How to get rid of white flies on Hibiscus Plant

Recently, I had white flies on my Hibiscus Plant. They were growing in numbers and had caused some damages to the leaves of the Hibiscus Plant. There was black dust on the leaves and I thought that it was due to the pollution in the air or some renovation works from my neighbours. However, after checking the internet for information on the white flies, I realised that the white flies will excrete honeydew after they fed on the plant sap.

I was going to buy some pesticides in the local floral shop until I saw the formula in the internet. I was sceptical at first and thought that it might not work. In my workplace, there is IPA which is Isopropyl Alcohol available.

The formula for one litre spray is:
(1) 2 parts IPA
(2) 5 parts water
(3) 15ml of liquid detergent

I don't have one litre spray, I only have a 300ml spray. I just make sure that the ratio of the IPA:Water is 1:2.5 and then the liquid detergent, I just estimated.

After putting all the ingredients into the spray can, I shook it a little to make sure that they were dissolved and sprayed onto the leaves. I sprayed the underneath of the leaves to cover the eggs and larvae. Some of the liquids did drip into the soil and I hope it would not damage the plant. I sprayed it in the morning before the sunlight became too strong. I left the plant alone for the whole day.

The next morning, I checked the plant and discovered that the white flies were gone. The eggs and larvae had dried up and were destroyed by the spray. I noticed that some leaves turned yellow and I assumed that it was due to the liquid. I will keep on monitoring the plant to see any stress that it might have.

Air Layering of Hibiscus Plant

On new year's eve, I tried to propagate my Yellow Hibiscus Plant. This Yellow Hibiscus is pretty and had bloomed 5 flowers already. It is still producing buds for flowering. I tried to pollinate the flowers but failed. The "ovaries" would drop from the stalks after a couple of days. It is very difficult to pollinate the flowers.

I made two cuts on a woody branch that has no bud. I peeled the bark away between the two cuts to expose the white area. Under the bark, the branch is green and you need to cut or scrape the green surface away. Try not to do too much as it may break the branch. I cut a hole in a plastic bag and inserted the branch into the hole.

I tied the end of the plastic bag with a wire to secure the base with the branch. This is to prevent the sphagnum moss from coming out of the bag.

I used a swap to apply the rooting hormone onto the white surface of the branch.

Applying the rooting hormone on the exposed branch area.

I have pre-soaked the sphagnum moss in water for a few hours. Squeezed dry the sphagnum moss but they are still moist. Wrapped the moist sphagnum moss over the branch and covered it with the plastic bag.

Yellow Hibiscus Plant

We came across this Yellow Hibiscus plant in a market. The yellow flower was big and attractive and it immediately caught our attention. The plant is just only $5 per pot. We bought it and brought it home.

 

Yellow Hibiscus Plant



Yellow Hibiscus Flower

According to the internet, the YellowHibiscus is a flowering shrub that grows on all the Hawaiian islands except Ni’ihau and Kaho’olawe. All three subspecies of the yellow hibiscus are listed as endangered species. Even in Hawaii, the plant is rare. I don’t think it is endangered as I have seen them here in Singapore and many places. Probably it is endangered in Hawaii.

 

The first thing I noticed is the large bright yellow flower. There are a couple of buds on the plant waiting to bloom.

 





Withered flower

 

The flower lasted only about 2 days and then it will wither and drop off from the flower stalk. The ovary is left and if it is successful in the pollination process, it will develop into a pod with seeds. If it is unsuccessful, it will drop off when it is still green. The "ovary" dropped off after two days, so it is not unsuccessful.

 

Hibiscus "ovary"

 

After the "ovary" dropped off, I checked the soil and it was dried. I watered the soil and made sure that the excess water was drained away from the bottom of the pot. I thought that it might be that the plant was under stress as it had been moved from one place to another.

Two more flowers bloomed and I used a cotton swab to transfer the pollen across from one flower to the other and vice versa. The pollens are sticky and they are quite difficult to transfer to the stigma of the pistil. The stigma is also sticky and the pollens get stuck on them.

After two days, the flowers withered and I'm hoping for the pollination to be successful. From the internet, it seems that the pollination is not usually successful and will depend on many factors. Today, I saw one of the "ovary" dropped from the plant. The other is still on the plant and I hope that this one will develop into seed pod.



One "ovary" dropped.