A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 No flowers on my Hibiscus

I kept my Hibiscus alive in the house during the winter in Minnesota. The plant is now outside and doing well. However there are no buds or even a hint of one coming? We have pruned it back and everything looks good. How can I get the plant to produce flowers?

How much sun is it getting? Too much shade inhibits bloom formation. My varities need about 2 months from leafing out to bloomage. Maybe a little more.

Do you fertilize? If so, when and how much? A slow-release fertilizer (1 cup of cottonseed meal) in spring is all I give my hardy ones. As it is broken down, it helps acidify my alkaline soil. Also, too much of a high nitrogen fertilizer like Miracle Gro (NPK 30-10-10) can slowly add lots of nitrogen into the soil. And then all you get back are healthy green leaves.

Do you try to keep the Ph-Level acid or somewhere around neutral? Some soil acidifier once a year should be enough.

Did the plant bloom by this time in previous years or is this a new plant?

Hibiscus need full sun! If the plant is healthy the buds should showing up pretty soon and after that it won't be very long before you have some blooms!

luis

If they are that complicated, I better ditch mine.............

I found when I kept one indoors, this winter, it is a great home for the white flies......I put it in the yard, but no more inside out!!!
ha ha

dodge :p

Actually dodge, they are not too bad. I listed a few things that can cause problems so stephaniec could see if any applies to her situation. plant maintenance is minimal.

For example: I only feed cottonseed meal in the spring and add mulch in the Fall. My soil is not even acidic! And last spring/Fall, I even forgot to mulch and fertilize so, you can see that the plant is very forgiving! I will not do many inside plants either though. They get spider mites or aphids or something. And then the pooches get them.

Hmmm, talking about the dogs, where are they and why is it so quiet around here? Hmmm. Gotta go!!!