Hibiscus: TopTropicals' first plant

Q: I wonder how you started your plant business and what was your first plant?

A: It was 20 years ago this month that we started Top Tropicals Project. No idea where it was going or how to even get "there", just started with the idea of sharing these wonderful creatures we call plants with anyone and everyone who felt the same way.

Believe it or not, the first plant at TopTropicals was a hibiscus. Right before we opened our plant nursery in Florida, we ran into a place called Winn Soldani's FANCY HIBISCUS. The variety of colors inspired us to start our own tropical plant business. We asked the owner Winn Soldani: what plants do you suggest us to grow in Florida? His answer was, "Your plant will find you". Very soon we discovered jasmines, then perfume trees and fruit trees - all those became our specialty. Then very quickly TopTropicals.com turned into a large Plant Mall where you can find every tropical plant you can think of!
But at TopTropicals we still grow hibiscus!

Hibiscus Plus

Hibiscus is a wonderful plant, considering there are thousands of hybrids with color palettes you can only imagine. Especially interesting are those rare and useful species, yet very easy to grow, such as:
- Salad Hibiscus - Hibiscus furcellatus - yes, used in salads
- Coral Hibiscus with crazy pendant flowers - Hibiscus schizopetalus
- African Cranberry hibiscus that is used for making teas and salads - Hibiscus acetocella
- Cotton Candy Hibiscus mutabilis - the flower changes color, opens as white and turns into bright pink within 3 days, like Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow

Photo above: Hibiscus mutabilis Cotton Candy

Care of Hibiscus and other flowering tropicals

"If your plant isn't flowering, feed it."
- Winn Soldani, Fancy Hibiscus -

Among gardeners, Hibiscus plants have a reputation to have couple maintenance issues:
1) they can get bugsy (because they must be so tasty!)
2) they can get leggy, especially fancy grafted cultivars, and after a while they don't look as perfect as when they came from a nursery.

4 tips for healthy and pretty hibiscus plant

1. Full sun. Essential for profuse flowering and keeps away diseases.
2. Pruning. Keep it pruned and it will get bushy and produce more blooms.
3. Well-drained soil. Hibiscus likes regular watering but hates wet feet.
4. Nutrition program. Hibiscus plants are heavy feeders. But keep in mind that if you just keep pushing granulated plant food, you can over-fertilize the plant. Excessive salts will accumulate in soil and you will end up with a sickly looking plant.

Keys to balanced plant food and bloom booster

1) Use liquid fertilizer, preferably amino acid based, it won't create nutrients lock up
2) Fertilize on regular basis, it's better dilute concentration and add food with every watering
3) Always add micro-elements - they are essential for plant health

If you do this part right, the result will be:
- healthy, green plants, like they just came from a nursery
- reliable blooming circle
- better cold tolerance and disease resistance. Remember that a strong plant will be less stressed and less "bugged" by bugs!

We always suggest Sunshine Boosters - scientifically balanced liquid fertilizers that are amino acid based = they are natural and organic, can be used for both flowers and edibles, and what's most important - year around. They are safe to use virtually with every watering.

This is all you need for healthy plants and lots of flowers!

Sugar grains on leaves?

Q: On my Stemmadenia tree I noticed tiny drops (like white sand grain or sugar crystals) and wonder if this is a disease or some kind of insect and what can I do about it?

A: Sometimes certain vigorously growing (mostly tropical) plants develop suspiciously-looking tiny "growths" mostly on the undersides of their leaves. Without strong magnification, they can be easily mistaken for mealy bugs, scale insects, or any number of parasitic disease vectors.
However, according to plant pathologists, these are actually harmless excretions actually exuded by the plants themselves. A chemical analysis of these tiny granules shows that they are nothing more than polysaccharides. Polysaccharides are basically complex chains of sugar/glucose molecules which are simply a production of all plants undergoing photosynthesis. Polysaccharides are at the beginning of the entire food-chain. These odd tiny sugar-grained nodules are actually only semi-crystalline complex sugars which certain plants have over manufactured and have had no choice but to excrete through their stomata (breathing pores).
I have personally observed Cecropia, Psychotria, Spondias (Hog Plum), and Guavas doing this... there are many others. Nothing to worry about, they are harmless, but if they bother you - wash them off with a hose water.

Which fertilizer is right?

Q: I need some advice on which fertilizer(s) would be perfect for my C​annonball tree and its cousin Heaven's Lotus (Gustavia augusta). ​I also have fruit trees... soursops, mango, etc. and a collection of flowers including pua keni keni, plumeria, bougainvillea, etc. I am wondering if you can recommend a custom fertilizing regimen for my garden (especially the cannonball and the gustavia since they are young).

A: It is a perfect time now to fertilize your plants as they start active growth. We have suggestions on fertilizing programs for your trees. You will find here our recommendations for:

1. Young trees
2. Flowering trees
3. Fragrant plants
4. In-ground grown fruit trees... CONTINUE READING >>

The most fragrant flowers

Q: Hope you can help me with the following question with an upcoming newsletter. Would you please let us know of the strongest (pleasant) fragrant plants you currently have in stock? Fragrance that fills the space.

A: The most fragrant flower that "fills the air around" in definitely Chanel #5 - Cananga odorata a.k.a. Ylang Ylang. Just one tree when in bloom can fill the air with fine perfume for yards away.
Another strongly scented perfume tree is Joy Perfume - Magnolia champaca (both orange and white flowers are sweetly fragrant).
If you are looking for a smaller size plant, then the most fragrant are -
- Jasmine sambac
- Night-fragrant white-flowered Brunfelsias - B. americana, B. nitida, B. Gigantea, B. lactea and others.
- Night blooming Jasmine - Cestrum nocturnum is another favorite shrub with night-fragrant flowers, the scent is super strong and super sweet.
- Artabotrys hexapetalus - Ylang Ylang vine with wonderful lemony fragrance that fills the air.

See Full list of fragrant plants.

When to apply super boost?

Q: Just wanted to know best time of day to apply super boost as spray and watering? Only listed to make sure night temp doesn't drop below 65F...

A: As a rule of thumb, plant's needs in fertilizers are very low in the cold season because they consume less nutrients during dormancy. For tropical plants, when minimum temperatures drop below 65F - we stop applications of dry (granulated) fertilizers until spring, to avoid root burn.
Liquid Sunshine Boosters are exceptions from this rule to a certain extent, for 2 reasons:
- they are amino-acid based which means, salts do not build up in the soil, and thus will not burn the roots even with slower plant metabolism.
- concentrations/formulas are mild and designed for as frequent as daily watering

1) When a plant goes into full dormancy (drops leaves and does not show any new growth), you may stop fertilizing with any Macro NPK products (both dry and liquid)

2) If a plant is evergreen and continues growing during the cooler period, and especially if it is a winter bloomer, mild liquid fertilizers can be applied, depending on the stage of plant development.
Robusta and TotalFeed are used for vegetative growth and pre-flower.
Megaflor and C-Cibus are used for winter flowering/ fruiting plants during the bloom stage.

See full list of liquid boosters

3) Micro-elements can be used all year round for all plants that are not dormant (do not drop leaves)

4) Always use Sunshine-Epi as a foliar spray to activate immune system and unlock protective mechanisms, BEFORE applying other boosters. It is especially important during Fall-Winter for improving cold tolerance and disease resistance.

5) Always apply foliar spray and/or drench the soil with solutions in morning hours so the plant has time to process the nutrients during daylight when metabolism is the most active.

6) Avoid any dry fertilizers during winter