HUGE Hibiscus

by Chanel
(Daphne, Alabama)

Red Hibiscus

So I got a tiny Hibiscus seedling at a Horticulture show last January. It's in a pretty big pot on a lanai - good sun etc..etc..
I water it almost everyday - I live in Alabama on the coast so it's been very hot and humid, but the plant has thrived so well, when I pulled it away from edge of porch last weekend ( we were having a hurricane - high winds etc..) I realised it has grown to WAY over 5 feet tall ( I am 5'10") and at the base it looks like 2 separate plants.

It is extremely "bushy" has LOTS of leaves and is bountiful in its 'production' of big, beautiful scarlet flowers - sometimes there are as many as 10 blooms at once and you can count just as many buds on the way....

my question..............it clearly needs more room for its roots so I will be 're-potting' it soon.

Can I divide it when I'm doing that???
I have some experience doing this with philodendrons. I literally take a knife and cut it at the root bed - I have 5 philodendrons now that are all 8 feet wide and 5 feet tall and they all came from the same plant 10 years.

Comments for HUGE Hibiscus

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Oct 12, 2017

Totally split it up!
by: Jacki

By all means slice the root ball into sections - each one with its own stem.

The other thing you could do is simply remove sections of the root ball, add fresh soil, and stick it back into the same pot.

No need to completely repot it. Repotting it will just encourage it to grow bigger, which is fine if this is what you want.

Cutting it back will also help keep it smaller and more compact. Leave some of the stems that are flowering now, so you'll continue to get flowers, but trim back any longer shoots. Then it will bush out from below where you cut it.

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