Hibiscus help?

I have four huge, blooming and rapidly growing hibiscus in my front yard. We have a new house and just this past week put new sod in our backyard, and planned a few flowerbeds. In one of our beds, a power line is grounded right in the middle. I want to hide that ugly thing, so I purchased 2 more beautiful, lush hibiscus plants from the Houston Garden Center and planted them on either side (knowing of course, that they will cover a good portion of this line by next year). I'm also planning on possibly training an evergreen Wonga Wonga vine to grow up the line as well.

Anyways, I planted these 2 plants in good potting soil with some plant food especially made for Hibiscus (gray pellets, red box, purchased from HGC, smells HORRIBLE) mixed in with the soil. They have been getting watered daily because of the new sod surrounding, and yet the one on the left hasn't flowered since I planted it and both of them are losing leaves quickly and their existing leaves are wilting, very soft and lighter green than before. Help? Anyone? I want to save these plants!!! What should I do? What am I doing wrong?

P.S. There are no visible pests on these plants.

Hi Amanda,
I think that your plants might just be suffering from a little transplant shock.
They may be used to growing in a less sunny location than where they are now.
After looking closely at your photo, I also think they may not be getting as much water as you think they are due to the soil being mounded around the bases of the plants.(runoff)
I like to form a ring of soil around each newly installed plant,( like a bowl) to hold extra water.This allows time for it to soak in properly. You may have to give it an extra soaking now and then when it looks wilty from the sun or drying winds.It should start to look better in about 4 to 6 weeks after it starts to put out some new roots.Hope this helps with your problem. :~)

I agree, it looks like transplant shock. Many plants will drop blooms and stop blooming when they're under stress like this, and hibiscus also tend to drop leaves sometimes when you move them. I imagine it's getting pretty hot by you--do you have a way to rig up some shade for them until they get a little better established? Their roots right now aren't able to take up as much water as the plant needs (even if there's enough in the soil) and the heat from the sun just makes the plant's water demands that much more

My husband and I have JUST done our back yard it went from nothing at all to a Pavillion/deck and two lg flower beds.
All the hibiscus I have planted initially done this. I was not watering them enough.

To see them SNAP out of it I've taken 1/3 cup of ironite per plant and grind it up in my blender with water. About 2 cups of water.
(I don't remember how I figured this measurement out but it seems to be working well)

Then I've made a hole with my weeder (a weeder is kinda like a screwdriver with a notch in the end) about 9-12 inches into the ground at the drip line of my hibiscus. Pour in the ground ironite water & let the ground absorb it fully.

Then water the ground and the plant thoroughly AT LEAST one minute. If you didn't water your hole before planting your hibiscus that may be why they are so thirsty. If this is the case then water each plant for about 5 minutes. It may seem like a long time but if you move the top soil you'll see that the ground underneath it is still very dry. It takes an eternity to get the ground under there initially wet.

Then water reguarly. I do about 1 minute on shower per plant per day. And on really hot ones I do it first thing in the morning and sundown as well. I highly advise SUPERthrive. That stuff is amazing. You can tell the plants that don't have it to the ones that do.

My soil is more like dry black sand. I think it

Wow - this is all very helpful!

One thing I did do was mulch the hibiscus (one on the left was doing a little better than the one on the right, and the only difference is mulch - although that one hasn't flowered since planting, but has a few new buds popping up now). I'm going to try adding the SuperThrive and watering it even more now like you've all suggested.

It is getting to be pretty hot here now, although we've been getting good rain every day. These aren't shaded at all and I don't know how I would shade them - my intention for them is to let them get pretty large and full there to block out that "exotic and beautiful" grounded power line. And I'm also planting a vine to hide it eventually, too.

Will try these suggestions and let you know - THANKS so much for helping a novice!

My dad has been growing hibiscus for so long. I have just learned from him...

WOW, well it was all very helpful! I did it all and now they are looking sooooo good with LOTS of new growth! Thank you SO much!!

Also, here are a few images for those who are interested of another hibiscus in my yard ... LOVE these blooms! It was almost dead when I planted it - this is the first bloom!

The second image ...

Third one ...

And last, but not least - a CLOSEUP! ;) I'm kind of proud ... these did this AFTER SuperThrive, by the way!

Superthrive is wonderful! It's amazing that so little does sooooo much!

And here we are - 2 months later. Look at the DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE!!!!!!!!!

4 months later from when this thread was started - same original plants!!

Plant on the left

This message was edited Sep 20, 2007 11:41 AM

Both the plants

Closeup of flowers

Closeup #2 of flowers

I'm sold on superthrive... and liquid seaweed, can't wait to use that new Anti Stress 2000 stuff. I did find some liquid ironite and I use it in place of the superthrive sometimes. So glad your bushes got all settled in, I love those kind they remind me of the Bahama's and the Virgin Islands... Sounds like you and DH are getting that yard totally glamorized!

Those bushes are large and beautiful now! I can't believe the difference!

Yes ma'am! There's a word of praise for SuperThrive and mulch!

Thanks, AuntB!! I hope it keeps getting pretty. :) Was nothing but dirt 2 years ago.

