名媛直播

[[Okay it's telling me I can't upload this many, instead of me as a new user throwing a bunch of images I've just put them all onto an imgur page, if that's not ok/the norm I can host the pics here in multiple posts!
Here's the IMGUR LINK: All the images are on that page chronologically, first the ficus through its stages, then hibiscus the day I did its work, then hibiscus today (3 days later)
[Note- all of the pictures were taken a few days ago when I did this work, *except* the last two pictures, those were taken just a couple hours ago, I'm hoping that can help show indication of whether the Hibiscus is doing alright or not!]

Okay so I did these a few days ago, am making this thread to find out any and all tips&tricks I can do to help these guys survive. I'll break this post into 2 parts as they're two totally separate projects. Also I should mention I'm in zone 9a, it's hot&humid here, temperature hitting 90's in the daytime and 'heat index' breaking 100, and that I'm very good about watering (in that I know how to tell proper moisture levels, and I'm consistent in keeping them there)

First tree is my Ficus, I've had this guy for over a year, started in a ~10gal container, I chopped the canopy and root-ball really aggressively, re-planted it and it recuperated at least a year (during which time I did gradually remove soil, exposing surface roots - 'nebari', I believe it's called) The idea was to have a ~5' tall 'large bonsai' of sorts, but I decided to make it a really small bonsai instead, so I did a clear-cut maybe 6" from the soil and put a bag over it to 'greenhouse' the guy. I posted on reddit about this as well, and was given some confidence it'd make it through this, but I was reading something today and heard about 'cut paste' and I'm unfamiliar with that, I just cut that with a circular saw and threw a trash bag over it, and have been opening it up and misting with water twice daily. It is currently in a ~3gal container, which I re-potted it into in the same session, with a medium of ~60% soil ('airy' soil, not heavy composty soil) and crushed porous rocks - the same medium mix it'd grown in this past year, only with a 50% serving of a low-nitrogen organic fertilizer (bone and feather meal with potash)

Second up is a new specimen, a Hibiscus I saw for cheap at walmart and thought what the heck! Anyways, as expected, it was basically a ball of roots in that ~1.5gal container, so i trimmed the roots and did a 'first round' trimming of the canopy (leaving canopy that I intend to remove later, to help it recuperate better - I imagine that's logical?) I planted it at a really steep tilt so that i could expose a really nice, prominent root (which, in the future, I intend to bend and make 'blend into' the trunk, the pictures should show where that'd make sense ), and, instead of being patient and planting in-ground or in a larger container til it recuperated, I had a ceramic pot I chose to get it into, a pot with no drainage holes, so I've got the Hibiscus in a shallow container with ~3/4" broken terra-cotta potting layer at the bottom to act as 'overflow reservoir', and a top-layer (mulching basically) of shiny black rocks - the actual grow-medium sandwiched between there with the roots is the same as the Ficus', maybe 60% good light soil then the remainder a porous gravel mix.


Thanks for taking the time to read this, any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated, I'd hate to lose either of these and, while I'm very experienced with gardening in general, I'm not too knowledgeable about bonsai and if there's anything I can do now to tilt the balance in favor of survival for either of these guys, I want to do it! They're both kept outdoors, the ficus is wrapped with that white trash bag (figured that, with no leaves, light is pretty irrelevant - perhaps a black bag, which'd make it hotter in there, would be better?), the hibiscus is on patio getting indirect light for all but a couple hours direct light in the late morning time (ignore the pics where it's inside, that was just when I was showing people inside it does not / will not be indoors obviously!), and I have a white plastic bag covering the surface loosely, in hopes that eases the newly-exposed roots' "barking" process! Oh and I'm also misting the hibiscus, both the canopy and a spritz at the exposed roots, twice daily

You should really only hard prune in early spring. Otherwise there's not much to comment on (for me at least).
Keep us updated.

Ed

名媛直播Learner wrote: You should really only hard prune in early spring. Otherwise there's not much to comment on (for me at least).
Keep us updated.

Ed

Why is that? I'm not questioning the validity of that, I know I've heard that before, I just didn't understand the reasoning! I mean, I fully understand why someone in the northeast shouldn't do work like this in early fall, but in a semi-tropical area like I'm in, during a time where the plants' vegetative growth is just crazy, it seems so intuitive to me that now is just fine....would like to understand what I'm not understanding about this!

Oh and I guess I should be clear - I think the biggest questions for these trees are A- how much light should the Hibiscus get (any direct light or only indirect?), and, for both of them, is it wise for me to be misting twice daily (should I do that, more, less)?

It's just after the period of dormancy for most species and so the plant will have a lot of stored up energy that it can use to backbud. Letting it grow into summer then cutting it back is just a waste of energy. (I hope you planted some cuttings from the ficus).

A - ''A distinction must be made between tropical hibiscus plants and hardy hibiscus plants: Tropical hibiscus have glossy, green leaves. They like sunlight but do require shade in the summer. When grown indoors, supplemental light is required during the winter period. Tropical hibiscus will suffer leaf-drop in cold temperatures, and they will almost certainly be killed by frost. Hardy hibiscus plants have matte leaves. They will grow in sunlight or shade. Even though they are hardy, the plants do need some winter protection.''

