variegated bella

Hi there....i just wanted to post a pic of my var. bella that a few months ago, had a severe case of spider mites...i lost half the plant as i had to cut a lot of the vines off and i am still losing leaves from what those pesky devils did to it...i am finding i am having new growth though with it and i think it will be salvagable.....i am sure the pic doesn't show the full extent but you can see that there is many "polka dots" on the leaves from what the spider mites did....that will teach me to have it in too warm a room...

i was just wondering though, if it is common, like on this plant, to have one more robust all green vine mixed in with the var. ones and this green vine also has a bloom formed at the end of it and it's had the most growth since the spider mite problem.....

i just joined this forum and is great to see such good info on hoyas on here..i am a newbie addict :)

Sandy

Sandy...I find it is pretty common for the variegated H. bella to put out a green branch..more robust than the "mother"...it is a form of "reverting back" to what the plant was before it "sported" the variegated form. I have been told (by experts whose advice I DO follow) to cut out the entire green branch, cutting where it comes off the plant. That way you will have two bellas... If you leave it there, more green branches will form and you may lose the variegated form entirely....

Hope this helps....

Also, I have found that when I give my indoor plants a good shower once a week, the mealies/spider mites and other critters tend to leave it alone...

Thanks for the advice.....i may cut the green stem off after i try to get that bloom to happen for me for once.....they always fall off before i can get them blooming......I can see why its much more of a robust, thicker vine than the rest of the variegated ones though....very interesting how that works.....

Try keeping the whole plant nice and wet....H. bella can sit in a saucer of water and not be unhappy...especially when it is time to bloom. Being too dry AND getting a draft are 2 of the main causes of bud blast, I have found.....let us know!!!

I found the variegated bella rather finicky and it seems only to do well with high humidity.

Yes, the one pictured above is in a self-watering pot so i will make sure to keep it wet...I have a small green one that is trying to bloom too (also got hit with spider mites) and just added some water to the saucer of it....goes against anything i have done for watering plants but anything is worth a try.....i will certainly post a pic if i ever get to that point...you might hear me jumping up and down for joy as it would be my first bloom on anything since i started this crazy habit.....

Milan, thats probably why i ended up with the darn spider mites to begin with, not enough humidity...i don't have a greenhouse, just them in windowsills...