In article ,
"junkyardcat" wrote:

I bought a beautiful Hibiscus from Wal-Mart the other day. I'm going to
leave it in the container (may eventually put it in a larger container). How
do you care for Hibiscus? I see some of the flowers have closed up....does
that mean those are finished blooming and will fall off? I've never had a
plant like this and don't know the first thing about caring for it Do I
feed it?


the next time you ever purchase a plant, especially a tropical plant, from
any store like walmart or kmart, you MUST examine the underleaves for tiny
white specks. if you nudge a speck, you'll find that it can fly. these
buggers are called, amazingly enough, whitefly and they suck the sap of the
plant through the veins in the leaves and they spread like crazy!!

another bug-venture you will need to keep an eye on is spidermite. if you
have ANY KIND of evergreen growing within 200 feet of your house, your
plant, especially hibiscus, is almost certain to get tiny red or black
buggers and the easiest way to spot them is to look for webbing material.
if you DO see webbing, hold the plant up to the light and very carefully
examine the web threads for teeny critters moving up and down. again, these
buggers are very hungry and can suck a poor plant out of its sap within a
short time.

to replant your hibiscus, which is a plant which likes moist soil BUT NOT
WET, it's best to use at least 1/3 of the replacement soil with peat moss
and 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 white lava rock....OR i would highly suggest,
since you already shop at walmart, for you to buy their blend which is very
similar to the commercial mixes which have plant food within them.

you must be loving to your plant...talk to him (or her), play music for him
and get him a friend. if you like hibiscus, i highly suggest the VERY BEST
place to buy the most beautiful hibiscus you'll ever see is at
http://www.logees.com/store/
in fact, they have one of the most glorious ones right on their homepage.

please do not feel you must respond to my email, but if you do, you'll get a
notice from earthlink regarding spamblocking. it's ok...i'll retrieve your
mail from the earthlink base and then respond to you from there.

good luck with your new baby.