Hibiscus - home care

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-15 15:29

Hibiscus is an incredibly beautiful flower that is grown both outdoors and at home. Of the huge number of varieties of hibiscus for growing in the house, only one type is suitable, which is called the "Chinese rose". Caring for hibiscus at home is quite simple, but despite this, the flower will delight you with gorgeous flowering and large leaves, as you can see in the photo.

Description of the flower

This luxurious flower has no less beautiful name - in translation it means “a flower for beautiful ladies”. One of the main features of hibiscus is that when fully opened, the bud does not live longer than one day, and then begins to fade.

However, if you provide the hibiscus with proper home care and do everything as shown in the photo, then it will delight you with its buds throughout the year. The main thing is to provide him with favorable conditions for growth.

As for the variety of the Chinese rose itself, the buds of this species are usually no more than 16 cm in diameter and have a wide variety of colors.

You can often find buds with pale pink or red petals. The leaves of this type of hibiscus are oval in shape and have a jagged edge.

Home care

It doesn't take a lot of experience to properly care for hibiscus at home. The main thing is to follow the instructions and photos exactly.

Here are a few points to help you grow a beautiful flower effortlessly:

1. Watering mode. Hibiscus loves moisture, so this flower needs to be watered regularly. Even short breaks in watering are not allowed, since otherwise the hibiscus leaves begin to turn yellow, and in the event of a long drought, the flower may die altogether. Especially a lot of attention should be paid to watering hibiscus in the summer - during periods of extreme heat, the flower can be watered even a couple of times a day.
2. Lighting. It is extremely difficult, and in most cases even impossible, to grow hibiscus without proper lighting. Experts recommend growing hibiscus on a windowsill on the sunny side of the house. If necessary, you can create additional lighting using special lamps. Artificial lighting will be especially important in winter, when there is very little sunlight. At such a time, without additional lighting, it is almost impossible to ensure the flowering of hibiscus.
3. Room temperature. Since hibiscus is a rather thermophilic flower, room temperature will be ideal for it - approximately + 24-25 degrees. In winter, the temperature may be lower, but, in any case, it should not drop below +12 degrees, otherwise the flowers will wither and begin to shed their leaves. Excessive heat in caring for hibiscus at home will not lead to anything good either. The flower will wither and grow as beautiful as ak in the photo, you won't succeed. Therefore, during extreme heat, ventilate the room and maintain the necessary air humidity using special devices.
4. The soil. If you are going to grow hibiscus, be sure to pay attention to the soil. It should be nutritious and, preferably, the acidity level was 6. In the event that you have already bought ordinary soil without fertilizers, then you can make it more nutritious on your own. To do this, add ash or peat to it. You can also mix sod, leafy, humus and sand to create a hibiscus-friendly mixture.
5. Drainage. Since this flower requires abundant watering, in rare cases moisture stagnates at the bottom. Because of this, various diseases appear in hibiscus, and sometimes even the roots rot. To avoid this, we recommend creating a drain on the bottom of the pot before replanting the flower. By the way, hibiscus must be transplanted every year.

Fertilizers

Since initially, when planting hibiscus, we add a large amount of fertilizer to the soil, it is not necessary to feed the flower too often in the future, but you should not completely forget about fertilizers either.

Usually, feeding is done twice a year: in September and in March. Complex mineral fertilizers are perfect as top dressing. And also mullein infusion will be a good fertilizer.

To prepare it, the mullein must be diluted in water, based on a ratio of 1:10. During cold weather and the absence of the sun, the need for phosphorus fertilizers sharply increases in flowers, therefore, it is advisable to take this fact into account during the September feeding.

Hibiscus transplant

We mentioned earlier that hibiscus needs to be replanted annually. There are several reasons for this:

1. Hibiscus grows pretty quickly. Its root system is especially actively developing, so over time, the flower will need a more spacious pot.
2. Change the drainage once a year. Otherwise, over time, it will become unusable and the likelihood that you will flood the plant will increase again.
3. You may want to change something in your interior during the year. A new stylish pot is a great opportunity to diversify the interior of your apartment.
4. During transplanting, you can additionally fertilize the soil by adding wood ash or special fertilizer to it.

