Hibiscus Problems?

18 years ago

Hello

I have overwintered 2 hibiscus trees and many shrub style hibiscus in my basement when I lived in Pennsylvania. For the past 4 years, the plants would follow a normal cycle, lose all of their leaves and about a month later, start to leaf out again and even bloom. Note that there were quite a few windows in the basement and sunlight did penetrate for the short hours available in wintertime. Other than mealey(?) bugs, these plants thrived.

I moved to North Carolina in July. When the weather began to approach frost levels, I purchased a pop-up greenhouse and put all of my Hibiscus in there around the end of October. The temps in the greenhouse never dipped below 50 degrees and the plants did well to begin with. One thing I noticed is that there was a ton of humidity built up inside and it was almost like a rain forest. This greenhouse is opaque and although placed in a sunny spot, the light that gets through is filtered and not direct.

It seems now that the plants have lost all of their leaves a few months back and have not leafed back out again as they did in my PA basement. The plants are pliable, the wood is not brittle. I wonder though if I may have overwatered and killed them. As soon as we get some sort of spring here with consistent temps, the plants will go back outside. The inside temp is always at 60 or above and has bordered at 80 degrees. I expected a bit more from the greenhouse, but due to the light filtration, I wonder if the condition of the plants is normal or not?

Any chance of these guys coming back? They are like children that I have nurtured for the past 4 years and I want them to stay healthy.

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

beachbarbie
18 years ago
I can imagine your concern!
When you say "tree type" and "shrub" hibiscus, do you mean Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (tropical hibiscus), or that and another kind, perhaps Hibiscus syriacus (Rose of Sharon)?
I'm assuming you have all tropicals.
As you probably know, it's easy to overwater these guys, especially when they're dormant.
I would open the door to the greenhouse on warm days (over 40 degrees) to decrease the humidity and don't water them again. Cut back the ends of the branches until you see green inside. It'll let you know quick how much hope there is for them.
If the temp never got below 50, they shouldn't have gone completely dormant. Do you have a heater in the GH? I know mine gets in the 40's when the night temps here are in the 30's. Sounds like you're in a much colder part of NC than I and my GH will get into the 30's without the heater.
Good luck!
Barb
rockie01
Original Author
18 years ago
Barb

Good tips, I'll try them out. I will not water for 2 weeks and open the doors when the weather is nicer. I hope I haven't killed these plants. I spent 4 years nurturing them.

I am located in Cary. The greenhouse is a polyethylene pop-up portable one with no heater. Tons of humidity inside, however, which may have caused some issues.

Thanks!
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rockie01
Original Author
18 years ago
I just opened up the greehhouse to air it out. Temps in the 60's today. I cut back on some of the branches and did see a tiny bit of green so there may still be hope.
I also noticed a bit of peachy red colored fuzz on a few branches, so maybe these are starting to bud. My bouganvillea also has some green when I prune back a bit. This plant was almost killed last year by whitefly, but I pruned it way back and it blooomed like new.
growlove
18 years ago
Rockie, what did you do for the white flies? I am really desperate. Mary
rockie01
Original Author
18 years ago
I 1st tried spraying and this was minimally effective. The best method to erradicate was to apply a systemic directly to the soil:
Imidacloprid (Marathon) is a systemic insecticide that can be applied as a granular or drench and will give residual control for eight to nine weeks.
This was superior to spraying and very effiective.

Good luck, my plants still look dead in spite of having them in the opaque greenhouse all winter here in NC. No whitefly infestation though.