What happened to this Hardy Hibiscus Plant?

This is the only plant out of a dozen that had this happen to it. I was inspecting various plants in the garden this evening, and I noticed that two stems on one of the hibiscus I have planted against a fence were completely wilted and lying on the ground. They were just barely still attached to the plant. The rest of the plants I have planted against the fence are all fine. It does not look as if they were broken off. It looks more like some kind of stem rot. Does anyone have any idea what this might be? Please see photos.

This message was edited Jun 7, 2006 10:07 PM

More photos of dead Hibiscus parts

Another photo

Last photo. By the way, this appears to be very recent damage. I think the plant was okay even yesterday, or at least the day before.

Have you had a lot of rain? Looks like it might be fungus? Hope it comes out of it.

Do you know which one it is? I have a lot of them.

Gloria

Hi, Hibiscus. Thanks for your reply. I have been watering and fertilizing them. They have a southern exposure so dry out quickly. Not sure which it is. I think it is a red one. I will look at the label. I kept labels with all of them. Have a dozen different varieties against the fence and think they'll look very nice when they start blooming later in the summer. There is still the one stem remaining that looks healthy. The rest all look fine. Maybe I had better be careful with the fertilizing and the watering? Are they especially vulnerable to fungus?

Thanks.

Was supposed to have this photo, not repeat of first photo

Don't know for sure, but looks like too much TLC. I do not do anything to mine, except water them when I first plant them. I never fertilize or water them. Let Mother Nature take care of them, they are supposed to be hardy. I will try and get a pic of mine tomorrow. They were about 1' to 2' tall, I cut them all back at this time to about 3"-4" tall. Have tops inside in glass of water under florescent lights, to root more plants for friends. When they get the same height again, cut them back to about 6" tall. You will notice in doing this all kinds of side shoots come out, making them very bushy and not too tall.

Sounds good, Hibiscus. Will leave them to themselves now. Looks as if the one shoot left on Lord Baltimore is okay. Will hope it and its roots survive, so that it will send up more shoots.

Here is a rooted plant I started in water, under lights in 2005. It bloomed outside in pot, before I planted in garden early September.

Three hibiscus Lord & Lady Baltimore and Turn of the Century, just cut back 6-8-06, will break old dead sticks off at ground. Will trim back to 6" again when they grow to about 1' tall.