Anybody Grow Roselle?
 

One of this year's garden toys is Roselle, a member of the hibiscus family. One can supposedly make an interesting tea from the dried calyces and the green leaves are used as seasoning in various cultures.

The one I'm growing is 'Thai Red', bought from Southern Seed Exposure. There's a 4-pack of plants under the lights right now since it supposedly takes 6 months to mature.

Has anyone else tried growing this? If so, any tips for optimal growth or things to watch out for?

I tried a few plants from seed, but had aphids problems each time. Never did treat it for the aphids, and never tried again. You can make a hot tea or cold tea.

Haven't grown it yet, but hear it is a pretty long season plant. Glad you have it already started! Interested in hearing how it does for you!

Have grown it many times in the past (easy enough), but our season is just too short and my indoor facilities non existent to let it mature.

[QUOTE=PhilaGardener;730284]Haven't grown it yet, but hear it is a pretty long season plant. Glad you have it already started! Interested in hearing how it does for you![/QUOTE]

These things are quick! They popped up March 9 after three days from seeding and at 17 days from germination they are already 4-5" tall, have three sets of true leaves and are pushing a fourth set. I use 3.5" deep cell packs and the root systems are starting to fill the cells. Time for shifting up already.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/8aORmfT.jpg[/IMG]

Since they are more tropical in nature I guess I'm going to have to hold them indoors until around May 1 when the threat of frost is gone and temps have settled into the warm zone. As fast as they're growing, they'll probably be in a 3 gallon pot by then. :shock:

Roselle, hmm. Never heard before. Sounds interesting. I love herbs and grow different things, mostly Mediteranian types. Last October flooding killed all my hrbs. Now starting all over.

Your plants are doing great. I have tried twice, and they look half the size and nowhere near as green as yours. My mid winter indoor growing conditions lead to the perfect environment for spider mites, so that may be what is :bugging: them. I started mine around the holidays, or before.
In my first attempt the mix was too wet and germination was poor, started a second sowing in seed starting mix. Germination was almost overnight and percentage was good but at 4 months they look no where near as green and robust as yours.

They look really pretty once they start blooming. My plan was to grow one in ground and the remainder in a large container to be brought indoors in fall. Do you think you will have time for harvest without bringing inside?

- Lisa

[QUOTE=greenthumbomaha;731641]Your plants are doing great. I have tried twice, and they look half the size and nowhere near as green as yours. My mid winter indoor growing conditions lead to the perfect environment for spider mites, so that may be what is :bugging: them. I started mine around the holidays, or before.
In my first attempt the mix was too wet and germination was poor, started a second sowing in seed starting mix. Germination was almost overnight and percentage was good but at 4 months they look no where near as green and robust as yours.

They look really pretty once they start blooming. My plan was to grow one in ground and the remainder in a large container to be brought indoors in fall. Do you think you will have time for harvest without bringing inside?

- Lisa[/QUOTE]

Thanks! They get some Miracle Grow in their watering when I think about it and I try to water only when the pot starts feeling a little light. And they've been under the lights their whole life so far. Today they're now 5.5" tall and starting to push new foliage at the leaf axils:

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/KAGtP8H.jpg[/IMG]

From one article ( [URL]https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/roselle.html[/URL]

[FONT=Verdana][SIZE=2]"If intended solely for the production of calyces, the ideal planting time in southern Florida is mid-May. Blooming will occur in September and October and calyces will be ready to harvest in November and December. Harvesting causes latent buds to develop and extends the flowering life of the plant to late February. When the fruit is not gathered but left to mature, the plants will die in January."[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][SIZE=2]
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Verdana][SIZE=2]Here in east central Georgia (Augusta area) I'm going to try to plant three in the ground and one in a big pot in late April or the beginning of May if the weather cooperates and bring the potted one indoors probably around mid October. I think I'll be able to harvest some. I'm going to try the foliage too. Here's another and less wonky article:[/SIZE][/FONT]

[URL]https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/ornamentals/how-to-grow-hibiscus-zw0z11zsto[/URL]

Depending on where you're at in Georgia, if you grow roselle again, we've added another roselle variety that might do even better for you -- [URL]http://www.southernexposure.com/roselle-st-kitts-and-nevis-06-g-p-2190.html[/URL] -- it's a Caribbean variety that folks in north Florida gave us seed for, they say it's the best one for them there. (We're trialing it in Virginia this summer to see how it compares to Thai Red Roselle here -- I'm guessing that it'll be daylength-sensitive, and that it'll mature later than Thai Red Roselle here... we'll see!)

