Need Help Pruning A Cock-eyed Hibiscus

Hibiscus

Ask the Expert: cock-eyed hibiscus
I asked a question last year and you answered it so well that I thought I’d bring you another!

My Grandma gave me what looked like two twigs stuck in a pot a year ago. Now that I’ve learned it’s a hibiscus (this is a hibiscus, right!?), I’ve also learned what an indoor hibiscus should look like. Here are some attached pictures – it seems as though the whole hibiscus was pruned back to a few inches above the soil a couple of years ago. You can see that two large branches have shot off maybe 30 inches at angles, and more branches are coming out of the other stumps rather suddenly with the spring weather. I’ve been reading up on proper hibiscus pruning and I understand the concept, but my Hibiscus is such an odd duck that I don’t know where to start. How do I get this thing to straighten up when it doesn’t seem to have a real “trunk” anymore?

thanks for your time!

-_meghan

Reply:

Happy To help as always.

I am having trouble loading the pictures you sent.  But, I think I can answer your question without them.  The main plant is a hibiscus.  It looks as if a few of the other leaves close to outer edge of the pot are something else.

As for the hibiscus, I would try to bring it a more bushy shape.  To do this you will need to cut off a large portion of each stalk.  Make your cut right above the set of leaves closest to the bottom of the plant.  By doing this you will encourage the plant to produce lateral growth instead of  height.  Do this only on the two long woody stalks.  On the small green stalk coming from the based of the plant, pinch the very top leaves from the stalk.  Again this will encourage growth in thickness before height.   The more you pinch or trim the hibiscus the fuller the plant will be.  We do this with hibiscus at our nursery all the time.  You can manipulate the plant to look any way you want depending on how you prune it.

Keep me posted and let me know if you have any other questions.