I'm assuming everyone's cuttings are doing okay since I haven't heard anything to the contrary...I just wanted to report that my 4 are ALL rooted !!! Yay!!! The three succulent leaved ones (h. sp. Solomon Islands, h. carnosa "fuzzy", and h. trigonolobus) all rooted quickly and the carnosa and Solomon Islands ones both have new growth...the trigonolobus is well rooted and crisp, but no new growth yet...the thin leaved one, h. vitiensis, had a terrible time---fainting and languishing and having to be revived with warm water soaks--so I finally just lost my patience, whipped it out of its baggie covering, and plunked it outside with the rest of my hoyas...then I totally ignored it for weeks...it lay there limply, looking pathetic and dehydrated, getting periodically rained on, for ages...just yesterday I checked it and saw a single spike of new growth!!! HA!! Sometimes tough love is the answer...So on this order I've had 100% success, as opposed to the last time when I had 100% failure, and I'm very, very happy....how's everyone else's doing??
Shelley
DL cutting update
I lost two cuttings. They were IML 1116 H. halophila, and IML 1098 H. megalaster; they definitely did not make it. On the brighter side, my three no leaf cuttings of IML 1467 H. engleriana, which I thought were dead are showing some tiny new growth at the tips of the cuttings. Whether or not I can grow them out further is a big question, but at least I have a chance. All of my Hoya Kerri cuttings and IML 1524 H. lobbii are doing great.
Doug
LOL, sometimes I think ignoring them is the thing to do. Many years ago I seemed to kill most of my plants with kindness. (Mostly overwatering!) Now, I pot them up and ignore them and they seem to thrive. I am bad about remembering to feed my plants, but they do get water when I spray everything with the garden hose. We've had a lot of rain this summer so I haven't even had to worry about watering much.
I only ordered 2 cuttings this year, anulata and patella. I wasn't sure if either would live, coming from so far away, but I had ordered the year before and only one of those didn't make it. They seem to re-hydrate after a nice soak, and also seem to get acclimated to their new conditions quickly, at least in my area of the world.
In my cuttings this year, anulata had only one leaf that didn't fall off the vine and patella's leaves were quite dried out. I soaked them for a couple of hours in Super Thrive water and then potted them up in my usual mix and sat them out on the deck where it's bright and VERY humid. They seem to be very content and are doing well. Both have new leaves and vines which is a good sign.
Wow Doug---it sounds like you chose some fairly delicate hoyas...I know engleriana can be tough, as well as megalaster...and halophila is a tiny thing...I'll keep my fingers crossed for your engleriana...so you ordered 3 cuttings of that? That was smart, and something that never occurred to me to do in my greed for as many different ones as I could get :-).....
SR
Lynn---your cuttings look awesome! I know I've heard patella is particularly difficult to root...I envy you your hot, humid Florida weather more than I can say...sigh...
SR
Doug: I think that's pretty good, only losing two out of your entire order. I have two kerrii's, the solid green and a variegated one that I received as cuttings in trades here on DG about two years ago. They are such slow ones for me, especially the variegated one ... that one kept losing all it's leaves and faltering, I really thought it wasn't going to survive. I recently potted them both together to make a fuller pot. They seem to have settled down a bit and are looking good. I'm hoping maybe next spring they will take off and really put on some growth! The green one had a peduncle for over a year and finally it's first little bloom last month. I was a bit disappointed, thinking it would be a larger bloom ball, sorta like the carnosa ... don't have a clue why I thought that!%#@
Shelley: The patella rooted rather quickly, as did anulata. I forgot to mention, the rocks on top of the soil is to hold the vines down .. a trick I learned from Carol that works great! ^_^
Lin
Lin, Your cuttings look great! They will make it no problem. Shelley I only ordered 1 cutting of engleriana; I just cut it into three short 3-4 inch pieces. I would never splurge for 3 cuttings of the same thing at $16.50 each.