Taken from:

And for both of them ( B ) - I never mist. Misting temporarily increases humidity which helps the plant to retain water as less is lost through the stomata by transpiration. For the ficus, this is definitely not necessary as it has no leaves and the bag will create a fair bit of humidity.

iheartplants wrote: figured that, with no leaves, light is pretty irrelevant

You made the wrong assumption.

iheartplants wrote: ,so I've got the Hibiscus in a shallow container with ~3/4" broken terra-cotta potting layer at the bottom to act as 'overflow reservoir and a top-layer (mulching basically) of shiny black rocks

Repot into a properly draining pot. Do not use a 'potting layer' at the bottom. Remove the shiny black rocks.

What's up with those enormous rocks on the top soil? What's that for?

I live in the northeast (U.S.A). To my understanding, most things like this and re-potting is done in early spring not fall; reasons explained by 名媛直播Learner. This is an international forum so saying "northeast" without specifying where in the world makes no sense, as the U.S. is not the only country in the world. Unless you're talking about northeast of the world???

名媛直播Learner wrote: It's just after the period of dormancy for most species and so the plant will have a lot of stored up energy that it can use to backbud. Letting it grow into summer then cutting it back is just a waste of energy. (I hope you planted some cuttings from the ficus).

'Wasting energy' isn't relevant to me in any sense, *unless you're implying it won't make it through this* - is that what you're saying? I understand it's not optimal, but my concern is about survival not efficiency. How unlikely - specifically - do you think its survival is? You say you hope I have cuttings, so I'm assuming you're thinking this is unlikely to survive? (and I do have cuttings but that's really irrelevant, it's not my only ficus)

名媛直播Learner wrote: A - ''A distinction must be made between tropical hibiscus plants and hardy hibiscus plants: <<descriptions>>.''
Taken from:

Yes I've read that exact writing before, that doesn't answer my question though - I could leave my hibiscus against my house, where it'd receive virtually 0 direct light, or I could leave it in a few hours of light daily (like I do in the late-mornings every day) - which of those do you suggest? Am aware what type of hibiscus I have (my job involves a fair amount of maintaining this exact variety, actually), my question was again - how much light should it be in, *now*, after the castration I just put it through?

名媛直播Learner wrote: And for both of them ( B ) - I never mist. Misting temporarily increases humidity which helps the plant to retain water as less is lost through the stomata by transpiration. For the ficus, this is definitely not necessary as it has no leaves and the bag will create a fair bit of humidity.

Okay, *you* never mist, and I'm really concerned about A, the Hibiscus that has leaves which are perspiring, whether it's worth misting - do you have a suggestion on that? I feel like you're implying not to, but not coming out and saying it..should I or shouldn't I? Seems to me that misting would prevent transpiration, keeping more moisture within the specimen thus helping it, but I'm unsure so am asking here hoping to be informed

Auk wrote:

iheartplants wrote: figured that, with no leaves, light is pretty irrelevant

You made the wrong assumption.

Thanks for letting me know! Could you please explain to me *why* that was wrong, so I can do better going forth? My understanding was that light is, entirely or almost-entirely, for photosynthesis, so on a plant without leaves, light would serve little purpose and that giving it only the indirect, fuzzy/muted light that came through a white plastic bag would be a better idea, the moisture-retention properties being the advantage and the muted-light being of virtually no disadvantage - you say I assumed wrong but didn't bother to give me a clue why that's the case, would you be a sport and help me understand why, so that I may correct my mistakes and keep my trees alive?

Auk wrote:

iheartplants wrote: ,so I've got the Hibiscus in a shallow container with ~3/4" broken terra-cotta potting layer at the bottom to act as 'overflow reservoir and a top-layer (mulching basically) of shiny black rocks

Repot into a properly draining pot. Do not use a 'potting layer' at the bottom. Remove the shiny black rocks.

Is there ANY reason to do that besides an insurance against over-watering? If so, I've never heard of it and would be interested to know why. I keep a very close eye on the soil's moisture levels and am confident they're appropriate, so with that being the case I'm very interested how a non-draining pot would hurt the Hibiscus.
As for the rocks, again, WHY? They're there as a mulch layer, what's their problem? I know they're not chemically-interacting with my soil, and I know they're not preventing needed-evaporation (as I carefully maintain the soil's moisture), so - why exactly is using a rock mulch detrimental to my tree?



I hated writing this post because I feel like it makes me come across as an ignorant newbie, but really I don't get what's the problem with the contentions cited by you two, nor have I seen a statement about what to do (besides 're-pot'..) or whether they're likely to survive or not, which is what I posted for. If there's reasons why the previously-quoted contentions are truly bad, I'm all ears - they were all specifically addressed and I'm open-ears for what I should change! Thanks for the responses, hopefully I'm showing some fantastic specimen in a couple years!!