Hello everyone I'm new here.I have a big problem I just bought a braided hibicus tree. And I repotted it to A bigger pot and now it's loosing a lot of leaves.does anyone have and idea what I should do? I have acouple of pics.
If I had to guess, I would say that the change in the environment was extreme and sudden. Plus, the one picture shows a vent behind the tree. Is that air conditioning and blowing too much air on the poor thing? I think your tree will recover eventually, but in the meantime, all those leaves will fall off and will need to regrow. Time time time. At least that's what I think. Too much change, too quickly. Leave it where it is for now and let it adapt.
Hibiscus likes weather above 60 degrees, humid and not too much sun, just several hours a day. It doesn't like to sit wet, needs good drainage. I found one of those fog fountains to be good for humidity. If you stepped up the pot size too much when you repotted it that might have caused the leaves to drop. It will grow the leaves back if you can figure out the problem. They releaf (is this a word? ;D ) really well. Also inside the spider mites will go after it. Good Luck!
Try to keep the hibiscus close to the environment that it was originally in. When you repot, you should only go up one size (3"->4"->6"->8"...gallon->two gallon etc.) Do feed it ful lstrength right after you repot, and make sure the soil is very ewll draining. It may be transplant shock, or as other mentioned, shock from moving environments. Give it as much bright indirect light as you can.
Helping the world one seed at a time
When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant. Mary Ann LaPensee
I shut off the fan at nite.I did not fertilize.because i'm building a chameleon cage around them.and now it has spider mites?i"m not supposed to use any fertilize or chems. on or in the plants i put in the cage.
it looks to me that the plant is stressed. going from one evironment to another and being repotted before it had time to adapt. the cooler conditions aren't helping either. and with the a/c on there's much lower humidity and that's just something that's not good for this plant.
the reptiles will need higher temps, just like the hibiscus, so you should just remove the a/c from the equation completely.
it does need good drainage, so if the container you put it in doesn't have drainage holes, you'll have to repot it again.
are you sure it has spider mites or are you just taking the comment that they can affect these plants as being that that is what the problem is??
you can help avoid spider mites being an issue by misting the tree every day. a little fountain or fogger will help add the humidity the plant needs and that will also keep the mites in check. so will the reptiles, actually, too.
i really think it's just a matter of the plant going through too many changes in a short amount of time.
give it a month to become acclimated and i'll bet you see new leaves starting.
okay. your post had a ? after the comment about the mites, so i wasn't sure how to take that.
to really get rid of them, you'll need to treat with a miticide. barring that, mist every day...they do NOT like the moisture. you could also mix in some rubbing alcohol with the water - i'd do a mix of half/half. you'll need to spray that right on the leaves around where the webs are, though. and then remove the webs so you can check progress...if more webs are made, you still have them...
once you get the reptiles situated, they may eat them. not sure if they're too small for the rep's to bother with though.
In Florida the hibiscus grows in very sandy soil. Also it rains a lot there usually. BUT the water drains away quickly because of the sand. Something to think about when you are growing one inside.
you know, i just noticed something i should have caught earlier i was so busy looking at your plant i forgot to say "please resize to 640x480" we do have that size limit. and photobucket will let you resize and when we load your pictures up again, they will be the right size if you do that. thank you for your understanding
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