Hardy Hibiscus seedlings sick

They don't look too bad- and once the temps get up there, you will be amazed at how they take off. You will not gain a thing by trying to rush them, because they absolutely do not like the cold!

Here are 2 photos of a double Confederate Rose I had in FL- It was so beautiful. The flowers open white then turn pink then dark pink-

And the other-

ecrane our avg last frost date is Mar 15 but last year it frosted about Apr 15. I listened to the radio garden guy, he insisted no more frost about Apr 7. The few things I had that were cold sensitive went out. I got up at 5am, the weather guy said it was gonna frost. I decided to spray all of my plants in the dark. I try all the good urban myths at least once. The ones that I hit with water made it OK. The ones I missed frosted wilty and some got crispy. The frost didn't settle until about 6am. I say the water spray saved some that time. I will wait until Apr 15, thank you very much.

JoParrot those are beautiful. How long does it take for them reach the size of yours? I have several Confederate Rose seeds that have sprouted. I am now glad they were slower to sprout than the Hibiscus Moscheutos. They could have gotten cold on the one night of me being to poor to pay attention. I am looking forward to the hibiscus blooming.

It is a really fast growing plant- my problem was that it grew several branches out of the ground-no main trunk, and I had to tie them up to keep them from falling down in rain and wind. It died back every winter in FL, but came back in the spring.

Hey, those are looking markedly better! Congrats on saving them. Heh, heh, we had nice tropical temps of around 2 deg. last night.
JoParrott, your pics are really pretty; have you tried growing any of these here in WA?

woofie, no- I moved here 15 months ago, so I am really just getting started- My yard is very small, so I have to rein myself in with bushy plants.

Oh, wow, did you move here from FL? That would be just a bit of culture shock, garden-wise. :-)

Yup- we were in Gainesville for 5 years-

I can relate; I grew up in SoCal and I do so miss having a lemon tree.

It has been between 32 and 36 going on 3 days plus raining. The cold snuck up on me the first day. Forecast for a low of 48 next thing I knew it was 10pm and 40. I had put the glass back in my GH door and duck tape my vent cover back on in the dark, wind and rain. Of course I tried to put the door glass in upside down. It was 81 the day before. I didn't cover my cover my hibs that night because I still believed the forecast had to be close. The next morning I could see my breath in the GH. When it warms I will remove the domes and take more pictures. I hate cold. Maybe I ain't smart enough to have a GH.

Ah, it's not a matter of being smart, it's more a matter of being obsessive! I swear I spend at least half my time running back and forth opening and closing doors and windows and pulling off and replacing covers in my GH. Speaking of which......gotta run do just that. Hope your babies are ok!

I am obsessed. How many normal people take multiple pictures of the same sick plants? I want to thank you for being a understanding pleasant encouraging enabler. LOLOLOLOL

Hey, how come we haven't heard any updates on the poor lil sickies lately? Hope they didn't have a relapse.

Here is the pic I took this morning. Out of the 10 I had 2 croaked. 1 or 2 to look ok but several are just hanging around. I has been real spring like for a couple days. I have moved most plants out of the GH the last 3 days hoping old man frost stays up north. I am thinking about moving the sickies outside this afternoon late.

I could be wrong, but I think I see a stippled yellow pattern on some of your leaves...if that's really there and it's not just the lighting or something then I would check the underside of your leaves for spider mites (they are very tiny--they'll look like little reddish brown or brown dots).

Orange oil/soap mix spray will zap spider mites? I will check for them.

Aw, too bad, poor little things. Don't know if this works on spider mites, but I get rid of aphids with just a Q-tip and a little cup of alcohol.

I refuse to succumb to zone envy, but I don't think I'll be moving anything out of my greenhouse any time real soon:

It is 74.1 on Weather Bug. Sweat city in the GH with door off and fan blowing.

