Hi... I purchased a hibiscus tree in June 2005. I had it outside & it was beautiful! I brought it indoors - Fall 2005, and most of it's leaves fell off. I read that it was probably "shocked" from the change. Since then, I've continued to keep it indoors & it was growing beautifully until lately. About 2 weeks ago, all of a sudden the leaves have all drooped! The stems all seem solid still & full of life. Help... what should I do? I haven't tried anything as yet. If anyone can help me - PLEASE before it totally dies. Shadow439
Shadow439 As you've pointed out, these are semi or sub-tropical to tropical in nature, a long way from home. Fairly resilient as long as lighting and some humidity can be provided. Keeping it a little on the cool side (60F) helps to aid in domancy. Slow exposure to spring/summer again next year and it should perform for you again. As a side note, I'd be rich if I had a buck for every one of these that died in such conditions. Sorry for that synopsis, but reality bites. Try to repilcate some of their natural conditions to get it through. Cheers, LPN.
thanks LPN... What are you suggesting I do at this point? I was told to prune all the branches & wilted leaves. I re-potted it today with fresh potting soil - so I'll see what happens now. Does anyone else out there have any pointers for me?? shadow439
You might like to try reading the various [SEARCH]hibiscus[/SEARCH] threads - quite a few on winterizing Hibiscus. By the way, nice to see someone from West St. Paul on here - I'm from north of Beausejour, myself.
to help your hibiscus you probably shouldn't have repotted it, since it is sick and in stress and you just caused it lot more by messing around with its roots. You should cut back the branches to help relive some of the stress the plant is feeling, take off any yellowing foliage don't fertilize it and only water it when it is drying out, if it survive this winter definately put it outside ever summer in a very hot and sunny spot, making sure it gets lots of water and fertilizer. unfortunately sometimes hibicus just die for no reason and if this happens to be one of those times im very sorry, i have a large hibiscus collection myself and know how hard it is when i loose one. hope some of my tips help and if you have any other questions send me an email.
Hi James D... points well taken - I re-potted it because I felt that the soil seemed "moldy" - like almost too moist! I wil try to cut back the wilted foliage as the branches do seem to be still alive. I'll keep ya posted. Thx, Shadow439
Hey Daniel... We've only been out here in West St. Paul since June 2005. This is when I first bought my hibiscus tree (actually at a Superstore no less) - it was great - in mostly the morning sun on my front porch (facing east). No worries until I brought it in last winter - then I believe it was "shocked" & lost quite a few leaves in the process. It came back & bloomed beautifully over the winter. Like I said previously, I didn't take it outdoors this summer (maybe I should have eh), and now it seems shocked again. Needless to say we were all shocked ourselves last week with the "snow" - now today it was a high of 5 degrees - go figure. thanks for your info & I'll keep ya posted also. Shadow439
