I am not very good at raising Hibiscus because it seems there are so many things that can go wrong........ finally got one to actually set bloom and has for a month or so now ............. BUT .........Now the leaves or turning yellow and falling off.
Please help !!
Could be too much water, or letting it dry out too much and then giving it a bunch of water, I've had both those things give mine yellowing leaves. If you've been consistently overwatering it, you may want to repot it in some fresh soil so that the roots don't rot. Or if you've recently repotted it, transplanted it, or even just moved it around a bunch, they will do that sometimes. If it's from moving/transplanting, then don't worry about it, it'll recover just fine.
Thanks Ecrane ........... I think that it is both overwatering and then letting it dry out too much, then watering it like crazy to get it too come back alive !!!
So if I get back to regular watering cycles should it be ok ? ......... unless it is developing root rot ........... perhaps I should go ahead and put it in another pot?
thanks for the help.
james t
If you've been alternating between letting it dry out and giving it a ton of water, then chances are the roots aren't rotting, it's probably just stressed by the inconsistent watering. You can check the roots though by popping it carefully out of the pot, if the roots look healthy and whitish then it's fine, but if they look sort of slimy and brownish then they're rotting, you should trim off the rotten parts, wash the rootball with some diluted hydrogen peroxide, and then repot in fresh soil. Regardless of whether it's repotted or not, I'd recommend not letting it dry out so much in between waterings, and then you won't have to drown it when you do water it.
I agree with the not letting it dry out part ......... I have heck with that this time of the year around here ..... we have a cool spell and you think that things are not needing as much water and you turn around and they are almost dead on the vine .......... That is what happened with this hibiscus ......... we got almost an inch of rain early a.m. (overnight) on tuesday with cooler weather ......... needless to say i didn't watch it and the next time it got water was friday ....... NOT GOOD : ( ........ here is a pic before all of this happened.
ps ......... looking at this picture it would appear that the yellowing had started back a week or more ago .......... any thoughts on this?
Change in the weather does it everytime for me.
Yep, same here. Rapid weather changes cause this for me too, it just puts too much stress on the plants. I also try to keep my watering very consistent and don't let them dry out completely. I know it's a fine line between not enough and too much, but after a bit, your plants will tell you exactly what they need.
me too. Leaves turn yellow from too much rain, too much sun, too little sun, too little rain, turning to the left, turning to the right, doing the hokie pokie....you name it!
glad to know that I am not alone on this !!
I can't see the pot and there's alot of growth. I'd guess rootbound.
Also I have heard just moving the flower from one location to another sometimes will stress them enough to give you a few yellow leaves. I don't think I have ever seen such a tempermental plant in my life. I think sometimes my hibiscus are more tempermental then my hubby. HaHa
that Hibiscus has been in that pot for several years now ......... it seems that everytime it has gotten to growing really well it has a major setback of some kind or another!!!!!!
I think that I will repot to a bigger pot and while I am at it check for root damage/rot.
thanks everyone for coming to a newbies rescue!!
james t
Don't panic if it develops some more yellowing leaves as a response to repotting, they do that quite frequently and they always recover.
Don't quote me but I thought I had read somewhere that Hibiscus likes to be root bound.
Mine seem to get unhappy if they're rootbound, they end up with yellowing leaves because it's so hard to get the watering right.
Need some chelated iron is my thought. Our gardening expert on the news said it was time to give your hibiscus iron, I did and no yellow.
Forgot the photo of the bloom.
Iron is one possibility, but hibiscus leaves will yellow like that for a variety of reasons. Usually when they need iron, the whole leaf isn't yellow, the veins will be green and the rest will be yellow, but when they're dropping leaves from some sort of stress they're more of a uniform yellowish color.
here is a pic of one of the leaves
That looks like yellowing due to stress, not chlorosis from lack of iron. If it were chlorosis, you'd see green around all the veins, but the rest of the leaf would be yellowish green or yellow (but it always goes yellowish green first, not straight to yellow). This is the typical yellowing from inconsistent watering, too much moving around, changing weather, etc.
I had tried several different times with a Hibiscus and like Jataylor never really successful. I tried once more this year after chatting with the salesperson at Lowes. She had a lot of Hibiscus. I told her they didn't do well for me, yellowing, dropping leaves. She said that was natural for them to shed and replace. I took her at her word and bought a Hibiscus tree. I put it in a pot that is really too small but the plant is quite happy there. I did give it a dose of iron as suggested and I couldn't be more pleased with my success this time. I'm even taking care of my neighbors hibiscus now too.
well of of this a.m. that hib seems to be back on track ..........fewer yellowing leaves with the green leaves with slight yellowing appearing to be darkening some !!
temperamental boogers !!!!!!!!!!
thanks for walking me thru this !!!!
james t
I love Hibiscus but like you said James they are "temperamental boogers" !!!!!!!!!!
