Purchased hibiscus coccineus, need help tending to it inside?

[recu]

Hi there,

So there was a nice sale on water/pond plants at the nursery, and I'd figure I'd try my hand out at trying to keep one alive hydroponically inside.

I purchased a large (6') texas rose mallow for $6. It came in an8" pot of fine, muddy soil, and there were some roots coming out of it. In the store (where it was doing ALRIGHT, but in need of a feeding) it was in about 3" of circulating water from their aquaponics bin.

I constructed a water resivoir of a 3gal kitty litter pail, and I have a mesh insert on the top so the water line comes up to 1" over the bottom of the pot.

The bottom leaves are yellowing and dying a bit, and some of the other leaves are starting to get a bit lightly yellow in spots. I'm imagining it's nutrient deprived? I added some hydroponics nutrients to the mix, but I'm not sure if it's going to be able to drink that much from the bottom of the pot or not. I also don't know the nutrient requirements of it, but I have an EC/PPM meter so I can check after I get an idea of what it wants.

Anywho, anyone got any ideas/tips? I'll upload some pictures tomorrow, it's just kind of an experiment, and at $6 I couldn't resist. It's very pretty.

 

[gardengimp]

They are deciduous down here in Florida. Imagine they would be for you inside as well. Also, I think they do slightly better with their crowns out of the water, though they can tolerate standing water, I don't think that is the preference, and I would want to avoid water too deep while dormant.

 

[addy1]

The member fishin4cars has them, he may be able to give you some help. I grew some from seeds, not sure they will make our winter, but they are outside see if they do, covered with mulch.

 

[recu]

edir: douvle post

 

[recu]

Cool, thanks for the advice so far! By crown you mean the base of the soil pot, correct? Not near where the stem comes out of the soil, yes?

Anyhow, I lowered the water just a tid bitand I'm watching her. How do the hibiscus determine their die-off, via light cycle? I have some indoor lights aimed at it so I can control the light cycle beyond the short minnesotan winter light.

Anyhow, thanks for the advice so far, I'm going to look up some more things and update if she survives!

 

[addy1]

Crown is where the plant meets the soil. I have one in a pot, crown 4 inches out of water, two in the ground, one with the crown under water. The one in dirt is growing the best. It might not survive our winter though.

Mine look like sticks right now, no leaves.

 

[Waterbug]

I agree with gardengimp but will go a bit further and say when keeping it indoors I would not do any standing water at all. Basically what you're wanting to do is overwinter it as a bare root plant, and you can Google that for specific tips. Damp at the most.

Leaves will fall and you can even cut branches way back. Come spring you can set it out, and water until there's growth and then move it into water. Like gardengimp said, best if the crown is higher, and actually just damp soil is even better. They grow really fast.

There just isn't enough light for these plants to grow in winter inside a house and growth is how they can survive in wet conditions. Their roots rot but the grow new roots faster, the bark rots but they grow new faster. Without that growth rot can win. They can certainly survive in wet conditions overwinter but imo the odds go down.

 

[j.w]

I have some outside too that I grew from seed and waiting to see if they make it here through our zone 7 winter this year. They lived in my garage last winter in pots and all of them survived w/ just a few south windows to give them a bit of light. I didn't water them other than to give them a slight drink if the soil got really dry. They lost all their leaves but come Spring they got them all back and I planted them outside in the ground. Hope they make it out there.

 

[adavisus]

During dormancy, hibiscus are prone to rotting off. Best tip I heard is to tip pot on side so the crown of the plant is well drained, moisture unable to settle and rot the stems

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
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[Jennywren]

I was given two of these plants last winter. We are in Spring here now.

When I received them they had been cut back. I potted them up but left them out of water all winter in my shade cloth covered area, just watering to keep them damp, but not wet.

They started to shoot a few weeks ago. This is where one is at now. The other is in another pond out in full sun. This one is in part shade.




NB....I live in an area that doesn't have snow or really, really cold winters. We do have very chilly winters though..

 

[fishin4cars]

From my experience this plant does best if allowed to have a dormant period. Let it die back and only keep slightly damp during the dormant period, Do not keep in water as Andy said, they can root rot fairly easy. They prefer full sun but will bloom in partial shade but may not get as full and look more thin and not as many blooms. Fert. with regular Osmocote as Hibiscus fert. is NOT good for ponds.