Please keep us posted Ken B. obviously my season isn't long enough for an outdoor grow, but I have a sunroom and plenty of lighting available at that time of year. Anxious to hear of your and GoDawgs results.


- Lisa

Progress Report
 

Those four little Thai Red Roselles were planted out May 11. Three went into the ground and one went into a 15 gallon nursery container with a nursery mix (bark, compost, etc). These are the ones in the ground, about 3' tall now:

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/eJc3khF.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/8ogApvD.jpg[/IMG]

Here's the one in the container:

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/CsidqTH.jpg[/IMG]

The ones in the ground are much more dense and full then the container plant. Maybe it's because the container plant gets a weekly dose of Miracle Grow and the others have just had one or two tastes of it since plant out. Not being coddled has made the three more "self sufficient", I think. :lol:

Ken, I'm thinking about pruning the container plant back to make it bush out. Any thoughts? And thanks for the heads up about that Caribbean variety next year. I will try it along with the Thai Red again. SESE is where I got the Thai Red from.

Hm, I'll guess too much nitrogen from the MiracleGro? The container plant looks a lot more stretched out than I'm used to roselle being!

We've never had roselle get big enough here to consider pruning it (5-6' tall is usually as tall as it gets here before Oct. frost), but I know folks will prune back okra plants to keep them shorter, and they're both in the same family, so, worth a try?

The plants look nice! Do you already have calyxes?

[QUOTE=Ken B;739515]Hm, I'll guess too much nitrogen from the MiracleGro? The container plant looks a lot more stretched out than I'm used to roselle being![/QUOTE]

I'd guess that too. However I just got done moseying around the internet for an hour trying to find the right time to pick the calyxes and other handy info and saw a photo that looks like the container plant and others that look like the ones in the ground. Go figure.


[QUOTE=Ken B;739515]We've never had roselle get big enough here to consider pruning it (5-6' tall is usually as tall as it gets here before Oct. frost), but I know folks will prune back okra plants to keep them shorter, and they're both in the same family, so, worth a try?[/QUOTE]

I think I will cut back the container plant, probably down to where it bushes out. What I've read is that they are day length dependent and start producing "fruit" as the days shorten but mine are already making nice calyxes. Also two harvests per season.

[QUOTE=Ken B;739515]The plants look nice! Do you already have calyxes?[/QUOTE]

Thanks! Not bad for a first try. :) Yes, I have calyxes, about 15 on the container plant and some on the others. Nice fat ones. And the whips on the container plant are setting buds about every 2"! So with that in mind, maybe I won't prune. Just let both types of plants do their own thing this first year to see the full cycle and then putter with them next time.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/fhOTMaX.jpg[/IMG]

Seems like the thinking is to snip them off an average three weeks after the bloom drops while they are still fat and juicy. I've also copied off some jam and juice recipes.

This is probably the most all-around informative link I found on Roselle. From a guy in Brisbane, Australia.


[URL]https://gardendrum.com/2016/07/12/jam-tropics-groing-using-rosella/[/URL]

Good article. I wonder why he said the shorter varieties are best for commercial. How would I ever pick from a 6 foot plant? Might work better for me as a container plant.

- Lisa

Roselle Update
 

The Roselle in the container is just going bonkers. Calyxes everywhere along all branches. The plant is now about 4' tall. I had been thinking about cutting the container plant back to induce branching but it was producing so well I decided not to.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/zfGNfo7.jpg[/img]

The three others which are planted in the ground are slowly getting more bushy but not adding much height. The only calyxes on each one are just a few inside the plant near the central leader. Here are two of the three:

[img]https://i.imgur.com/PhmsXKG.jpg[/img]

The container plant is growing in a rather loose nursery mix, gets watered every day and receives 1/2 gallon of Miracle Grow once a week.

