Help! My Hibiscus won't stand on it's own ...

I don't have pictures so here is the description of what is happening ... Last fall I purchased an 'Over the Rainbow' hibiscus from HiddenValleyHibiscus. (For reasons I won't go into in this post it will be my last one). Anyway, Dorthy is now about three feet tall, she consists of one branch that splits and one of the splits branched off. She will not stand without staking. I've loosely braided the three parts of her 'trunk' and tied her to a stake about a foot up the plant. She is still top heavy and if a breeze comes along she'll topple over. This is even in a ceramic pot (she even broke one of my favorite pots last week). I've brought her in for the winter. I'd love to make her more bushy but haven't figured out how to accomplish that. If I cut off a foot off the top I won't very many leaves left. HELP.

Mine was falling over alot too. Not the pot though. Just the part where the main branch met the soil. It was really strange because I just assumed that the stalk was broken. But I guess not because once I staked it up, it continued to grow really well. Maybe yours needs a bigger pot come the spring?

I can't help you with anything about pruning because I've never done it myself and don't know for sure what's correct. I'm sure that someone will come along with great advice though.
LoraB.

Some cultivars have worse growth habits than others, I don't have this cultivar but if it's one that tends to be sort of sprawling and leggy you may not be able to do too much about it. There's another thread in this forum with something about pruning in the title and there's some good advice in there, I'd go read what it says there and give it a try (someone just posted in there today, so it should be near the top of the page)

Takela, your problem is not uncommon among these plants. I don't know the variety you mention but not all Hibiscus rosa-sinensis are of equal quality, bloom wise or plant wise. And many, many varieties can display the problem you describe. Sadly, this is the worst time of the year to treat it. The time to act is at the start of your growing season when the plant will experience as much sun and warmth as possible. For the winter just don't overwater . . let the soil be dry to the touch before watering, and keep branches and foliage clean of insects and mites. Fertilizing will probably not be necessary . .
At the start of your summer I'm suggesting that you do one of two things. Me, I'd lop off the top few feet of the plant, repot in fresh soil, and give it the most sun I could, expecting buds to sprout and a new top to branch and develop. If it begins to look like a single shoot is emerging, not the multiples we want, pinch out the tip repeatedly until more growths appear. With luck you'll have a better plant.
With no luck it will never sprout and you can buy a better-growing variety next time. Send me a Dmail if you want variety suggestions, telling me your climate and conditions and color preferences. (I'm a professional breeder of these hibiscus, NOT a vendor.)

The other possible remedy is to plant the hibiscus in summer, and let the branches trail horizontally along the ground. Peg down the long stem in several places and cover those places with soil and mulch. Most likely some places will root, and before winter you can cut the main stem and have a few nice young rooted plants. could be the variety does not have enuf vigor to root, but it costs nothing to try.

luck to you,
Barry Schlueter

Thank you! I bought both of the problem plants from Hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com. One is Christy Blue and the other is Over the Rainbow. Both have produced gorgeous, huge flowers but as plants go the are tall, spindly and kind of ugly. Not to mention that I have to prop and tie them up. I will chop them back radically in late spring and hope for the best. I'm in zone 6 so right now they are limping along in my office.

I don't know if you had other problems with Hidden Valley or if you're just upset about the legginess of the plants...they can't really be blamed for that, sometimes plants have gorgeous flowers but a poor growth habit, but that's not the fault of the people who sell them, sometimes that's just the way it is (or sometimes growing conditions can contribute...like if they don't get enough sun or something). Some hibiscus cultivars just tend to be more leggy/floppy than others but if the flowers are pretty enough then the growth habit gets ignored and the plants are released to the trade anyway.

How much sun are these plants getting? If they are not getting enough it might explain why both of these plants are leggy. In your climate they can probably take full blasting sun all summer and need some pretty bright light during the winter. Without light they will stretch to look for it.

They are in a sunny window right now. Last summer they lived on my deck. They couldn't take the full sun all day, I kept them in a corner of the deck that had diffused sun after 3:00 pm. They each have a 'trunk' that is about 2 inches long then they branch out ... only three branches. They grow up but never 'bush' out. In addition to being unsightly they also are difficult to keep propped up, especially on a windy day. I have to secure the three branches to each other and then tie them to a railing. My third hibiscus, purchased at the local garden center, is a beautiful bushy plant ... it just has boring orange flowers.

I agree with ecrane - it's possible that the growth habit of the plant is simply a "leggy" one. I also live in zone 6 and I have purchased plants from HVH - lovely results with no problems at all (plant or service). I have another that I purchased from a local garden center that is extremely leggy even though I've pruned (3 ft legs to be honest) - it never gets bushy. It has a beautiful bloom and I've just settled with the fact that it's the growth habit - as it hasn't done anything differently for the past 5 years! :) lol Now you do know that there are some hibiscus that grow and look beautiful in hanging baskets right? Sounds like these may fall into that area - my sister-in-law has one that she bought in a basket and it has a real wow-factor!. You may try to do that - also just an FYI whenever I prune in the fall/winter - I get flowers in the late spring/mid summer - when I prune in the spring - I typically don't get blooms until fall or winter. Don't know if it's me or my zone but I just thought I'd mention it just in case you do trim & don't get the blooms. Good luck!