Doug
LOL, I got 2 cuttings of patella at $16.50 each but couldn't justify more at that price! I didn't think to cut my patella's into more pieces, I just stuck the ends in the pot and wound the stems around and placed a rock on top to hold them down on the soil. The anulata was a longer vine and I could very well have cut that one into pieces too, if I'd thought about it. Thanks Doug, that is good information to know for the next time. ^_^
I'm hoping my patella has the pink flowers ... I think that's what I ordered but will have to go back and look to be sure. I fell in love with that one when Carol posted a picture of a beautiful bloom a couple of months ago!
I've been running a thread about my DL Hoyas:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/999032/
The difference for mine is it's our winter now, and the Hoyas I got were already rooted cuttings.
All 23 of my cuttings "took" and many have new growth. I only purchased the easier, thicker leaved varieties, so it wasn't difficult to get them to root and grow. They came in when we had high temps outside, so I just put them in my little domed umbrella greenhouse on my covered deck and they took off. Most are now outside the greenhouse. I started mine all in semi hydro, and suspect they will remain that way until they just get too big.
Here is a list of the hoya's I purchased this year:
i1578 Hoya acuta variegata
i0554 Hoya callistophylla "Nabuan"
i1174 Hoya callistophylla
i0734 Hoya citrina
i0415 Hoya erythrina
i0489 Hoya pottsii Budabadoo
i0086 Hoya pottsii
i0189 Hoya odorata
i0452 Hoya vitellina
i0463 Hoya sp. Tanna Is.
i0380 Hoya sp.. PNG6
i1508 Hoya sp. Ko Chang Is.Thailand
i1541 Hoya sp. Nong Nooch Thailand
i1683 Hoya sp. Philippines
I bought more than one cutting of several varieties because I will be giving some to fellow hoyaddicted friends for Christmas and wanted fuller baskets.
Doug,
I ordered H. engleriana from D. Liddle and the cutting I received was only about 4" long. It never missed a beat and is now growing. I figured that H. engleriana would be one of the hoyas that would dry out on the long trip from Australia. I lost H. cystiantha, unfortunately. I won't order any more thin leaved hoyas from Australia since there is little chance they will make it, given the long trip after being cut.
The ordered both colors of H. patella from DL and both came with peduncles. One of the cuttings has buds forming, but I am not going to hold my breath. Both are rooted in Hydroton.
Mike
Wow Mike,
I thought that my little 9 inch cutting of H. engleriana wasn't a very generous one, but after hearing that yours was only 4 inches, I feel blessed. It looked horrible, but I cut it up into three pieces and now there is a half inch of new growth at the very tip of each cutting. It would probably take about 10 years to get a nice full looking plant from the rate that it is growing. I too think that the thinner leafed species are not worth the gamble either - It is just to long of a journey from Australia to chance it.
Doug
and what did you root the H engleriana in?
Dominic
I just shoved the cuttings (dipped in rooting gel) into my regular potting mix of Pro-mix, small orchid bark, large perlite, and hydroton and hoped for the best.
Doug
Doug,
Your piece of engleriana was huge compared to mine! My cutting looked great when I received it, but it was a fairly mature piece of the plant.
PM,
I rooted my engleriana in a mix of perilite and vermiculite with just a bit of peat added to the mix. The cutting rooted really fast in this mixture. I did not enclose the cutting in anything, either. I left the cutting exposed to the open air.
Mike
Hmm... I never thought to add Hydroton to my potting mix. I bet it really opens the mix up and allows good airspace in the mix.
Mike
Mike, I add hydroton to my potting mix mostly, because I have a lot of it. I have not really made up my mind whether it is a good thing to do or not. In theory it makes for a looser mix with more air in it, but I don't know if it is really working out. I find that over time the little balls work their way to the top. I also find that when the balls are moist the roots will adhere to the balls, but as the mix dries out the roots attached to the little balls will many times dry out and die. When hydroton is used in semi-hydro, the balls should never totally dry out so the roots should also in theory not dry out and die. I should also say that I have tried almost every potting amendment known to man with many disastrous results. I think the safest practice is not to deviate too far from what you know works for you.
