Hibiscus: hibiscus over-wintering, 1 by myresortonahill

myresortonahill wrote:
I have overwintered these guys pretty well. The tile floor is our dining room and kitchen combined. The temperature depends on the time of day and who if someone is at home. If we are gone we keep the temperature at about 62-65 degrees. If we are at home, some times we heat with our fireplace, and then the temp in the house can be 78-82. It has not had a poor effect on the plants, but the whiteflies sure liked it. So this year I gave them a good spray with Bayer's Tree and Shrub insecticide and then used granules so I did not have to spray indoors.
The floor temp can be cold on our feet in the Winter, but it doesn't seem to bother any plants. Also, the furnace dries out the air, even with all the moisture that the plants give off.

Speaking of spraying, one of the most important aspects of winter care for your plants is to mist them regularly. I don't want water all over, so I devised a way to keep most of the water from my walls and the plant lights. I use an umbrella inverted, hold that behind the plant and mist. "Big Red" up in the picture for the last post is the most challenging.

The lights that I used came from a hardware store (Menards), but I have seen the same lights at Lowe's and at department stores. They are power saving eco friendly bulbs that came with the goose-necked lamps, and some are clip on lamps that are simply flourescent bulbs, and again power-saver lamps. These plants are located on the East side of the house, so they get lots of morning sun, so I can turn off the plants at night. They come on at 7:30 by timers and off around 5-6 pm. The blooms are set from them being outside, but these plants have bloomed well for me in the winter. But it is better for the plant to have a shorter day now and rest. I just want to carry them over for the next 7 months. That is a long haul and I am ready for them to go out mid-May.
You are so fortunate to have a longer growing season, so the plants can go out earlier and stay out longer.
I hope this helps. Let me know how things go. Here is a pic of one of our tree hibiscus. I call it "Make up my Mind" because it often has two different color blooms, pink and peach. It must have been either a graft or the plant really can't decide which of its genes it wants to show. Enjoy.