Here are my ros seedlings they are 2 months old.

I think I have a seedling popping up under my red tropical. I'm just going to let it grow for a while and see what it does.

Logan. Its happening again! One of my seedlings is wilting. It felt dry. Hadnt watered it for a week. I used the water tester gauge. Said dry. So i watered it. Now its all wilty. I took it out of the dirt shook off all the dirt from the roots. I put it in a new pot dry dirt. I set in shade. I cannot believe this! Ive been watering and taking care of these since feb!! Why does this happen???

Im afraid to water them at all now.

Is it a store bought mix, or are you using the gritty mix? Have you added fertilizer, epsom salt, etc.? Any signs of root damage? Post a photo as well. That does sound odd.

It was the same dirt i put all them in when i put them in the new pots. Its a store dirt. No fertilizer in it. No epsom salt i used dehumidifier water. What i use in summer for all plants. The roots looked white when i shook off all the dirt. But all the leaves are wilty just hanging there.

Why did my gauge say dry if it wasnt? I also usedy finger it was dry a good inch down.

Since i put in dry dirt. It was all i had. Will the roots die? Or should i take it out and dampen the dirt a little?

You should water it. Try tap water, or rain water. Maybe it's something in the air. I'm not sure what would be to cause this, but I'm not a scientist. Maybe it will make it.

Here it is.

This was the one i wanted to trim. Now its almost dead. Maybe some hydrogen peroxide in the water wilk help??

There is one little leaf at the top left.

No peroxide. Just water.

I put it in new dirt 5 hrs ago. I mixed dry dirt with a little of the wet dirt. Mostly dry. I now clipped off the droopy leaves at the bottom. The stem is still green. I wonder if the cooler temps did this. It was only 55 this a.m. had been in. 90's last week. I'll see how it is in the morning i guess. I brought it back inside. Warmer.

I doubt 55 degree weather would have a big effect on the plant. Water it. Give it lots of water.

Wont that kill it if i already over watered it?

No.

Ok. I gave it a little water. I put cherry stone at the bottom of the pot. Water ran out the bottom of it. See if its alive in the morning.

Its still alive. It may recover.

Last time i watered this one it lost a leaf. Turned yellow. It looks the same kind as the one above. These two must like it dryer than the other two bigger ones do.

Just as I suspected. It was allowed to dry out just a bit too long, and was then overwatered. Then you started seeing symptoms of overwatering, so you moved it to a new pot with drier soil, where it started to dry out. You watered the dry soil, and the seedling now has the right amount of water, and seems to be happy. I find that hardy hibiscus tend to be fussy about water. The least bit of drought (even if we had 3 inches of rain the day before) makes the leaves and plant start drooping. Too much makes the bottom most leaves yellow and drop off. I remember back in 2014 (which was a wonderful year for all of my hibiscus) I planted my pink hardy hibiscus (6-Gallon pot, it was huge) and I gave it one gallon of water each day. It shot up, and by july, I had beautiful pink dinner-plate sized flowers. It may be ok to apply some slow-release fertilizer pellets to encourage them to grow just a bit faster.

So. Im not supposed to let them get in the dry range? If i water them when its like 4-5 in moist range theb leaves get yellow.

I got 1-3 dry 4-7 moist 8-10 wet.

I have been watering when an inch of finger or a little more feels dry. Or when its in tbe dry or low moist range. Im afraid to water anymore.

I stuck my gauge in it and it says a 1 dry. But it feels a little moist with my finger poke. I didnt have this problem when they were in the little 1-2" pots. I added the cherry stone so it prolly doesnt read right??

I think im not going to grow these anymore. I dont have problems with my tropicals.

I say throw out the moisture meter. It's just confusing you. I just stick my finger down in the soil. I also have no idea how to interpret moisture meter readings either, because I have never used one. They are seedlings, so they are a bit fussy. I think I may just wait until mine gets a bit larger, and then propagate through division. Since I'm sitting at my outdoor patio in the backyard, I will see if I can get photos of my hardy hibiscus.

Well logan. My little seedling lost its leaf at the top. So i dont think its going to make it. Now there are only 3. And two are the same kind.... its only 55º this a.m. got into 40's last night. ;(

Never allow your hibiscus to stay outdoors once it gets below 45 degrees without some sort of protection. It may still come back from the roots.

I have seedlings inside till warms up next week again. Covered my tropicals last night. Needs to stay warm and quit raining for a while.

Logan. This was looking droopy. So on tuesday i sprinkeled it with a little rain water. Now i noticed one leaf is getting yellow. Is it not enough water ? This happened on the other one. So i watered it and it died.

IF it was caused by water, I would say overwatering. I notice that these drop the lowest leaves as they grow taller, so I wouldn't worry about it unless it drops more leaves in the next few days.

It must be due to water cuz i just watered it. Unless its not enough water?

