I also grow vanda's and they are all spiking right now and I am having to water three times a day.So all of my hoya's are getting watered too.The soil I have been using is my own mix CS with lots of perlite and lava rock.Now the EA are still in the soil I bought them in.My Archie has been getting flooded also and I have noticed so many new vines I am having to tie them down so they don't grow around the pcv pipe on my shade house.I live in zone 10 and humidity is always at 90 percent and higher.I have read a lot of places where too much water can mean root rot and all kinds of fungus and breeding ground for different bugs.I often ask myself if I am headed for trouble with sum of my hoya's because of what I am doing everyday.I often read if you are in a high humidity you water less.But with what I am doing I am producing nice healthy hoya's with large leaves and the growth rate is exceptional.In the winter I use grow lights and sum don't slow down like I thought,I run a heater with a fan and they seem not to be bothered with it.So is watering too much? I think by cutting back it would be dome city for my hoya's.I have even repotted a lot of my hoya and have noticed this has not affected them,they still are growing even more.Point is when someone says water when almost dry,I flood them three times a day,so as far as the drying out theres no place here for that.Could it be because they are on a schedule they have adapted? Would like anyones imput as to how they water in zone 9-10,
Dianne
watering thre times a day
Dianne -
From my experience...there are no absolutes. Everything depends on your potting mix (definitely change the EA soil)...and if it drains well, and doesn't stay soggy you should be fine. 3xday...for how long will you have to do this? For a period in their lives they will think it is monsoon season... Mine live outdoors and they have, sometimes, rain every day a couple of times per day...no problem...but I have to watch them that they are not plugging up and that they are draining well.
Some hoyas come from a single monsoon area...where there is a definite WET and DRY period and they need to grow dryer during the winter. I do bring my H. archboldiana, macgillvrayii, onychoides and a few others in under the eaves of the house in the winter.
In my greenhouse, I water nearly everyday because it is hot in there....and if I don't find the pots dry-ish, I spritz them and give them a good shower. My goal is to have misters in the GH to go on every hour or so...and then watering would only be needed about 1 time per week.
You and I live in similar conditions....where did you get the lava rock? I know others were looking for it!
Aloha
Dianne...why do you water your Vandas so much? We only hit ours once per day (and never when the hot heat in the GH may boil in the leaves...we were warned not to)...and outdoors on the trees they don't get that much water either. Just curious. It will not be a hoya topic...so maybe you can email me privately....
THanks.
Hi Carol, I went to a local nursery and they had the lava rock so I picked up a few bags to mix in with my soil for my hoya's. I will email you with why I am asking about watering and about the orchids too..As far as the EA soil I never had trouble with it,I guess I should consider myself lucky.
Dianne
Is the lava rock red or black? The red stuff shouldn't be used too much as it tends to have too much iron. Nothing grows in the red stuff here and that's why we use it for roads!!!!
I bought the red one,I have unpotted a few plants and found red lava rock in the mix.They seem to be thriving.I will sure have to watch them.I sent you a email and it bounced back.I will try again today.
Dianne
I have been growing hoyas with red lava rock in my mix for the past 25 - 30 years. They thrived. I never grew it exclusively in this stuff. It was mixed in with Fafard mix and a little real dirt. I used it for drainage purposes.
I have never heard of iron being harmful to hoyas. In fact, my local county agent recommended that I feed one of my hoyas a bit of Chelated iron to cure a case of chlorosis, a plant disease causing yellowing and loss of leaves due to a defincency of iron or magnesium. It often mimics a viral disease by beginning its discoloration along leaf veins. Our county agent diagnosed my plant's problem as an iron deficency. He said that, in our area, he had never seen a plant deficient in magnesium and didn't think he ever would due to the amount of magnesium found in our local soil and water.
If nothing grows in that red lava rock in HI, my guess is that it is because the layer of rock doesn't contain any real soil in it, due, I suspect, to it being too recently deposited on top of the real earth. Give it time. In a few hundred years, silt from higher up will have washed some in and the wind will have blown in a lot of leaves and other debris to support plant life, until the next erruption covers it.
Chris.
I started to say that watering any plant but a waterlily three times a day is a recipe for killing the plant but on second thought, maybe one should define what watering three times a day means.
If one waters with an eye-dropper or a teaspoon, no harm can come from watering three times a day but if one waters properly, them it is a recipe for disater. By properly, I mean, you pour water into the pot at the top until there is a steady flow of water out of the holes at the bottom of the pot.
In an area as humid as any state in the southeastern US, I wouldn't expect a properly watered plant would need watering more than once a week unless it is growing outside in more or less full sun, in which case once a day should be more than sufficient.
If the grower lives anywhere near New Orleans, I am sure that the humidity, even in a year with little rain, would be so thick you could almost slice it. When my husband was alive he was in charge of the EPA's clean water enforcement for the state of Florida and made frequent trips to the western tip of the Florida panhandle. He was particularly fond of Gulf Breeze and when he had EPA business there, he'd take our car instead of a government car so he could take me with him. While there we spent many evenings in nearby New Orleans. My observation at the time was that if I lived there, I'd have to water my hoyas only every fortnight.
By the way --- after Ivan, do you have any hoyas left? Did they all drown or were they blown away? Even as far away as Atlanta the few plants I had outside took a real beating. Never saw a hurricane come so far inland. It dropped about 8 inches of rain here and would have raised the lake a dangerous level if Georgia Power hadn't opened some locks on the dam (just a few miles below me).
Chris
Carol, I know where to get red lava rock here in my valley, American Soil Amendment AGRA in ventrua County. 889 2727 dont know the area code.
Expanded Shale in Freson
Pumice in 19201 Prairie Ave. Torrance CA 90503
Orange Couinty Farm Supply pumice 1826 Chapman, Orange County
Shade Cloth Author Interprises 1714 898-1311 made to order
Norma Of course these address are for our Calif residents.
Chris, Not a one of my hoya's were touched by Ivan! I wouldn't waste my time watering with a eye dropper.Do you do that in Georgia? They get showers three times a day growing under 50 percent shadecloth and are all doing great! Carol thank you for the reply via email, I respect your comments and if things ever change with my hoya's you will be the first to know,Getting away with this kinda watering might come back in the winter to get me,but I have yet to see a problem!
Dianne
Great, Dianne...
"If it ain't broke...."
My experience (tho' limited to only 64 years of life and 24 years of growing and a scant 3 years in the tropics) is that there are NO absolutes in growing....there are so many variables.