The ones in the ground have been pretty much left to themselves. They have been watered a few times when rain has become scarce but they've never looked thirsty. The only fertilizer they've gotten is maybe two treatments of 1/2 gallon Miracle Grow each about four weeks apart.

KenB, I've read that the calyxes should be harvested when about 3 weeks old while they are still plump. I've noticed that the calyxes are tight at the top and at some point the top starts to open just a little. Would you know whether the barely open-topped calyxes or the tight topped ones are prime picking for fresh made tea or best left to dry?

Pretty interesting result on the container. Maybe the stress it was under, whatever it may be, resulted in earlier fruiting. I'll give it another go next year, but aphids are not welcome. I'll follow your seeding date, but start them initially in a large container to avoid potential setback when transplanting.


My Tazo Passion is steeping as I speak/write.


- Lisa



-

I'll also guess that the stress of being in a container made for earlier fruiting -- I've read similar speculation about okra and cotton plants, which are both related to roselle.

GoDawgs -- I'm checking with Ira about the harvesting question, she's away on a trip right now, so might not hear from her for a while.

Our own roselle plants haven't started flowering yet -- got them in later than I'd have wished -- we started ours 4/13, transplanted them out 6/5 -- ideally would've started them more like 3/25 for transplanting out 5/15. Anyway, as of last week, our Thai Red Roselle plants are 30-36" tall, and the St. Kitts and Nevis plants are 36-48" tall. I figure the Thai Red Roselle plants should start flowering any day now...

Thanks, Ken. And please thank Ira for me for her wonderful book "Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast".

Lisa, these plants were so vigorous after the seeds popped up that I noticed no transplant shock at all. They just kept growing.

One good side note is that I haven't noticed any insect problems at all, even aphids. Come to think of it, I can't recall anything that bothers their okra cousin either. Sure wish all plants were that unappetizing to bugs!

We see Japanese beetles on them some, but I think that's more about them being tall plants than it is about them being particularly tasty -- I've noticed that Japanese beetles just seem to like hanging out on tall plants in general.

I have several Roselle plants (3) growing together in 7 gallon pot. Would it be okay to transplant all 3 plants into 20 gallon container? Or should I just put 1 plant in their own 20 gallon container? Thanks. They grow very fast here in south FL.


:)

[QUOTE=Ken B;742169]We see Japanese beetles on them some, but I think that's more about them being tall plants than it is about them being particularly tasty -- I've noticed that Japanese beetles just seem to like hanging out on tall plants in general.[/QUOTE]

You know, you could be on to something with that. Every year Japanese beetles heavily congregate on the Knockout roses at the edge of the garden. This year, for the first time, there was a tall trellis of pole beans near the roses. The beetles just covered the bean plants, particularly the top 2' of the trellis. There were hardly any on the roses at all! Coincidence? Maybe not.

Thai Red Roselle started flowering here Aug 2nd; now waiting on St. Kitts and Nevis!

I decided to finally get around to making roselle tea from the calyxes of the Roselle. Here's that plant in the container, along with a few of the calyxes I cut off. Nice seed capsule in the center of the pod:

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/zfGNfo7.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/V0EOsT1.jpg[/IMG]

To make the tea you simply remove the fleshy parts from about 6 calyxes (omitting the seed pod), put them in one cup of water, bring to a boil, let it steep 3 minutes, strain and drink. It's a nice, slightly tangy tea with a hint of floral taste. I used just a little sugar.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/YDBZF74.jpg[/IMG]

The leaves are supposedly edible with the description of tasting like a spicier version of spinach. Another twist on the all too common “it tastes like spinach.” :? Used in various cuisines around the world, they say. I haven’t tried the leaves yet and I need to. Those I'll get from the plants in the ground.

There still aren’t many calyxes on the in-ground plants so for me the container is the way to go for maximum production.

