Hi everyone, I have purchased three of the same hoya plants from Home Depot labled hoya green leaf, and one saying hoya mini green leaf. They all look like lancousa(sp?), to me. I haven't had any success with them. The leaves all start to turn soft, and yellowish brown, and very easy to pull off. While I am here, I also have a large carnosa, which is starting to do the same exact thing. What am I doing wrong here.
Heather
Hoya lancousa dying
Hi Heather - Are the H. lacunosas from Exotic Angel?
So often the big "plant mills" goose their plants to optimum condition with all kinds of fertilizers, hormones etc....and when they get to your house it is a sudden change. They often put additives in the soil to make it retain water so the plants will live thru neglect at whichever store they go to.
I would check the soil first. Knock the plant out of the pot into your hand and check the roots, smell the soill, feel the soil. If there don't seem to be any viable roots (nice and healthy looking), rub them gently-does the "dead" root fall apart. I often take little clips of the roots and clip up and up towards the main stem until I find healthy roots. If you leave rotting roots in there, it can (possibly) cause more rotting. Then flush the roots and repot into better soil. If all is lost....take cuttings.
Your big H. carnosa...are the green leaves feeling leathery and looking dull? Could be roots...could be just a leaf drop time. It wouldn't kill the plant to do the same thing to it (a major undertaking with a large plant!!!!) to nip anything in the bud. Sometimes the darn things just do that!
Anyway...this is always my first plan of attack.....the roots.
Possibly overwatering. I always remove hoyas from their pots after purchasing and wash the soil from their roots. They are usually potted in a peat-based mix which is hard to rewet when it dries out. Then I repot them in a more porous mix. I like to use coir, perlite, nursery mix (which is mostly shredded bark), and some grit (chicken grit I buy at the feed store). I use about 50% coir, 40% perlite, 5% grit, and 5% nursery mix with a dab of bone meal. Hope this helps. ~Shirley
Wow...your mix sounds terrific, Shirley!! I will have to look at Chicken Grit!
Hey thanks, yes it is an EA. When you say rinse the soil off of the roots, so you literally, rinse them in water? Where do you get the coir for the mix?
Heather
Yes, I take the plant out of its pot, and wash the roots in a pan with tepid water with a little ivory dish liquid added and then rinse the roots with clean water. I remove all potting soil while the roots are in the water. If it doesn't come off with gentle swishing, I use my hands and remove it.
I order the coir bricks from a company in Stockbridge, GA (RoLanka International, Inc.). You can order them online at their site. The coir bricks are made of compressed coconut fibers. Look for BioD-Medium 8:1 on their products' list. The bricks weigh about one pound each. They are not expensive in themselves; it's the shipping that hurts. I usually order a box of 24 bricks at a time for $24 plus shipping. They ship by UPS ground. I have ordered from them two times and always had prompt, courteous service.
The chicken grit I buy at the feed store comes in 50 lb. bags for $6.50. I grow a lot of cacti & succulents and use grit in their potting soil because I cannot obtain pumice anywhere. It is small granite chips.
Hope this helps. ~Shirley
Thanks Shirley! Off to check my roots out.
Shirley...The coir you buy from that outfit...do you soak and rinse it a lot? They are a by product of the Coconut Milk industry in Asia (I assume, from the name, Sri Lanka or Thailand) ... whether they float them out to the boats or not, I don't know, but I know their salt content is very high. I love the coir! I didn't like it at first because of the salt and because I could only find the big chunks, but now I can get fine and the stuff like peat moss but a whole lot better because it re-wets instantly and does not compact. I get it in blocks that make 7 cubic feet + which costs about as much as 1cubic foot of orchid bark. No question which I like!
Carol
Carol, I do not rinse the coir. I soak the bricks in hot water, pour off any excess, and crumble them up for use. The coir is a product of Sri Lanka. There is an analysis of properties on each individually wrapped brick. They also offer coir in wafer, blocks, or bales. From my research, the coir from Sri Lanka is considered to be higher in quality than others. So far none of the plants growing in coir have suffered any adverse reactions.
Great news! Thanks Shirley!
At the Huntington Garden......... check out this mix. 60% pumice, or perlite, 20% coarse construction sand, 20% forest mulch. Ususally this is oak leaf. They won't let me use core, I try to sneak over soil from the Garden plants other than succulents, it has a lot of shredded bark in it. What ever I use is just fine. Remember I live in a very hot dry climate. Not all are kept in a tropical greenhouse. The non succulent Hoya put in the cactus house where it only get water once a week, thoroughly. No fogger, or mister, They are doing very well, so far our weather is very moderate. We will keep this house about 55F during the winter. This information may make the difference if yours rot. H. bella is outside hanging on the orange tree, this one I do mist twice a day 9:00 and 5:00 It is flowering and doing well,
Just a side note, the HG just sold a H. latifolia syn. loyceandrewsiana T.Greene for $55.00 It had a long vine and about 12 leaves, that of course all was huge. We were all very surprised.
I showed my boss the book that I found the name in my new books R. Van Donkelaaar & F. Albers did the right up on this plant, this man is very respected by the professiionals at the Huntington.
