Feb 2009 Blooms From Fort Lauderdale, FL

I'm sorry to hear about your new Hibiscus plants apparently not making it through the cold spell two weeks ago Kathy. Just give them some time and see what happens first. I was thinking about you and your plants when we had that very cold 2 nights two weeks ago.

Jon

Jon, Im just sick about it. Ill give them plenty of time....I have a lovely yellow hibiscus that I got from Lowes several years ago that I just knew was a goner, a couple of years ago. In the spring I saw a teeny tiny bit of green growth at the base, and wouldnt you know, it made it, and grew back into a gorgeous bush. Of course thats one that looks just awful; in fact they all do. I have to say a member here is sending me some cuttings to try to root. Im really very excited to try these, and so appreciative of her thoughtfulness. Im going to have a hard time replacing hibiscus this year, so the cuttings will give me, hopefully, some nice new plants.

I just can't stop looking at these pictures, if anything can brighten someones day, these certainly can.

This message was edited Feb 19, 2009 7:03 PM

ok mine froze last may right after I put it out on the deck all the leaves feel off and it looked dead but I watered it with a good fertilizer and it came back it took about six weeks for new leaves but it is in full bloom now so dont give up
cold only kills them if the roots freeze solid and I dont think it did

No, cold can definitely kill them without the roots freezing solid. The soil never comes anywhere close to freezing here and I've lost them to cold before I had my greenhouse. But often they can look dead but really aren't so it pays to be patient and give them a chance to come back--depending on how badly damaged they were they can take a while to get going again in the spring so I wouldn't give up on them until at least June. I've sometimes had them take that long to show signs of life again.

Hi Liz,

I agree with you. Dont give up on them. Out of my plants, it seems the plants on their own roots weathered better than those that were grafted. I can't explain that one. I did loose a few grafted but only 1 on its own root. Maybe you can enlighten me on this with your experiences. I had to leave all of mine out since my greenhouses were torn apart. 80% look dead but were still green when I did a nail scratch. I did cut some back and 3 weeks ago I decided to hit them with a dose of epsom salts instead of fertilizer and now almost all of them are budding new leaves. More definitely need cutting back to get the tips off but I'll do that next week since we will be in the low to mid 30's this weekend. I did loose a few but not near as many as expected. Any Ideas on grafted vs own roots. I'd like to know your thoughts.

Robert

Do you think it could it possibly be caused by a restriction in the sap flow where the graft is?

I honestly don't have that much experience with cold damage since I didn't really start collecting hibiscus until I had the greenhouse to keep them in for the winter. The only ones I had before the greenhouse were 'Peggy Hendry' and 'Kona'. 'Kona' came from Home Depot or someplace like that so I have no idea if it would have been on its own roots or not. 'Peggy Hendry' came from Logees so I suspect it was a cutting growing on its own roots. They both survived several winters outside although they always lost their leaves and were slow to wake up in the spring. Then we had a super cold snap a couple winters ago where temps got as low as the high teens to low 20's for a few nights-- 'Peggy Hendry' survived that one but 'Kona' didn't. They were in slightly different spots in the yard though and I have all sorts of weird microclimates here so I don't know if it was that or differences in the plants themselves. Peggy took a long time to wake up that year--good thing I'm lazy and don't get around to throwing out my dead plants for a long time or else I probably would have pitched it!

I'm not sure why the grafted ones would do worse, could be the restriction as you mention, or I wonder especially on younger plants where the graft is relatively new if it is just the grafted area is weaker and more susceptible to damage? I really don't know, just speculating!

Hi everyone,


Liz,

Heres an interesting article I have found in my crypt files from the website on own root vs grafted. I really forgot I had it. It's Good reading!!! http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/954572/

Robert

Yes, I can imagine you're disappointed Kathy, but I have a feeling it won't be as bad as you think. I remember two years ago when I was new to this Hibiscus "stuff". We had one cold night at that time and I thought approximately 10 of my 15 Hibiscus were "goners" as they progressively looked worse and worse over the next several weeks. It took them a good 3-4 months to completely recover but I'm glad I just took a "wait and see attitude". I only ended up losing 1 of them.

"Chin Up" My Friend,

Jon

Interesting article Robert--makes me think I need to pay more attention to which of the hibiscus I buy are grafted and which are own-root!

The one thing I have learned is that a healthy plant is much better able to withstand damage from the cold. They hate to be cold and damp in the winter but they do have to be hydrated. It is a fine line but an overly thirsty, dry plant will croak in a minute for me if the temp drops too fast.

I have usually just used regular hibiscus fertilizer on the ones I have in the ground. This year, now that they are leafless from the cold, I may try Barry's more complete method. What do I have to lose? I am also going to hit them with some epsom salts today, thanks Robert.

We were supposed to get down to 30 last night but the temp held at 42. Hope that pattern holds for the weekend. Enough is enough.

I intentionally let mine get some cold in the fall sends them into dormancy since many of my tropical trees go into storage for the winter I give them two cups of water per month just enough to keep they alive when I bring them up at the end of march they go nuts with growth because at that time I water them more and fertilize with good stuff and in six weeks most have full leaves and flower buds and are ready to go back out end of may

Sounds like you have a good system. My in-ground plants were still blooming in January when that first cold spell hit. It had been in the 80's up to the day the temp dropped so they were not a bit dormant.

go to the dollar store and get painters drop sheets keep them handy so when the cold come just cover your treasures so to help them get thru it