Doug
Wouldn't hydroton keep too much moisture in the pot if it was mixed with regular potting mix? Inquiring minds...
I rooted my engleriana in S/H with good results. I've learned though to root my hoyas in the medium I intend to keep them in as most rooted cuttings get very upset at being moved. I'm battling a lacunosa cutting that I switched from S/H to potting medium; it wasn't even rooting well in S/H; and then when I switched it over, part of it died.
Christine
Christine,
I completely agree with you on starting the cutting in whatever medium you intend to keep it in. I've had the same experience with switching over from different mediums, and it almost always sets them back. That is why I start most of them in my usual mix.
Doug
Thanks, Doug.
Hmm... I guess I should start my hoyas in my regular mix going forward. All of the DL hoyas I received have been rooted in either Hydroton or water, with the exception of the H. engleriana. I am planning on moving the rooted plants to my usual mix in the next week and I guess sooner is better since it's still summer with good warmth and light.
Mike
I start mine in the mix I use for everything (lots of orchid bark mix, potting soil and perlite.) The containers I root them in is where they live for a long time also, unless they want to fill the pot quickly with lots of roots and get root bound fast ... which hasn't happened yet, LOL. I just bought a bag of hydroton this past spring but have not used it in with the hoya mix. I can't remember what plant it was but some generic houseplant that had hydroton in the mix ... as Doug said, the roots were attached to the little hydroton balls and pretty dried out. Probably, if I used a heavier mix that held more moisture, that wouldn't happen but I've had better luck with all of my plants since using the chunky, fast draining mix. We have a lot of humidity all year so the combination of me watering with a garden hose, rainy season and the humidity, the air is pretty moist.
Guys, my engleriana cutting looked dismal at first too, and lost every leaf but 1. But guess what? It seems to have actually lived! It is a four inch long stick with three branches and one tiny, but healthy, leaf stuck on the end of the longest branch.
After hearing about Dom's experience with it I took it out of the plastic bag it was and left it exposed to more air- seems to have made all the difference!
Back in the late '70's, I spent quite a bit of money at the time, $45.00, I think, on three cuttings of H. engleriana I ordered from David Silverman, in NY.
I put the first cutting I ordered into my prop box, where I rooted everything, and the cutting immediately rotted. So I sent for another cutting and put that cutting into the same prop box again and the same thing happened: the cutting rotted.
On my third order for a cutting, I sent a note asking David what was wrong and to find out why the cuttings kept rotting. I explained how I was trying to root the cuttings and in David's reply he told me to leave the cuttings exposed to the air and not put them in the prop box. Voila! I left the cutting exposed to the air and the cutting rooted with no problems. Sometimes I think we baby some of our cuttings much more than is necessary.
I had a similar experience with some cuttings I purchased from Ted Green a couple of years ago. I put the cuttings into ziploc plastic bags and the cuttings rotted very quickly. Now I don't put any hoya cuttings into ziploc bags or completely enclosed containers and I have not had any problem rooting any of the hoya cuttings I have received.
This last batch of DL cuttings was rooted in an old 10-gallon aquarium with bottom heat and distilled water in the bottom of the tank for extra humidity. The top of the tank was left completely open and the tank was put under my fluorescent lights. The cuttings have done extremely well, except for the H. cystiantha cutting that was pretty much dead on arrival. Oh well, live and learn.
Mike
Show and tell. Here is my miserable little H. engleriana cutting. At least I think it has a chance of making it.
Doug
Doug, I think your little engleriana cutting looks good ... I'm sure it will be okay.
A couple of my cuttings from the spring 2008 DL order really just began showing signs of growth this year! Some of them seem to root quickly, but then take their sweet time at showing any other growth. LOL, I've never had a lot of patience but have learned to just let them be and let them do their own thing, at their own pace. I just kept telling myself it takes longer for them to settle in their new homes in a different country. ^_^ I figured cuttings purchased from vendors here in the U.S. would acclimate a lot quicker, but I'm sure it just depends on one's climate and method of growing. I think I remember someone saying that Australia and other countries had more variety of Hoya's to offer but I bet it won't be long before we find lots of different varieties available right here in the U.S.
