I have a hibiscus Sunny Wind that was a cutting sent to me. It has grown to about 3 feet tall and bloomed many times. All on one tall stem. Can or should I cut it to encourage it to branch out? I keep thinking I should and it keeps blooming at the top.
This message was edited May 13, 2008 3:04 PM
Yes, you should encourage it to branch out. Personally I find this very difficult to do because I hate to cut off buds or delay blooming in any way, but it will be better in the long run if the plant is fuller and bushier.
I had a beautiful hibiscus last year. Purple Magic. It bloomed too. It was just one long stem and I heard it should be pruned. So I did it.
Now it seems to be dead, so I don't think I should have now. What do you think I did wrong? I pruned all my others and they are putting out new leaves and branches. Maybe it is because it only had one stem????
Susan
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I doubt if it was the pruning that killed it, unless maybe you cut it all the way down or something but even then I think it would come back. I suspect it was something else that killed it and the timing is just a coincidence. To figure out what went wrong we'll need a little more info...where was it, how were you watering/fertilizing it, what symptoms did you see as it was dying, anything else you can think of.
I had over wintered it in the house. It was in a 12 inch pot. It ended up the winter with one BIG leaf at the top of this stem. I had moved all the hibs outside and they had been out there probably a couple of weeks with a few nights of moving back inside the garage because of our lousey weather this year.
I pruned all of them at the same time and put the cuttings into perlite to root. btw, most of those are putting out sprouts. Hooray!
anyway, I probably cut off 12 inches of the stem leaving 24 inches behind. Of course, there were not any leaves on this stem. It hasn't shown signs of life since. The others I pruned had many branches and were left with leaves and are now putting out more and looking good.
I just think I should have waited until it put out other leaves instead of just leaving a 'stick' behind. live and learn I guess. It sure was pretty though.
Susan
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Oh, that could be it, it's best to leave it some leaves, the best thing to do would have been wait until it had leafed out some more and then prune it a bit. I wouldn't give up on it though, plants can be pretty resilient sometimes so you never know! Before I had the greenhouse, I had hibiscus that dropped all their leaves over the winter and they came back fine. However it'll take it a little longer to put out new growth than your other plants if it's going to come back.
So how much should I cut it back? Can I snip into several pieces and try and root the part I cut off. ecrane3 that is exactly the reason I have let it get so tall, can't bear to miss those blooms!
I have good news!! Saw a teeny tiny little green sprout toward the bottom of the stem today.
cactuspatch, good luck with your pruning. sorry to have hijacked your thread.
^_^
Susan
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The best thing I can suggest unless one of our experts comes along is to scroll down through the older threads in this forum--there were a couple where we had some of our real hibiscus experts weigh in on how to prune. Unfortunately I can't remember their advice off the top of my head!
Maybe this will help.... http://www.atouchofthetropics.net/hibiscus_care_information.shtml
wonderful link, that was very very helpful!
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Thanks brugie, exactly what I needed. 9kittymom, no problem! That is what is fun about DG!
