Hey everyone!!
I have numerous hibiscus and seems that since I have started deadheading the finished blooms, the whole plant seems to be getting "leggy". Absolutely covered with new blossoms everyday, but that is all I see, blooms and branches...no real core leaves...Is this a result from deadheading the blooms? Maybe it is lack of water as it has just now reached rainy season. I will monitor any new growth to see if that is the cause...thanks in advance,
I have posted this same one in the HIbiscus forum as well....
aurabest,
john
deadheading
Do you have a pic? I have a double red that was all branch and flower buds with very few good leaves, it had scale ( I think that is what it was). The green growth was very small leaves that yellowed and fell before they had a chance to get big. I didn't have to deadhead, the buds were falling usually before blooming! It is doing much better now. I hope that isn't your situation, but a pic might help.
Here is a pic from a few weeks ago...today it is still loaded with blossoms but fewer leaves. I did cut the top fairly aggressively as it was over 8 feet tall....some of the other hibiscus look similar but have fewer blooms....some on the other side of the yard near the house are lush and full...thanks for replying...we can figure this out!!!!
aurabest,
john
I am no expert by any means, but I think most hibs (here anyway) get leggy unless they are pruned often. Are there any bugs on it? Little white specks near new growth? I don't think it's bad, it looks pretty healthy to me, nice blooms! Here is a recent pic of one of mine.
John...I think your hibiscus looks GREAT! Deadheading, I would think, wouldn't do much as the blooms only last 24 hrs. then die...but perhaps more fertilizer? pruning back?
Aloha,
Carol
John...another thought...are there other hibiscus around you that look the same? I know there are some varieties that grow leggy with insignificant or small leaves....perhaps it is the variety....???
Thanks for that thought, I do have other species in the yard that always have been "leggy" but this particular one has been real bushy with leaves in the past and not until I topped her and started plucking blooms....for the compost pile I am failing at too....did i notice it getting this way....I will try and post pictures of the rest of my hibiscus and maybe we can get to the bottom of this....still at work right now but over the weekend I will get some shots and we can compare....thanks folks,
j
Good evening Miss Carol,
I came home tonight and we have had rain all day here at the house. The leggy hibiscus has a bunch of new growth on her even from this morning...I think maybe my watering every other night for 20 minutes was insufficient as the rains have made a major improvement on her growth. I will still post images of a few of my hibiscus and maybe we can start identifying them...remember, i am very new and don't know the correct names of alot of the plants that are in this yard....thanks so much for you advice...enjoy the evening!!!
aurabest,
john
Your watering sounds good... What are you fertilizing with???? Does it contain 'minors' as well?
John , Hope you don't mind me posting a pic on your thread ?
This is my Hibiscus's , 18 months old .
I trim everything from the bottom , To get them tall .
Seems to be working for me .
what and what?
I know nothing about fertilizing or minors....fertilizer is stuff you blow stuff up with and minors are what put people in prison....seriously though, I have some fertilizer a friend gave me when I first plant..that is, digging a hole, taking the plant out of the pot...a dash of this stuff around, water, cover, rewater...and that is it....not sure what minors are...as stated, i am a newbie with this stuff...have spent the last 10 years under water....sorry I am so thick.....maybe i should spend some time in the beginner gardening forum for a few months...that way i wouldn't be so ignorant when making these posts...i don't want to waste anyones time here, just trying to learn...thanks Miss Carol for being patient with me....
j
John You are not going anywhere .
Stay right where you are . ( that's an Order )
I was like you October last year .
A Garden Virgin .
Are we allowed to say that ?
We will all help you allong .
In OZ we call it "Giving You a Leg up "
John, in some ways we are all beginners to gardening. So like ginger said, STAY PUT. :~)
OK...easy. Minors are the minor nutrients that all plants need. Some plants - palms for instance, will croak if they dont get their specific minors (I think it is boron and manganese).... All of this depends on your soil...and what it lacks. To be really anal, you should get your University Extension Service or whatever to do an analysis of your soil and tell you what you need.
And, if all else fails...Dolomite and Chicken poop does wonders!!!!
Aloha,
Carol
Thanks for that info.....I think lack of fertilizer and months of no rain all played a part in my entire garden's condition. Now that it is rainy season, I will get the proper fertilizer and get to work...The chickens run through the yard at all hours, except when my Lab is on Sentry...there is plenty of chicken poop in the yard but not getting directly to the plants. LOL!! If I could train them to poop right at the base of the plants, I would not run them from the yard all the time...
Thanks again for the info, we'll keep you posted on progress!!!
aurabest,
john
So good to see that you all are takin care of one another! John, we will get it figured out....but from what I have observed here, the hibs seem to sense the change of seasons.....and may just be shedding a log of leaves in preparation for something coming.....I was so worried about mine, but with the rainy season coming they have perked right back up again. When I did any heavy pruning, blooming cut back for a while, not leaves, so I don't think that had anything to do with it. Probably as Carol said - water and some basic nutrients. Cage them chickens!