I usually start by washing off the undersides of the leaves to get rid of as much as possible, then spray with a product that says it kills spider mites on the label. I'm pretty sure my insecticidal soap says it kills them but I'm not sure about orange oil. You will need to keep an eye on them and probably repeat the treatment a few times over the next couple weeks to make sure you got all of them. I would also recommend treating any plants that don't have symptoms but were sitting next to plants that do, they spread very easily so chances are they're already on those plants and you just don't know it yet. If you don't treat those plants too, then you'll find yourself chasing spider mites around and around your greenhouse for months but if you get ahead of them then you can usually stop the infestation before it gets worse.

I don't see any signs of any insects. The leaves are clean as a whistle, both top and bottom. When my camera batteries charge I will post a close up. A dozen rechargeable batteries and never are there two charged when I want one. I do have a one hour charger. The lights just went off on the charger indicating a full charge.

Another.

One more.

Here they are in their outside home. This is day three of them living outside. Outside temps been 48 to 80. I think they are looking better. Some of them may make flowers after all.

Hey, some of them don't look too bad! Outdoors? I'm soooo jealous.

I'll toss in my two cents. Your seedlings look like cold got them. I've had that exact thing happen to tropical hibiscus I have planted outside. Mine die off and come back in the spring but I have exactly the same looking leaves that are curled up like that. I would say cold got them and there isn't anything you can do.

Someone asked how big they should be to put outside. After the last frost and I would make sure the roots pretty well fill up that cup and you'll be fine. Mine grow like crazy once the day time temps start hitting 80. For me it seems to take about three years from seed to full size. It does depend on exactly which variety you have, some stay fairly small other will end up 6ft by 6ft or so.

My hibiscus usually take a while to start growing from the ground up every year. They are some of the last perennials to leaf out.
I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to expose them to cooler weather.
I have grown them in zone 6a also and they come back after dying to the ground in late fall when the frost hits.
You can easily propagate them from cuttings also, once you get healthy plants this year.

I want to thank everyone for their supporting comments and suggestions. The seedlings are back in the GH. Winter is back for a few days, a light dusting of snow this morning. I think it was a big mistake to move them outside. I went nutz when the temps got into the 80s. Oh well, I will know what to expect next time I hope. They are still alive maybe.

I wouldn't pitch them just yet. If they had roots then they just may die back to the soil and grow more green leaves later on.

Here is the status today. It looks like they will live. I have done my best to kill them. Under domes, not under domes, back under domes. In the GH, out of the GH, back in the GH. The plants must be as confused as I am. The good news is 8 of them are still alive. I may have flowers yet. I have my fingers crossed.

Edit: I forgot too cold, too hot, too cold, too hot in my rant.

This message was edited Apr 4, 2009 10:09 AM

Hey, I guess they really are "Hardy" hibiscus! :-)

They do seem to take abuse. I am learning what not to do. I predict that the next time I do this it will go somewhat easier if I don't kill too many more brain cells from GH heat between now and them.

They look very healthy to me.Hope you enjoy the flowers. I just love mine, until the Japanese Beetle battle begins.

After all this fussing over them, I do hope you finally get some blooms!

Any advice for that battle with Japanese Beetles? Products to use, steps to take? I'd like to be prepared...

thanks,
d

Milky spore will control the Jap. beetle grubs. But I haven't seen them since I moved to CA seven years ago...do we even have them out here?

Don't know whereabouts you guys are, but we definitely had Japanese beetles where I lived in SoCal, which was in the area around LAX.

We're both farther north...but if they're in So Cal then I expect they're here too. Guess I've just been lucky! LOL I've lived and gardened in two different places here (~30 miles apart) and have never seen one in either place. And both places I've had roses which I know were their favorite food back when I lived in Ohio.

You can get up early in the morning and go around and pick the beetles off with gloved hands. I did this for a while and then drop them in a bucket of Murphey's oil soap and water/ I carried the bucket with me. If you go this route it has to be in the morning when their wings are wet and they can't fly as well.
I finally gave up and just went with the snow flake appearance of the blooms. They chew them before they open up and you get a messy flower with holes in it.
I hate those nasty beetles.
Once they are all drowned dump the bucket in some out of the way place as they do stink when a group of them are decaying. That is one of the reasons I stopped.LOL
We get them by the truck load here for some reason and I hate to use insecticides for any reason because of the beneficials they might kill.