Perhaps your seedlings are suffering from "damp"? It is a fungus that will cause seemingly happy seedlings to die off. Buy a new bag of seed starter mix and start new seeds and see if they do better. Another thing I do to grow my seeds, I put the seed starter mix into a tiny round microwave container, plant the seed and put the lid on it. I have not had trouble with "damp" with this procedure.

Thanks, I'll try that! I ended up with 3 strong looking seedlings, but the other 7 germinated and then died. I'm happy with 3 though, this is the first time I've ever tried them from seed. Thanks for the suggestions!

I do hope you all know that you must nick the round end before placing the seed in the soil. The roots come from the pointed end. if you don't they will die

Remember -- I know very little about this--- but---did you by any chance try to transplant them to individual containers? Someone gave me a tip a few years back about not bothering the plants -- let them grow and develop roots for a while first --then you can transplant them.

I've also heard someone mention a fan circulating does something (probably scientific stuff) to help seedlings. Hope this helps or maybe someone else knows about the fan.

Just wanted to add that after growing Hardy hibiscus seedlings for three years, the hybrids just seem to have a good number of seedlings which "fail to thrive". I'd guess that the genetics are just incompatible for a vigorous plant. In a lot of batches the majority of seedlings would keel over at their first true leaves, but the ones which survived thrived. I've been crossing Blue River II and Southern Bell and gotten all sorts of reds, pinks, and swirls. I've yet to get another pure white like BRII though.
Peace,
Nate

I start mine in a mixture of cow manure and peat moss, they seem to love it.

My brother walks in the room, says where are you going to put all of these hibiscus and datura seedlings and I tell him, It's not how many there are, it's how many are going to live. If I start with 10 of the same kind, I'm sure to get 2-3. There's just too many things that can go wrong with seedlings, so if I want a plant from seed bad enough I'll order or get enough to ensure I get 1...lol

You probably shouldn't have had that compost in for seedlings, and no fertilizer at all until they've got at least their second set of leaves (1st true set) but from the sounds of it, your remanders are strong and doing fine.

Use a very little fertilizer at first...as in real diluted, just enough to get them use to it. You'll have to feel your way through as to when to add more as all plants have thresholds for such things. I like researching things but I can't remember how much I fertilized. Though I don't know if that's necessary if you already have compost in your mix.

Now, I haven't grown lunars, but I have grown 5+ other kinds. Your roots, I believe, are little tubers and they must stay attached to the neck of the plant when you transplant, much like dahlia's except longer and thinner tubers relative to the plant size. They are stonger than veining type of roots. All my hardy hibiscus shoot straight out, in one direction or another. I expect yours are probably curling around the bottom of the pot and you should have them in ever bigger sized pots.

Just keep in mind, a root bound pot means there is so much root in the pot that the water just runs right over the roots and out the bottom, with nothing much to help keep the water near the roots for a long enough time.

They will grow much faster in their second year and probably be able to reach full heighth in the third. Albeit those newer kinds of hibiscus (especially to most of us here in Canada)do each have their own characteristics and your own growing environment and care will have a lot to say about how fast they'll grow. But from what I've read and I've read on almost every kind, have the same growth biology...but there are always exceptions to the rules, such as Lord Baltimore and others that can grow pretty tall. - Sandy

Just Tips on starting hibiscus seeds.

Starting Hibiscus seeds.

1. Tear off a piece of Aluminum foil about 1'X 1'
2. Obtain a white paper towel.
3. Obtain a piece of 120-grit sandpaper.
4. Take one seed at a time and run across sandpaper
several times in same place and set aside. Do this for
as many seeds you want to start.
5. Lay aluminum foil flat on table.
6. Fold paper towel in half twice.
7. Wet paper towel generously.
8. Set towel in center of foil.
9. Place sanded seeds in center of wet paper towel.

10. Fold wet paper towel in from both sides covering seeds.

11. Fold foil from both long sides then ends to cover paper
    towel completely to block out light.

12. Set the seeds on top of something like a Satellite
    receiver for 2 or 3 days. Temperature stays Constant.

13. Germination should have taken place (I have 99%
    germination rate by this method.)

14. Fill 3" peat moss cups with potting soil.

15. Generously moisten soil.

16. Plant 3 seeds per 3" peat moss cup spaced evenly apart.
    There should be a new start (root) protruding from seed,
    plant the new shoot (root) down and rest of seed under
    ¼" of soil.

17. I use plastic containers that 5 or 6 pound bulk
    hamburger comes in. (Washed out of course)you should be
    able to place 9- 3" wet cups in this plastic container.

18. Keep in dark warm area of house until they pop up.

19. Place in sunny area (south window)

20. Keep moist(can pour water into plastic container
    which will water from bottom.

rdd1:

I BOW to the MASTER!

I used the above method, (with a slight variation, soaking the luna red hibiscus seeds in a water/seaweed extract first) and have a 100% germination rate! I only had 11 of these seeds and ALL of them germinated. I just moved them into soil and put them back on top of the satellite receiver. Do you have DirectTV? If so, that receiver most certainly works for this method! My only problem is two of the seed roots are joined together and I wasn't about to attempt to split them and losing them both. I planted the two as one instead.

Thank you so much rdd1 for posting your secrets!

Great info on starting Hibiscus seeds! Now I need how long before they can be planted outdoors. How long do they need to remain in pots, etc. Thanks

Plan to try the above with seeds harvested from existing plants.

Side question: can exist plants be split before they start re-growing in the spring. They come back strong each spring (I store them in the storage room during winter bringing them out after the last freeze) and getting to big for even large pots.

I followed the above excellent instructions for germinating my Luna red Hibiscus seeds. I now have moved them into soil.Its been 3 days but there is no sign of a plant coming up. How long is it before seedlings pop up?
Thanks very much for all his info. I am a newbie gardener ...

I was recently having trouble getting Kopper King Hibiscus seed to germinate. I had been trying since November with my usual methods and providing periods of cooler and warmer temps,( because of the no sprouting problem). I then read this piece and tried the dark method and lo and behold I now have germination. Thanks for the tips and I hope I remember this in the future. Happy gardening. Ross.

All these hardy hibiscus germinate well for me by just soaking the seeds in room temperature water for a few days with just a few drops of peroxide. I then scatter the seeds in one of those under bed storage things with drainage holes in it and soft soil. I had so many come up I had to thin them out.

I wintersowed mine and they germinated great and look super healthy. Theyve been up for about a month. I didnt do anything special to the seeds.