering tonight, notice d one of the Luna Whit e bloosm is starting to try and open. Soon as they do will get ya all some pics.

One thign i have learned though is that with any plant. Unles s you have the plants in a controlled enviroment, pollinate them yourself and then immediately remove the filaments and anthers and cover so there no chance of any other bug accidentally pollinating them your basically left to nature and whatever she decideds to produce for you.

When you buy seed from the big seed companie s your seed gonan coem true. They produce under controls, but when folks grow and trad e seeds that they have harvested ya get the luck of the draw.