Advice needed on Hybiscus plant

[BunnyJas]

This is to all the gardners out there. I am at my wit's end. The plant looks healthy enough, but about 90% of the blossoms yellow and fall off before they can bloom! At first I thought that maybe I was over-watering them, so we changed our sprinkler settings to every other day for six minutes. In Texas, something like this in the summertime is necessary to keep plants (at least the others in our garden) alive. The sprinkler change didn't work, so I sprayed it for bugs. I had been finding some aphids on the new leaves and blossoms. All the bugs are gone and still no flowers. :banghead:

Can anyone with a green thumb out there help me out? It would be much appriciated!

[LostMyMind]

Sure, the best solution I got for ya is to replace it with another type of plant :lol:

I have no idea, I don't have that kind of problem. Mine is the reverse, everything grows and won't stop growing.

[Mighty Girl]

I'm not as good as my mom with plants, but I have two of these that are currently doing very well. I just transplanted them from my grandparents' house about a month or so ago.

Have you tried fertilizing it? The one in my backyard wasn't doing as well as the front one, so I had a leftover bag of MiracleGro Gardensoil, and I poured that over the base of the plant. Plus I fertilize about every two or three weeks (depending on when I remember). I just use an all purpose fertilizer- either miracle gro that you mix with water is good, right now I'm using this stuff that comes in a salt-shaker like container, I think it's made by Scott's. Both plants are in very sunny spots.

I assume you don't water them while they're in full sun.......I either water plants before 10am or after 9pm.

Hope it helps.

[BunnyJas]

Sure, the best solution I got for ya is to replace it with another type of plant :lol:

Believe me, I've thought of that!

I will try fertilizing it and see what happens. Thanks very much for the advice!

[digilight]

A few ideas: What time of day are you watering? Early morning before it starts to get warm, during the day when its hot, or in the evening after the sun goes down. If you are doing it during the day than thats your problem right there. The plant will actually lose more water then it takes in and will bake internally (think sunburn).

Another idea is that there is not enough nutrients for the plant. Flowering takes a lot of energy for a plant. If such a large number of flowers are not making it all the way to finish the flowering stage than that is also a possibility.

Also, how old are the plants. Just a couple of months, or a few years. The older the plant the better established it will be and the less likely it is to be things like fertalizer and water. My neighbor has a hibiscous hedge that is over 15 feet tall and about 25 feet long, never waters it of feeds it and it grows like crazy.

[BunnyJas]

Another idea is that there is not enough nutrients for the plant. Flowering takes a lot of energy for a plant. If such a large number of flowers are not making it all the way to finish the flowering stage than that is also a possibility.

I think that is the problem. We have the sprinklers set to water the plants just before sunrise. We've had a lot of rain recently, so I'm going to wait a bit before I water it with miracle grow.

Not sure how old the plant is, but it's not very big so probably a bit over a year old. Thanks for the suggestions!

[NightAngel]

Hibiscus: A Crash Course
http://www.exotic-hibiscus.com/pages/hibiscus.htm

I love Google.