This morning I decided to investigate the inside of the roselle seed pods just to see what’s what. Since they’re in the same genus as okra (Hibiscus) I wasn’t too surprised to see that the seed pods are structured like very short and round versions of an okra pod. They’re made up of longitudinal chambers with seeds in a row on each side of each chamber. The seeds are slightly flattened versions of the round okra seeds. In fact, I soaked them before planting just like I would okra seeds.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/YjcyNm7.jpg[/IMG]

Summary of this year's growing:

Seed sown in cell pack: March 6 after 2 day soak in water, 1/2" deep
Germination: March 9 and put under lights
Shift up: April 1 from cell pack to 24 oz cottage cheese containers
Transplanted out: May 11 to make sure weather was warm and stable. 3 into the ground, one into a 15 gallon container
First bloom: May 27 on container plant
First calyx pick: Jun 25, 3 calyxes but they were way too small as I later learned after more reading. You want them big, bright red and fat.

I think the container plant is about done growing. No new shoots or flowers. What I think I'll do is harvest all of the calyxes, cut the plant in half and see if I can jump start it into more growth or if it's decided it's done its job for the season. "What! I've made all these calyxes and you still want more? Sorry pal, I'm outta here!" :))

Update on St. Kitts and Nevis: It just started flowering, so, it's ~6 weeks later here in Virginia. The plants are about a foot taller, and the branches are already thick with tiny calyxes... so I can see what the Florida folks who gave it to us like about it, it does look to be a heavy producer.

My Roselle plants are also getting flower/calyxes on all the branches. One of the plants has pink flowers and the other has white flowers. They are all doing fine but has lots of ants up/down the branches and flowers and calyxes but they don't seem to be hurting the plant. :)

Thanks for the update, Ken. This new one sounds real promising!

Gardenboy, your observation about the ants rang a bell with me. I noticed the same thing happening on my field peas along with a gazillion other insects very interested in the flowers. Long story short, I researched it and found that it's extrafloral nectaries they were after. Those a small bodies at the base of the flowers that produce nectar.

I just dug the article out of my bookmarks.There are a ton of plants that have these nectaries in different locations on the plant and in different shapes and forms. And yes, Hibiscus have nectaries! I'd put money on that being the reason for the ants if you don't see a horde of aphids.

[URL]http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in175[/URL]

See list at the bottom of the page and the phrase for the location of the nectaries: "[I]Hibiscus[/I]: sunken, elongate cavity part of midvein adaxial surface"

Just searched for extrafloral nectaries on hibiscus. See the last three paragraphs of:

[URL]http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/newsletters/october2011.htm[/URL]

Interesting information. I thought it was because I use banana peels as a source of potassium for the plant and thought the ants like the sweet soil from the banana peels. They are real tiny black ants..not like carpenter ants or red/fire ants...thank God! Was just wondering why some of the flowers are white and some are pink..it's a nice combination no doubt. :)

[QUOTE=Gardenboy;745994]Was just wondering why some of the flowers are white and some are pink..it's a nice combination no doubt. :)[/QUOTE]

So I wasn't just seeing things then! I checked on the three plants that are planted out away from the house and thought I saw a pink flower on one while the flowers on the bucket plant in the garden are white. Since I was on my way to doing other things I thought I'd come back later to investigate. Never did.


Hmmm, do you mean one plant with white flowers and another with pink or two different blooms on the same plant?

It's probably due to the open-pollinated nature of the plants. I'm going to collect seeds from both and plant them out again next spring. I'm also going to plant one from the bucket plant out in the yard just to see if being in a bucket is, for whatever reason, why it's growth habit is soooo different from the others. And plant one from the yard plants in a bucket. Inquiring minds want to know. :lol:

Everything I grow here in south FL I grow in 20 gallon containers. I have 2 Roselle plants from the seeds you sent to me. One plant is ALL green leaves and red stems with red calyxes and white flower pods starting to open. The other plant has "autumn" like leaves mixed with red and green and orange color leaves. This plant has red calyxes also but the flowers are a pink color and not white like the other plant. I keep both in the same place with my other milkweed varieties, basil herbs. Had to stake them up because we got some high winds from Hurricane Dorian and didn't want the plants to bend and break..they make it okay along with the other plants. Will definitely save seeds from both plants and try it again next year. I fertilize both with my Tomato-tone and banana peels. :)

I harvested calyxes from both the roselle varieties just now, and posted a picture to Instagram -- [URL]https://www.instagram.com/p/B4C_gg-ANeJ/[/URL] -- interestingly, the St. Kitts and Nevis calyxes are darker!