These are from the 2008 cuttings, H. citrina on the left and memoria on the right. As you can see, citrina still has only 2 leaves. I thought this one would kick the bucket but it did just put out a vine so I have hopes for it. H. memoria only had a few leaves until this summer when it really seemed to show signs of new growth.
Shelley: I hope it's okay that I'm showing cuttings from the previous years order. I know you are asking about this years crop but I figured this might give folks hope if their little cuttings aren't looking like they are doing much right now.
This is H. magnifica from the 2008 order. It also sat and didn't do much for a very long time, probably due to not getting enough light. This past spring I moved it to full sun (filtered by the pool screen) and it's really starting to take off.
Nice looking plants Lin. I find that my H. memoria can get by with very little sun. Mine seems to thrive in the darkest corner of the greenhouse and the new leaves still get very red. H. citrina is a Hoya that I have been struggling with for 3 years. I have almost thrown it out a number of times. Right now it has put out a new vine, but if it takes a dive one more time, it is into the compost heap.
Doug
Your H engleriana looks fine, Doug. I wouldnt worry. Takes a while to really get going. Ive had some Hoya cuttings sit 2 years before making any growth..its just how it goes sometimes. When they are ready, they grow
Dominic
Doug, aren't these plants interesting? I originally had memoria in lower light under a covered deck and it did absolutely nothing but sit there. I moved it to brighter light (a little morning sun) and it started growing.
I know what you mean by citrina, but I can't bear to throw it away. I keep hoping it will grace me with some nice leaves at least. It sure isn't a pretty plant right now. I just went and searched and had forgotten about mine having 7 leaves last year, here I was thinking the cutting came with only two! I came across my picture in PF and it sure looked a heck of a lot different then ... I sure haven't been doing right with this one. Look at Carol's photo in PF of the beautiful leaves and Joni's of that beautiful bloom! http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/82585/
I don't know if there's much hope for mine but I will let it alone and see what happens.
Lin---your magnifica looks great!! I'm so jealous because I ordered magnifica last year too, and, of course, it didn't make it... grrrr...on the bright side, I now really don't have room for it because I've ordered so much else over the last year :-D
Shelley
Thanks Shelley! I'm sooo looking forward to someday seeing blooms on it!
I took engleriana out and repotted it in my regular mix of bark and hydroton- it had some small roots developing. Luckily, it had several more leaves lurking under the perlite, for a grand total of four.
I may win the "most tragic-looking engleriana cutting" award. It looks like it will make it, though!
All of my other DL cuttings rooted up just fine. Aff. pubifera is already putting out a vine.
:))
Keep at it Mark...Im getting a bit obsessed with getting a cutting of H engleriana to root. Plant grows fine. Slow, but healthy........but my concern is loosing the mother plant, hence trying to get a cutting to root to double up. Ive just taken a cutting like you have, ony 3 leaves on a bare stem and now have it out of any propagating protection, completely uncovered...All my enclosed tried failed, but having read here others' experience, Im on attempt x4 now.....and I will get there....grr.
20 years ago I had a plant of it growing like a weed and lots of flowers. Funny how you take things for granted when they are easy. I remember paying £3 for a plant about a foot long with several branches..Hah...!.
I only ordered 3 plants from David Liddle in the Western Canada order:
H. kerrii
H. deykai
H. patella
All are doing great.
I live in a semi-arid climate, so to simulate a Florida type environment, I found this nice big jar, and put aquarium gravel in the bottom with my H. Patella in a 4" pot sitting on top, and it seems to be quite happy. ^_^
I bet it loves the extra humidity of the terrarium ... and it looks very pretty in that jar too!
Thanks plantladylin. The jar was a good find at a swap meet.
Don, what a great find! It's really a lovely jar! I love terrariums and at one time I had at least six or eight jars of differing sizes planted up.
Suz-
What do you use growing semi-hydro - hydroton or something else?
Thanks!
Kelly