Roselle

[wildseed2u]

Hi all, last season I grew some Hibiscus sabdariffa or Roselle and really loved it it was really great by its self or mixed with other herbs for a very good tea.
I got a variety from Baker's Creek called Jamaican Cocktail it grew and finally bloomed it takes short days in the fall to trigger blooming, so you need to start it off early and hope for the best, as I was studying other edible hibiscus
it was a natural shoe in as the young shoots, tips and leaves are great in salads and can be cooked like spinach, the taste is much like Sorrel in flavor.
What I'm wondering is has anyone run into a Day Neutral variety that blooms in the summer instead of the fall? I'm hoping to get a couple of varieties from the USDA, but they too are short day varieties, also I'm interested in finding a variety that offers a double bloom. Is there any one growing Roselle here in Missouri and what are your findings about it.
George W. Z5 Mo

[TastyofHasty]

wildseed2u, I was just checking out roselle on the 'net and the article I read said it is a tropical or sub-tropical plant. Did you, or anybody on here, grow it in 2007? Sounds like you did pretty good just to get it to flower! If somebody DID grow it in 2007, how did it do? Did you make tea with it? or what? How does it taste?

[johno]

Mine hasn't flowered yet. Most of it died from drought, but there are a couple of survivors left. I wasn't really sure how to use it...

[louanne]

I have two plants in the ground...and three in pots....all have survived the summer with flying colors...but no blooms yet//I am growing thai red roselle...seeds from baker creek... I started the seeds in the second week of janurary..and only had 6 surviving plants....one of which is growing in the garden of a lady in my garden club...her plant is also doing very well in a pot...but no blooms yet either.... we are hoping for and oct bloom...
according towhat I have been trying to read....the bloom time should be oct thru dec.... and that the thai supposedly are the best...but I am only growing out of curiosity....
I also have a smaller roselle from south america...that a frend of mine gave me from seeds she started...I had one bloom but it has quite a few pods...it has also done very well...I hope to have seed from them
I am really new to roselle...thisis my first year....so I am learning as I go....I only experienced a little bug chewing on the leaves of the thai roselle...the other is a much smaller plant....and the bloom was mostly white....and opened and dropped very quickly...
My thai's are very tall plants in comparison....
I will try to get pics tomorrow.....
If I get seeds...and anyone would like some....I'll be glad to try and share..thats if ...I really dont know what I am doing completely....LOL

[Joan]

I've never heard of Roselle. How do you use it?

[TastyofHasty]

Joan, from what I've gathered (from webpages only, not experience) ... flowers called "calyxes" are somehow boiled down to make jellies and jams ... but plants do not bloom except in tropical/subtropical climates ... so in US (except Hawaii & southernmost Florida) we would have to make do with the leaves, which I THINK are used to make tea and for red coloring. Correct me if I'm wrong, folks.

[Joan]

I just looked it up also TOH and it sure is pretty. Guess it wouldn't flower here in Pa but I'd sure love it. Thanks

[louanne]

Here are some pics of my roselle...
the one with pods is a south american roselle...is much smaller...
the other is the thai roselle...

My south american did bloom..and now has the pods
the thai has not bloomed yet...

[cloacina]

I grew it last year here in texas. It's related to okra, and looks/grows very like okra, but sure tastes different. People call it "Florida cranberry" and you can use the pods sort of like cranberries. It's also called "jamaica" and I used to see bushels and bushels of pods for sale in the supermarkets in LA. There's a sodapop flavored with it.
With the pods I made jam and tea (which I like to serve iced), and the leaves regularly went into salads, just as wildseed suggests.
I didn't plant until May, and I put the seedlings just to the east of a kind of hedge. I was thinking that the hedge might shorten the day length enough to trick them into blooming. I think it helped, as I had a steady flow of podsSep/Oct. Bear in mind that they can get fairly big - mine were about 8 feet tall, at least 3 feet diameter, and also that dealing with the pods is pretty labor-intensive (except for making tea. that's super easy).
You can find instructions for jamaica jam on the net.

[cloacina]

Louanne, I'd love to grow the south american roselle, if you're able to get some seeds. I found that just leaving some pods on for a while allows the seeds to mature - if I remember rightly, the pod kind of dries out and starts to crack along the ridges. If nothing gets that far before frost looms, then you can cut off the pods and let them dry inside.
I'm curious how the leaves taste on the south american, also.
And one more thing, harvesting and working with lots of pods stains your fingers deep purple, so you might want to use gloves.