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Reproduction

If you enjoyed caring for hibiscus and want to continue growing them, then it's time for you to start exploring breeding options for these flowers.

You can keep new plants for yourself, give to friends or put up for sale. So, there are 2 main ways of reproduction of hibiscus: cuttings and seed. Let's consider each of them in more detail.

Propagation using cuttings

First of all, after we cut the cuttings, we should treat the cut site with a special tool. The stalk should be immediately placed in a pot filled with moistened soil. Since we will grow a flower at home, and not in a greenhouse, at the first stages it is worth covering the pot with a glass jar.

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When the cuttings take root, they should be transplanted into a new pot filled with soil and humus. If you see that the flower cannot take root for a long time, then add a little bone meal to the soil.

In the next stages, you need to regularly pinch the lower shoots of the cuttings and do pruning. We'll talk more about pruning and caring for hibiscus at home later.

The second time, the flower needs to be transplanted a few months after planting the cuttings. After the second transplant, the plant should be looked after in the same way as described above.

Seed propagation

Reproduction of hibiscus with seeds is much easier. The seeds should be left in a wet cloth for 12 hours before planting. At this time, we will start preparing the nutrient soil and the pot.

After the expiration of time, we put the seeds in the prepared soil and cover the pot with glass so that the temperature in it remains at least +25 degrees. When several leaves appear on the sprouts, they can be transplanted into separate pots.

At this time, the seedlings will actively grow, however, you will be able to see full-fledged flowers on them only after 3, and sometimes 4 years.

Pruning hibiscus

A little earlier, we have already touched on the topic of cropping. To better understand how to prune at home and further care for hibiscus, consider the photos and videos attached below.

Many people wonder why pruning at all. The answer is simple: hibiscus is a fairly large plant with a lush crown and, if you do not periodically cut its leaves, then you may never see the buds.

It is recommended to trim the leaves after transplanting a flower or after feeding. It is worth pruning the branches so that at least 15 cm in length remains from the base, otherwise you can harm the plant. It is also worth considering that after pruning, at least 2 cm should remain from the uppermost leaves and buds to the cut point.

If during pruning you notice that new branches and leaves look weak and sick, then they should not be spared and should also be removed.

Diseases and pests of hibiscus

Even such an unpretentious flower as hibiscus has its own diseases that arise due to improper care. Here are the 4 most common diseases in hibiscus:

Non-infectious chlorosis. It arises due to the lack of certain useful elements, as well as due to their overabundance. Due to a lack of potassium, magnesium and iron, hibiscus leaves dry, become stained, turn white, as shown in the photo. To get rid of such a problem, you should take more careful care of the flower at home, and also feed the plant with fertilizers with those substances that your hibiscus lacks.

Infectious chlorosis. It occurs when hibiscus is infected with infectious and fungal diseases, as well as when pests appear. If your hibiscus leaves wither, weak buds appear, and you also see the general oppression of the plant, then most likely your Chinese rose has infectious chlorosis. It can also be detected if traces of insect activity appear on the leaves and branches. Special preparations will help you to rid the plant of this disease.

Sunburn. It occurs in the case of a long stay of the plant under the scorching sun and from an excess of light. In this case, the hibiscus will develop white burns on the leaves. You can save the plant by rearranging it to another place where there is no such bright sun.

Vascular wilting. Appears due to fungal diseases. In the event of the appearance of this disease, first the ends of the branches die off, and then the whole plant. To save hibiscus from withering completely, urgently purchase special products in flower shops and use them according to the instructions.

Although the Chinese rose is a house plant, it also has pests. Here are the main ones:

• whitefly;
• worms;
• scabbards;
• gall midge.

According to signs, hibiscus brings happiness, goodness to its owner, and also absorbs black energy, thereby protecting its owner. In return, you just need to take proper care of your hibiscus at home and protect it from disease.