That explains why its doing so well in that window then; I'm in southern Canada, and the sun is still fairly low in the sky over the winter, so it doesn't get strong sun for the whole day. However, my 3 eriostemmas are growing wildly in the same window (guppyi even flowered last year and is budding up again), so I'll move it back a bit once the sun gets a bit higher. Thanks so much for your explanations tropicbreeze.
Oversized Hoya planter
Carol, you know how it is when the rains start, you can get days on end with heavy rain. Then the sun comes out and you get days on end with 'heavy steam'. Dry season there's no rain but humidity is high at night, lower during the day (more so for rupicola).
Rupicola grows on cliffs, cracks in rocks, rock ledges but never at ground level. I've seen it growing over rocky faces where wet season water seeps enough to get algal and moss growth. But there are always some breaks in the wet season, and dry season these places completely dry out.
This is my 'hoya-ry' this morning. Direct sun from about 09:00 AM to about mid afternoon when trees to the west provide filtered sun then complete shade. There's probably 20% or so air space in those rocks which are piled up about a metre high. The midday temp was 33C and RH 64%.
Ceedub, this wasn't my first try at ssp rupicola. My first was a disaster. I just thought they'd appreciate a little help to get started, but I hepled them to death. It wasn't until I had a long discussion with DL and he said to just look out my window and see what's happening, that's what rupicola is quite happily growing in. From then on my plants have been 'off death row'.
Very good explanation, TB.
Cedub,
How warm do you keep your house in the winter to get the eriostemmas to bloom? I know they need warm temps year 'round.
I have cv. 'Ruthie' and it's doing OK and is still a very young plant, but I don't have any hope that I will ever see flowers. My house goes down to 60°F (15.56°C) at night and is usually 72°F (22.22°C) during the day.
Thanks,
Mike
Mike...your temps are fine from what I can see...let Ruthie climb on something...or along something like a wire...air movement too if you can stand to open a window!!!
Mike, I have my thermostat set at 72F all the time; the room the eriostemmas are in faces south and gets warmer when the sun's shining. I"ve never monitored the temperature in that room or the humidity, but there's about 75 plants clustered around that window, so the humidity must be fairly high. You can see the pictures in this thread - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=7309519 - the eriostemmas are on the window sills, but are pretty hard to see (left, right, and one just to the left of the right one). There's a passiflora there too and boy is it happy!
Christine
Carol and Christine,
Thanks so much for the info and encouragement. I need to get a trellis for 'Ruthie'. Right now she is climbing up the cord for the blinds and seems pretty happy. I have her in a south window and I may even put her outside this summer.
Christine,
How large a pot do you have your H. guppyi in? I put Ruthie in a 10" pot due to her eventual size. I may put her in a smaller pot and then I'll also add some lime to the soil since I forgot to do that when I potted her up initially. Great setup for the hoyas by that window. I think I can see H. guppyi to the far right in the window. Being that close to the window, I'm sure the plant gets cooler temps during the winter.
Thanks again, it's good to know that I at least have some hope...
Mike
edited to add to post
This message was edited Apr 1, 2010 8:04 AM
Thanks Mike. I started guppyi in a 4" pot and didn't pot it up until late last fall, into 6" pot and I added lime when I transplanted. I'm going to add a bit of lime to 'Ruthie' to see if that encourages her to bloom. Eventually they all get big, but they need to be potbound to flower, and that won't happen for years (and years and years) if they're in too big a pot. Yes, trellises make them very happy. 8-)
My windows are double glazed so while I'm sure the temp drops on the really colder days, its not by too much. Did I ever tell you I bought this house because of the windows? LOL, but the truth!!
Sorry for hijacking your thread tropicb!!
Christine
guppyi likes lime??
That could explain why mine is such a pale green almost yellowish colour...growing like the weed it is but definitely anemic.
ah, good point....I had forgotten about that...since it is terrestial.
Compared to lime, would dolomite be good, better or worse?
Dunno...but my take on it is that Dolomite would be better. It certainly couldn't hurt. However, I remember David Liddle saying that he never found a hoya growing in an environment outside of 5.5-6.5 but others have suggested Lime for eriostemmas. Since it is to raise the pH...i think Dolomite would be better overall. My 2cents
Christine,
I sure do believe that you bought your house because of the windows. When I was looking at houses, the houses with great windows were in such awful shape that I just couldn't buy them. I bought a house that was in excellent shape, but it's windows leave a bit to be desired as far as growing plants is concerned.
I am praying for that big PowerBall lottery win that will let me build a new home with a large attached greenhouse. (:o) I also think it would be cool to have a courtyard built in the center of the house. Be a great place to put plants in the summer without worrying about "critters" doing any damage.
Mike
Dolomite is lime (calcium carbonate) with magnesium carbonate. As I understand it the ratio of calcium to magnesium in the soil is important. And that's where dolomite comes in, it's supposed to restore that balance. But I don't know whether Hoyas have average, higher or lower need for magnesium. I've got dolomite at home and normally use it in preference to lime.
If the soil also lacks magnesium, the calcium won't be available to the plant. Our 'soil' around here is a smidge acid, which the hoyas like...but I do use Dolomite when planting vegetables. I never put anything but chicken poo on my eriostemmas and they have no problem at all growing!!! In fact, I make a point NOT to fertilize them unless they are looking sad....