[wildseed2u]

Hi all, I didn't grow any roselle this year, as I was doing a study on Okra and its various cousins. The dried calyx that is on the back half of the pod is what is used to make tea, jellies and such, You can take the dried open and unopened flowers and use them that way. One site that is very good is Seeds to Supper it has a recipe for making jelly and how the plant is used. Zones 7-9 seems to be the best area to grow it and get pods I'm in Z 5-6 so I planted mine in full sun and kept it watered real well during the summer months as it is a tropical plant and needs plenty of water.
George W. Z6 Norwood, Mo.

[louanne]

Louanne, I'd love to grow the south american roselle, if you're able to get some seeds. I found that just leaving some pods on for a while allows the seeds to mature - if I remember rightly, the pod kind of dries out and starts to crack along the ridges. If nothing gets that far before frost looms, then you can cut off the pods and let them dry inside.
I'm curious how the leaves taste on the south american, also.
And one more thing, harvesting and working with lots of pods stains your fingers deep purple, so you might want to use gloves.

I have successfully gathered some dried pods....and should have seed...now keep in mind.they I am super novice to this....but once I see how many seeds I get will e glad to share with you....
I have one more pod left on the plant that is still green.... from what I understand there should be 5 or 6 seeds to each pod....
I got six pods off of one very small plant....

one thing I learned...is that once the pod cracks....you need to take it off the plant..cause if it gets wet...it germinates( just like the peppermint balsam I grew this year.....)
I do not know....about the taste and usage.....havent gotten that far...LOL...but thats me for ya....
I will pm you...and you can send a sase , and I will get some to ya....put a note in it so I dont forget what its for...:D

[cloacina]

Thanks, Louanne, you'll hear from me soon. Another really good site is http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/roselle.html in addition to the one wildseed recommends. Purdue looks at a whole lot of underappreciated crops, form history, uses and cultivation to suggesting possible new uses.
But reading is one thing and growing is another, and I'm looking forward to the SA seed.

[louanne]

C I just wanted to note....the SA did bloom early summer....
I started my Thai roselle...second week in Jan. my friend started the SA roselle from seed a few weeks behind that...we traded plants....I have kept the SA..which is small...maybe twofoot...in a pot....it has produced....the Thai still is putting on leaves and has gotten very tall..but no signs of bloom or pods yet....and I have some in the ground and some in pots....
THANKS for the info site on roselle....I sure would like a few seeds from my Thais so I can try again next year starting earlier...but unless I can keep itinside..I dont expect it....
I will be interested in knowing how the SA does in TX...bet it will do well.....IF my seeds are good..

[louanne]

wanted to note..the SA roselle pods are filled with seeds....really good show....I was suprised....still have one pod left to pick.....no thai yet...but they are putting on these tiney spike like appendages...right under leaf groupings.....(crossing fingers and toes now)
the thai really seems to love this cooler evening weather.....

[louanne]

LOOKIE>>>I am getting calyx's on my THAI red roselle.....
whoopie.............................go louanne....its your birthday....( not really...LOL)

[louanne]

LOrdy I am holding my breathe...the buds are swelling on the thai roselle.....
think I will beat the freeze??????????????????????
you know what I found...that after two hard rains in the last few weeks that actually knocked the roselle over.is when they started to put on the tiney buds....
and I found that the only ones budding are the ones in the ground....

[cloacina]

Looks good, Louanne!
You can also eat the leaves, and they're quite tasty. Citrus-like, raw (I never considered cooking them). Put them in with a salad or wrap around some fruit chunks.

[louanne]

I have two thai roselles loaded with very small buds....
am sure hoping the next three days stay warm enough to allow me to see these babies bloom....
I have two more in a pot that are just now putting on the little spikey things that were the forrunner of hte buds of my thais in the ground....
even my south american roselle has produced another round of buds...
I read that I can take cuttings...wondering if that is a futile point at this time of year?
But also wondering how to take the cuttings.like a tree...cut a whole branch off...?
from what I am seeing....and knowing when I planted these roselles....I am presuming that here in missouri...mid winter...probably early december..will be the best time to start roselles in the future..but then it could just be that a longer period of fall type conditions is needed...I just dont know how long it takes the buds to mature.....

[louanne]

heres a current pic of the roselle.....
please let it survive this week!

[louanne]

I have my south american roselle seeds soaking
and two of my thai roselle plants are hanging on in the hothouse...hoping to get them through winter to see if they will produce pods this spring for more seed...
a friend of mine who took hers inside, potted, and who fertilized did get blooms and I am having her watch for pods...