Anybody Grow Roselle?

[greenthumbomaha]

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



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[Ken B]

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...

[GoDawgs]

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!

[Ken B]

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.

[Gardenboy]

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.

[GoDawgs]

Originally Posted by Ken B

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.

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.

[Ken B]

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

[GoDawgs]

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:




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.



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.



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!"

[Ken B]

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.

[Gardenboy]

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.

[GoDawgs]

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.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in175

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

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

http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/...ctober2011.htm

[Gardenboy]

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.

[GoDawgs]

Originally Posted by Gardenboy

Was just wondering why some of the flowers are white and some are pink..it's a nice combination no doubt.

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.

[Gardenboy]

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.

[Ken B]

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