I am starting this thread to help people like me, who grow and propagate tropical plants in our homes or greenhouses ( in zones too cold to keep them outside when the temperatures drop to 60 deg. and below ) and have questions or discussions that pertain to those type tropical plants.

My question today is:

I must transplant a tropical hibiscus. This is an old stock plant and I am wondering if I should cut some of the roots off or just spread them out. It is very pot bound and I do not want to harm its roots. This is not a good time to do this because it is in bud and blooming, but I found a container large enough to hold it. I keep thinking how it must feel being so stuffed into that container. Almost like having a pair of shoes that are way too tight. The roots are coming out the top. Anyone have any thoughts.

I would play it safe and spread them out. Do you have to do it now...? It will go sort of dormant with the shorter days, and Feb. would be much better, I think...when they start to wake up.

I agree Carol, I just have almost no room to spread the roots out. That is the problem. Maybe I could add some more soil on the top. They are coming out the top it is so pot bound. I have no idea how It got this way so quickly. They are small roots, not large ones. that is why I wondered if I could tear some off without harming the entire root system. it will be going in the Greenhouse in a month or so. I can not keep it watered either. It drinks like an elephant. :

When you propagate your anthurium, does anyone know how to increase the size of the flowers on your plants?
Do you use any specific plant food? Am I correct in my information I gathered. In your plant foods for anthurium If the first number, Notrogen is the largest Number, it is good foliage plant food and the third number representing soluble potash is for stronger root development. The more light, the more foliage. The more water, the more plant food. I read this someplace and I wanted someone to verify it for me. If someone just wants to point me in the right direction, that would be great.

NPK 7-7-10 to get it started in spring what i use and NPK 12-14-24 in summer , to gett the flowerspike's growing upright i cut some leafs to openup the plants, i have theme in filtered light standing under a walnut tree and i keep theme a bit moist .

When you say you cut some leaves, you mean you remove some of the leaves to give the spikes more room to grow? Wonderful information, thank you so much. You are very kind.

I used to work part time for a brug hybridizer. When plants got very root bound she had me root prune them before jumping into larger pot. She would say "abuse them Ginger...they will love it" Don't know if that is true for hibiscus, but she grew great brugs.

Not sure about hibiscus...but you might try cutting the sides of the pot (plastic?) all around and then lowering it into a larger pot. The roots will find their way.

Anthurium flowers get larger with age, if they aren't a cultivar that is supposed to be small flowered. I just cut the top off with 2 or 3 roots and stick it in the pot/ground. The original stalk will sprout again.

Just before the storm and the earthquake (both in one week) I decided to just transplant the hibiscus no matter what happened to it. It was so pot bound and I found a larger container it would fit in. I did it and then it started to rain and everything had to be moved inside the greenhouse. I fed them all before we closed up the greenhouse just in case it would be days before they got another drink, etc. That was a week this past Saturday. We were able to open the greenhouse again about Tuesday and everything had survived with flying colors.
Today I had time to take a good look around and found this and several other buds just waiting to pop.


Nothing like hot, humid, wet, windy climate. These things are indestructible, I swear.

We had to have six old locust removed after the storm,one down and 5 damaged but no flooding, and the greenhouse was wrapped up like a package to keep the panels from blowing out.No electric for 19 hours. It was really hot in there at several times, we were so lucky this time. Just wanted to share the hibiscus story. Hope those in the path of Lee are safe and sound, we are to have rain the next five days and many of the NJ areas are still recovering from the rains we just had. Mother Nature is angry.

Glad everything is OK. with all the rain you are getting, you might become the new tropics!!!

Forgive me if I showed this to you before. I am a bit under the weather and down. I was about to post a few things last Friday when Barney, my 14 year old Jack Russell had something similar to a stroke and had to be put to sleep. This is the first day I have even thought of posting anything.

This little lady is my Mandevilla amabilis 'Alice Du Pont'.....got it from Logees some time ago and it was not happy until the hurricane hit and it was so hot and humid everywhere. I found it with some others stacked in the greenhouse to keep it safe. Today it has about 5 more buds on it.



Have a good day.