If it was not enough the leaf would look shriveled.

I just sprinkeled a little water on it cuz it was all droopy looking. It perked up now the leaf is all yellow. Now it looks leggy all leaves at top. The gauge says a 5 almost to dry!!

I watered my lunas cuz they had curly leaves and the next night it poured. They are under an overhang but they got watered up good from overflow. No yellow leaves on them.

Sounds like the lunas were very dried out. The moisture meter sounds like it is broken.

No its not broken. Its that type of hibiscus. Its really touchy i think. The other ones like it at 7-8 no yellow leaves. When it gets to a 5 i water them. But this other one is different.

Hardy hibiscus are not that touchy a plant IME. I grow several in MN, zone 4. I think you are loving them to death with the irregular watering and too frequent repotting. Those I grew from seed were potted in regular Miracle Grow mix in gallon pots and kept on the patio until summer when I put the pot in the ground to grow until fall. Being in the ground helps keep the soil from drying out so soon. They were watered as weather indicated, usually every 2-3 unless very hot and dry. I just watered them with a hose. Any excess water will drain into the soil. in the fall or next spring, June, they were taken out of the pot and planted in the ground.

They are hardy in zone 4 if winter protected. For winter they are cut back in late fall and covered with shredded leaves. Those leaves are removed in early spring before plants emerge. Moving leaves well away from the roots so soil can warm will help them emerge sooner, first two weeks in June. Replace shredded leaves or mulch after plant is growing.

When a potted plant gets too dried out I hold the pot in a pail of water until the air bubbles quit. Wilted plants will recover if they haven't been dry for a long time, days. For regular watering if the top inchor two is dry add water until it runs out of the bottom holes. Once the plant dries out unless the pot is soaked as above lower parts might not be getting wet and top might still feel moist as water runs out without damping the lower mix leaving roots dry.

The lower leaves on young hibiscus occasionally yellow and drop off. If the rest of the leaves look good and the plant is growing well don't worry about that.

I had 5 seedlings. Now i have 2. I put one in the ground that was looking wilty from overwatered. Left out under patio umbrella but it rained and then it got wilty. So i have one good healthy one left. I dont think i love them too much. Just when i water then a few days later it rains. Try to keep them out of the rain but guess it found them.

Lunas are doing fine. I havent watered them for a couple weeks. One had buds on it.

Glad to hear they have recovered and will be interested to know when it blooms and the color.

Logan. I lost all my seedlings except one! Lost my ros also! They couldnt take the elements i guess. But i did root a minni flora rose from my climbing one i have. I put a plastic bag over it but left a tiny hole in the side. Left it under my patio umbrella. It hardly lost any leaves and now it has a bud on it! My lunas are doing well. I put one 3 in 1 in the ground. The rest are in pots. One has buds on it. Look cranberry color. Might try again next spring for the ros. Have to get seeds off mine.

How did yours do??

None of my hardy hibiscus came up :(. I did have some nice ROS blooms this year, and my red tropical hibiscus is loaded with buds. I think I'm going to take some ROS cuttings this spring before they leaf out, stick them in 2-quart pots, and see what happens.

My hardy hibiscus have once again, failed to bloom. I'm not sure what's wrong with them, because they're in perfect growing conditions.

I may go out today and get photos of the buds on my tropical. I just noticed them yesterday.

Logan if you get any seeds from that ros i would buy them from you.

This is the second year for this Hibiscus Moscheutos that we grew from seed last year. Last year, it did not get very big and did not bloom. This year it finally bloomed. The mother plant is pink (called Peppermint Schnapps). The new plant is not white. It is pink just like its mother.

Here is a picture of the mother plant. The blooms on the mother seem lighter, but I think it's just location. The mother gets more sun.

"Logan if you get any seeds from that ros i would buy them from you."

For some reason the seed pods usually drop before they fully ripen :(. If I do happen to get any, I will let you know.

Popmama if you get any seeds from pepermint schnapps i would buy some from you. I lost all my seedlings except one.

No need to pay for them. I am a good sharer. I gave all the ones from last year away. But if I have some this year, I will send you some. Just private message me your address.

I do have some left from last year for the smaller red hibiscus. I can send you some of those too.

"Here is a picture of the mother plant. The blooms on the mother seem lighter, but I think it's just location. The mother gets more sun"

The only way to get the exact same plant is through division (for hibiscus moscheutos) and the variance in color is because this is a seedling, not a genetic clone, and does not posses the same traits of the mother plant. It likely cross-pollinated with another cultivar, or species seedling.

Logan i got seeds from my ros in early spring. They hung there all winter.

I'll have to go check sometime, maybe today (it has rained in the past few days). My red tropical bloomed yesterday, and is still blooming. That's the first flower I've had on it in awhile, and it's loaded with flower buds. I took a picture but I'll have to get it off of my camera.