I've started re-potting most of my hoyas into clay pots. Several months ago, I re-potted a couple into clay and notice a lot more growth, and they just seemed to be healthier. I'm now on a mission to repot all of my hoyas into clay. It will mean more watering during the summer months, but hey my hoya babies are worth it!!
Blessings,
Awanda
From plastic to clay
I have been using clay for a long time and the only problems I have had from them is when the plant attaches it's self on the outside of the pot.If someone tells me about how to go about posting a picture I would like to show you my pubicalyx royal hawaiian purple.It has taken over half of the outside of the pot.It seems to be very healthy and that part of the plant produced a bloom and it is growing new vines.
Dianne
Susan, that happened to quite a few of my plants. The color came back, and the whole plant just appeared healthier. Wal-mart just loves me, I've brought 40 clay pots in the last couple of days. I'm going back today to pick up more.
Blessings,
Awanda
I think this would be fine for most hoyas, but what about the real "moisture lovers"? I have lacunosa and bella in self watering pots and keep the bottom full. I would think if one were to put those types in clay they would dry out & perish in short order. I know my camphorfolia is very sensitive to overwatering, so I can see why it would really do better in clay.
So, all & all I think it depends on the hoya.
Marcy
Marcy, you are correct in saying it depends on the hoya and that should be taken into consideration. No one method works for every hoya or everyone, with that being said, I stated what was working for me, and by no means suggested that everyone re-pot their hoyas into clay.
Blessings,
Awanda
Good old clay vs. plastic discussion.
IMHO you can grow healthy Hoyas without trouble in plastic containers and you can have a hard time growing them in clay. It all depends on what type of soil is used for each and your watering habits. Even highly root rot prone plants can be grown in plastic as long as you use a very loose, good aerating soil and water to their needs and not your habits.
Milan
What do you do when the roots attach themselves to the pot? I mean when you want to repot it...I had a hoya in a clay pot and had to repot when it got too big, but all the roots had attached themselves and it really stressed the plant, it's taken a very long time for it to readjust and start growing again.
Raven
Raven, I guess there is always that risk of transplant shock no matter what. Higher dosage of ST and use of some seaweed extract may ease the situation but patience may still be required.
Milan
You are right Milan, I agree with what you said up-thread, if you have a good mix and can give them the care they need, plastic or clay doesn't really matter, after the whole episode with the clay potted hoya, I won't go back again to clay~it may have put out good growth for the season it was in the clay, but when repotting came, the good growth for that year did NOT make up for the whole year of growth that was lost while it tried to readjust from the stress.
Raven
I was told by one of the retailers I deal with, that if you soak the clay pot/plant for a few minutes before trying to re-pot it, it makes a big difference. If it comes down to my hoya(s) or a 44 cent clay pot, i'll break the pot every time to save my hoya baby:-).
Blessings,
Awanda
I've been trying to find the 5-inch clay pots. I know there should be some out there because I've bought them before but all I'm seeing is the 4 inchers and 6 inchers.
I'm not switching all mine to clay because I just don't have the room and I must have a lot of them hanging but I'm definitely planning to repot the others and add even more perlite and vermiculite to the soil to make it really porous.
I totally agree Awanda, I would have broken the pot too but it would have put even more stress on the roots since they had totally attached themselves to the inside of the pot, if I would have broken it, I would have ripped off all the roots!! Do you think the roots would un-attach if the pot was soaked?
Raven
Susan, I"ve seen 4.5 inch pots at our Wal-mart. I've seen orchid pots that were 5 inches, but they had the holes on the sides.
Raven, I haven't had to try soaking the pots yet, so I personally don't know, I was repeating what was told to me by the owner of the retail/wholesale company where I buy my plants.