One thing I have observed...a whole tray of the same hoya rooted at the same time in the same mix ...different watering needs - one or two pots will always be dryer than the others. In fact...5 or 10 trays of different hoyas planted at the same time in the same mix all have very different needs. H. sp. Tanna dries out quickly, while the broader succulent leaves do not but the bigger thing leaves like H. coriacea do dry out...and, WHOA, H. multiflora is always dry!! I wanted an automatic watering system in the GH but now I don't think so...I think it is going to continue to be a hands on, water them individually kinda thing!
All of the nurseries here are using coir now: the VERY fine (like sawdust) compressed bricks wetted down (soaked and rinsed) and mixed with #2 perlite for starting plants and the Fine Chips to the mix for growing. DH tested the salinity of the coir we get...and yes, it does need to be rinsed. But heck...what else am I going to do? Laundry? Dinner? Have a life? :- } No problem ... luckily it rains a lot and I put the big wash tub with the coir under the roof run off....! LOL
Hi Carol, We also hand water our Hoya, I check on them every third day. So far so good, mealies only on one, so Monday it will get strayed. Carol I was going to suggest a washing machine, looks like you thought of it already. I have been adding a little lime, or shell to my mix, I think bone meal does the same thing. At the Huntington we hand water 80,000 plants weekly and fertilize them as well.
Carol remember me the newbie? Frantic, because I couldn't root down my cuts, well guess what I'm that same new kid on the block. Now what do I do with those vines that strangle me as I walk by? They are really growing and I conquered on how to start them. It will be 2 years exactly Oct 1 since I have been growing this species.
I'm still leaning, haven't given up. I just dug in that much harder. Norma
Cheers Norma...
Funny thing about mixes...I use the same mix as a big nursery down the road (where I learned mine from)....he adds Dolomite...I don't. Why? Because DH, a Chemical Engineer, tests my soil randomly (OK, when I beat him into into!!!) and it is always just a wee on the acid side...not much while the nursery, on city water, is Waaaay on the acid side. I cannot follow "guidelines" because I think that every growing environment is different and additives to "change pH " are, in themselves, drastic. David Liddle takes a pH meter on collections and told me that 99.9% of the hoyas he finds are in environments of just slightly acid soil. I will learn more next week. Me...I know diddly about chemistry...but I don't add limestone, dolomite or calcium to anything but my citrus trees. Actually, a pinch of Dolomite helps plants absorb the elements...but I still don't use it.
Yep...Norma...you have come a long way, Baby. We all have, doncha think? Isn't life just a great ball!!!!
Carol
Now you guys are so funny!!!! Now if anybody knows what they are talking about , its you two. newbies!! You two are the most with the most-e's
:)))))))))))
Mary...I know that most of what I learned when first starting out came from forums, and friends I met there. Gosh...I was frustrated!!!!! I remember my first question, ever, was: "There is a H. carnosa growing 40' up a tree. I can see where it started... If I take cuttings at the base, will the top 40' be OK?" What a puzzler!!! Well, I took cuttings as far up as I could go and the sweet thing is now 60' up the tree and still going and blooming! The folks who sold us this house and property told us it was a rare orchid!
But then...my view on life, itself, is a learning experience! Thank goodness we will never learn everything...and that's why forums came into our lives to hasten the experience...but...we will keep on learning! Experimenting! Failing! and, ahhhhhhh the Successes are so Sweet!
Okay, I still am not understanding this whole coir thing. I bought a brick, soaked it in water, and now I have a big soggy bucket full of the stuff. The longer I leave it in the bucket, will it absorb the rest of the water? What do I do with the rest of the coir. Does it grow moldy? I just need to use a little bit of it. How do I store the rest? Is it supposed to be dry when I mix it with the perlite, etc?
Thanks,
again,
Heather
When a plant starts to dye from the roots be sure to cut off the top and attempt to start another. Do this quicklky while the leaves still have some life in them, do it as soon as you notice something is wrong.
I have saved many of my favorites that way. Norma
Heather,
I always have left-over water. I think one could reduce the amount of water called for on the package. Take the brick, crumble it up into a fine mix with your hands, and if it feels too wet, squeeze out some of the water from the crumbled mix. Mix it like this with your perlite.
You can pour the left over water where the brick was soaking through a sieve/cloth and get most of the coir that settled. I try to salvage all of it since it is not easy for me to obtain.
When I am finished with potting and have extra crumbled coir left, I store it in a large plastic container with a lid. That will keep it from drying out. As I put it in the container, I may sqeeze some more water out if it feels too soggy. With practice you will get a feel for how much water to add to the brick for expansion. It also expands more quickly if you use hot water. I usually put the brick and hot water in a garbage bag, tie it up, and set it in a large pot while it is expanding. I always have to pour off water; it never soaks it all up.
Hope this helps,
Shirley
Heather...I do the same as Shirley...except the Coir I get I have to rinse and soak and rinse and soak...ad nauseum. I use lots of it. We are having a drought now and I use it mixed with stuff as a mulch to hold the moisture on plants I have in the ground. I store it, usually mixed with other stuff I put in the soil mix, in a big plastic bucket too...but if it dries out, it will rewet really easily!!!
I use two layers of window screening to strain it....works well.