I'd planted a Corkscrew Vine (Vigna Caracalla) behind the hibiscus. The idea was to cover the top of the fence and that ugly yellow pole with the gorgeous purple blooms, and then have the luscious hibiscus in front. However, the people behind me went into foreclosure, and the bank hadn't mowed their grass for 5 months. It was about 6 feet tall. So when they finally came out to take care of it, they sprayed RoundUp or some other commercial everything-killer back there, and even sprayed the parts of my Corkscrew that were on that side of the fence. This killed that vine. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO upset because it was just starting to put out new blooms. :( Was too late - there's no saving to be done.

Why the inconsiderate nincompoops... how awful! Those vines and blooms are beautiful.... obviously the "sprayer" is NOT a plant person or very respectful, either... IF it's coming from your side, just push it back over to you OR just leave it alone... I'm sure it wasn't the "weeds" they were supposed do something with... how rude. I have one, but it hasn't done diddly this season... it's in a pot with some other stuff. I'm oooing over Hibs and brugs, right now. Are you going to another in to replace?

You might find yours will do better in the ground. Mine did. And it did better when I left it alone.

Well - I have another one that's quite a bit smaller on the other side of my house. I got it late so no blooms this season. But i may try to root a cutting from it next season or so to replace it. I guess it just depends on how the hibiscus there do. I'm not sure I'll be keeping those short, so I may not even need it? Not sure ... just a huge dissappointment to me though that the person did that. They also killed all of the grass back there. I mean seriously - there's NOTHING green in that house's yard anymore. Just looks like straw everywhere. Pretty soon new weeds will take over, I'm sure.

Hey...... maybe...... if the house isn't in good condition, you could buy it cheap...... for that yard expansion your going to need soon... ?

Ha ha ha, I wish!!! The house is only 6 months older than mine - therefore, it's only 2 1/2 years old. Elderly ladies lived there, they took good care of it. They got into it as 3 friends, taking on a mortgage together of a 3 BR house. Then they weren't getting along so one moved out and when their ARM kicked in a year later, they couldn't afford to pay so they moved out and it's been sitting for a while. Tha bank checks on it every few weeks and it's still in good shape. Has all the appliances and they never even painted or did anything like that. I couldn't afford to buy that just for the little piece of land. :) I'm telling you - I need to play the lotto one day so I can move into that mansion in Denton, Tx and we can have Brug parties out there!!

Tell ya what, superthrive is like steroids for plants. I did a little test on two with super thrive and two with out. You can clearly see the difference!

Cool, post pics!! I love pics!

Amanda is that sago plants you have planted on each side of your Hibiscus bushes. If it is, aren't you afraid of the sago's crowding the Hibiscus.

Yes, they are sagos, but I'm not really worried about crowding because the hibiscus are nearly as full as they will get width-wise, but I think they still have a tad more growing room. And the sagos are in full sun, so their frond lengths won't be as long as they would be in some sort of shade. If it ever becomes a problem, it won't be a loss to me to get rid of them. I have 7 sagos, including 1 standard in front that is trimmed up like a tree and 5 1/2 feet tall. :)

I was so busy admiring your hibs, I didn't even notice! Thanks Linda! ....... I'd LOVE to see a picture of it... I have a potted sago, It's enjoyable and pretty much low-maintenance.. water and get someone to lug it in and out seasonally. Linda, do you have some? (I think I know the answer) lol

Yeah, I like sagos. They're soooo maintenance free and nice fillers. I like to keep them trimmed up without pups - the trunk on mine in the front yard is about 4 feet tall or so. I've seen some much taller and I can't wait until someday mine will be like that! I've seen these trimmed up like mine around here with trunks that were over 9 feet tall before the top 3 sets of fronds.

No I don't have any sago's. Don't ask me why I don't really know why I have never gotten one.

Linda- they are quite pretty in full shade. There are some inside the lower levels of the Hobby airport parking garage here in Houston that are in full shade all day long with a TEEEENY bit of shaded sunlight. They have ginormous fronds, and even though they'ren ot very tall yet, they're still quite stunning. :)

I don't know how many times I flown in and out of Hobby and I can say I don't remember seeing any sago. I am so observant, next time I will have to pay better attention.

Ya know.... I think I just planted some sago's they are in full sun.... do they need shade??? I mean eventually the big palms behing them should give them some shade but not for a while.....

Here is the first side

Here is my other side.....

Dangitgirl, your yard is super pretty!!

Dangitgirl, Amarantha00 just took the words right out of my mouth. I like the red mulch it really brings out the green in the plants.

The funny thing is that it looks REALLY crappy in these pictures. It needs some serious TLC but it been raining alot these last couple days and I got my lanai repainted.

What about my little palms though??? Too much sun?

I wish I could help you but I don't know anything about palms, but surley someone with the knowledge will jump in here soon.

I don't really know anything about sagos, but from previous comments it sounded like they'll do fine in sun, but in the shade they grow really big huge pretty fronds whereas in the sun the fronds are smaller and less impressive. So I think it depends on what you want them to look like. Amanda mentioned that hers were in full sun.

Mine are in full sun, and do just fine. However, my mom's are in a bit of shade and look much much better than mine do.