Blessings,
Awanda
For years I grew my cacti in clay pots, but switched to plastic pots a few years ago. Only my more rot prone cacti are potted in clay today. Moisture evaporates very quickly from clay. New pots need to be broken in by soaking them for several hours. Otherwise, the moisture is drawn to the pot away from the roots. Roots will tend to grow toward the sides of the clay pot because of moisture retention there. Also, clay pots lose heat more quickly in winter than plastic pots. One can get by using a more moisture-retaining mix in clay because of the higher rate of evaportation through the sides of the pot. Shirley
Susan,
Azalea pots might be suitable for your hoyas. They are wider than they are tall. The following site offers many sizes of terra cotta (clay) pots, including the 5" azalea pots and many others. Shirley
www.goodiestore.com/claypots
Susan, the pots at Wal-mart are Azalea pots for 44 cents for the 4.5 in and 36 cents for 3 inch. As Shirley stated soak them before re-potting. I usually soak mine overnight.
Blessings,
Awanda
Many people recommend tearing the root balls apart and even cutting half the root balls away when repotting. Those I know who do that have great success growing hoyas so, the few damaged roots that result from the roots sticking to the sides of the pots aren't likely to be a problem, though I'd suggest that you dust them with Rootone as the fungicides in it will help prevent problems.
I prefer when replanting to do as little damage as possible to the rootball. I used to take a hammer and break the clay pots into pieces so that the rootball would come out whole. With the price of clay pots being so high now, I no longer do that. Instead, I run a sharp knife around the inner perimeter of the pot, and then tap on the bottom so that the rootball comes out in one piece --- same as I do a cake that is baked in a deep angel food tin.
Hoya plant roots are tough. They can take a little damage and recover very quickly.
The real secret to successful repotting is to move the plants up to only the next size pot. Don't move a hoya that is in a two inch pot up to a 6 inch pot. Put it in nothing bigger than a 4 inch pot, but a 3 inch pot would be better, if you can find one. When it outgrows the 4 inch pot and must be moved, use a 5 or 6 inch pot.
I prefer clay pots myself for several reasons. They breathe. They make overwatering difficult and the don't tip over and spill their contents so easily. I use more and more plastic pots, howevr, because they are so cheap. I can buy a case of 48 six inch plastic hanging baskets for under 25 dollars. I can buy about 6 six inch clay pots for the same price and then, if I want to use them as hanging baskets, I must buy special hangers for them.
When I win the lottery some clay pot manufacturer is going to get rich with me!
Chris Burton
Susan, I found 4.5 inch clay pots at Home Depot this morning for 40 cents.
Another reason I like clay is because water transpires into the air from the porous clay pots, adding to the humidity when plants are grouped together, forming a little microclimate that's more humid. This really helps in the winter, when the air gets so dry from the heat (I also use humidifiers and get enough heat with the radiators turned off). The higher the humidity, the better mine seem to do.
I'm another proponent of clay pots, and like TheHoyan, will only move up 1-2" when repotting my hoyas, so as to keep them as rootbound as possible. My original hoya, a motoskei, was over 20 yrs old, in a 2 ft diameter clay pot and on a huge wooden trellis, when my (then) kittens decided it was a cool jungle gym and great for their teething problems...sigh. Since it had become an albatross anyway, I left the poor chewed up thing behind the last time I moved (but kept cuttings of course). I've learned since then that plastic is okay, but only for the larger plants, since the dirt surface is a greater size and will afford better air circulation.
Yep, I can report that mine are doing better already. The larger ones are still in plastic (Gemila's pots-which I love). Some of the smaller ones that I now have in clay for about a week have put on new growth.
FYI, for those brave enough to try-I think I found an answer to my mealy troubles-Lysol and Water. First I bathe in and follow up with the spray bottle mixture of lysol and water. Someone had suggested last year that she used Pine-Sol and licked her buggy problem but I wasn't brave enough to go there. Finally I just got disgusted and said "Live or Die!" Aren't I cruel????
Susan...did you check your roots for rootmealies? Often they live and thrive in there and no amount of spraying will help....
There certainly is 5" clay pots, I use the shallow ones for my dishgardens that I make for the Huntington. I also have found 6" Once they go into this size I don't plan to change them out, I rather start a new cutting. Norma
Why is that Norma? Do you mean they are hard to get out of the pot after that or what? One can always just break the pot.
Marcy