Ginger,
We have the same Hibiscus here, we train ours into umbrellas>
Okay, so tell us how you "train" your hibs? Hit it with a newspaper when it grows the wrong way??? That is, as usual, a gorgeous plant. Most of my hibs (I have lots), grow as long stems straight out of the pot....no central trunk, so how would I train something like that? I love the look, but I'm afraid to prune too heavily. I lost one pink - from either scale or severe pruning after the scale attack. I really liked this one too, so I'm hesitant to prune too hard.
Shari, We never hit anything anymore, we have 'time out' instead.
To train a shrub into an umbrella you need to start with a type that grows long flexible branches. The hibiscus in your photo isn't the right type. Here are two that would be suitable>
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/41362/ or
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/136680/
Takes time and a little pruning skill.
Dale, I think I know the type you mean....I have a few. I will try to get isolated pics if the rain stops tomorrow. Right now I just have them in "total garden shots"...but I would really appreciate it if you could give me some pruning pointers for them. Wait til you see the pics, so you will know if this Umbrella style will work for them.
I will attempt to guide you, but, it can take 2 or more years to get them shaped. Maybe less for you since you are in Z12 and things never stop growing (things do stop here in Z10).
Well I don't have the pics yet, but I have noticed that some folks around here do shape a lot of plants that I would never have thought of shaping. There is a guy down the street that actually turns his bougainvilla into little topiary type balls. My "boogervilles" as the kids call em just sprawl out which ever way they want to go. When they get someplace I don't want - then I cut them, but not otherwise. I love the look of nice neat gardens, but don't think I have that knack.
Too much work and I am not French either :-)
Waaaay coool! None of my aloe's have bloomed yet.....but here again you show me what I can look forward to. BTW - I think my angel wings are getting too much rain....they look sort of bedraggled. Is that a problem for AW's that you know of?
Too much rain-bad. Make umbellas. :-(
Shari...send some rain here!!! We need it!
Do you get a lot of Hib. mites there with all the rain? One reason I don't grow tons of them here!!! I have a few but the leaves are all distorted from the mites. BTW...in a trade years ago with ????? I was sent an orange/purple hib. that flowers ALL of the time and NEVER has had a mite!!! I should start one for you. The flowers are kind of double.
Carol
AlohaHoya, got a photo of that one?
I get most of my color from Coleus>
NICE photo!!! Yes, coleus are wonderful for color!!!
Will get a photo this weekend, Dale...funny, I have never taken one!!
Carol
I would love to see a pic! Sounds wonderful. On Pohnpei I got cuttings from a double orange and a beautiful pink....hope they grow. I have two japanese lanterns, two reds, a really pretty deep pink/red, a yellow with red centers, a double peach, a double red.....hmmmm, that may be it. We do get a critter, I thought they were mites,, but Nina did some research and we've pretty much concluded that we get scale. Alcohol on a q-tip, or sprayed lightly directly on the area seems to help. It would be great to get one that doesn't get the white spots....
There is a product I use for insects and disease. It is called Neem oil, from the Neem tree. It is not toxic to humans. Will rid you of scale with a couple application, although you have to be torough and liberal with the spray, covering the undersides of branches, twigs and leaves.
We have a bug that attaches itself to our Queen Sago and sucks the life right out of the plant. I have a client that has had that bug on her's since her daughter was born (she graduatesnext year). I cut off all the fronds, removed them-to the dump, and sprayed plant twice, very liberally. The new fronds show no trace of them. I am sure they will come back, that bug is all over town, but from now on a light spraying once a year will keep it healthy. Bug have no defense against natural products, if they make a quick come back if you missed some or there is another host plant nearby.
Is that boston fern? Or something else....I have this fern-type thing that grows all over around here, and I have been trying to identify it. It grows out of trees and such like just like your picture. Found some Need on-line and just haven't ordered it yet. Spend too much time on DG!
Not even a close relative.
Boston fern is a weed, they grow everywhere in trees, on plams, even in the cracks of the sidewalks, they are best when contained>
That should have been Neem not Need....fat fingers. Okay, so what was it???
It is a fern growing on a tree :-)
I know somethings, but, I don't know everything ;-0
Oh thank you guru....I was beginning to feel unbelievably stupid!
Your not stupid, just too curious! I go back and read my entries before I post them (always push the preview button first) and then I find myself reading them again so I can remember what the subject was. That's when I find all my bad grammar and misspellings. I am not dumb, just getting old (and I have a short attention span).
I got lots of great photos tho. Shari can you guess what plant this is?
ummmmm....fern on a tree?
Yep :-)
smart aleck!
In the UK they call me 'cheeky'.
