Dying Hibiscus

[SUSE]

Well its been 3 weeks and i havnt accidently killed my Chameleon. Yay! My poor hibiscus is another story. it's leaves are turrning yellow and dying about 1-2 a day. I am really not a green thumb but it seems my plant is unhappy.

Currently i have my "little dripper" dripping into the hibiscus. There is rocks about 1/3 of the way on the bottom of the planter so there is plenty of drainage. I am using the standard UVB/A blub. at this rate the hibiscus will be totally dead in 3-5 more weeks.

I am worried because my Chameleon has taken a liking too a particular branch on the hibiscus. I don't want too upset his little chameleon world by killing his home. or worse yet needing too buy a new one and removing his "nighty night" branch.

on a similar topic he seems too go to sleep around 6pm every night. its so cute

 

[Cheyenneohhh]

Try and get it some natural sunlight. They are mainly outdoor plants.
You could try keeping multiple and having some outside and swap them out every so often.
I'm pretty sure a few other forum members do that.

 

[carol5208]

go to home depot and purchase a 6500k grow light. You will need another tube fixture for that on top of your cage. It is the only way for your plant to survive. The uvb bulb is not enough. All flowering plants needs lots of sun. They are hard to keep indoors. Your other option like the other member said is to take it outside everyday for sun but I am sure that would be a pain moving the cage back and forth.

 

[zerpda]

Hi there. I recently bought my first hibiscus and it seems to be doing pretty good with the jungle dawn spot with 1 red diode in it. I had used the 6500kv tubes before and I never had any luck with my plants thriving. Since I bought the spot lights with the red diode the scheffleras taht used to wither away have been growing beautifully. I got them from site sponser Light Your Reptiles.

 

[BonnieLorraine]

My guess is the hibiscus is drowning. In my horticulture soils class one of the things we learned is that gravel in the bottom of the pot actually slows drainage, the soil must reach a super saturated state (boggy) before it will enter the macro pores of the gravel. I say take the gravel out, and if you want to increase drainage, mix sand or gravel directly into the soil mix.

 

[SUSE]

What do ya'all use in your Cham's Home? Fake plants? or do you use grow lights?

 

[coldbloodedAL]

With Hibiscus it is best to keep the soil moist without drowning the roots. Different soil mixture as stated above with help with that issue. Second, they need ALOT of sunlight that your uvb/cannot produce. A 6500k will help tremendously with that. I keep multiple Hibiscus and they all do well. One thing i have heard (may not be true) is once they flower or are exposed to a drastic climate/light level change they will drop their leaves