What is the best way to get mine to bloom? They bloomed PROFUSELY 8 years ago when my daughter was born ...they all opened ON THE DAY she arrived..(no kidding!)...but before that they budded up and I sat (was on bedrest for the last 2 months) and literally watched and waited but they refused to give me flowers until the baby arrived....hormones floating in the air or what????? Perhaps I should have named her "Hoya"...maybe they're all mad! LOL Since pregnancy is OUT, (and to begin with way too much to go through for hoya flowers!)....what do you all recommend? My Hoya kerrii has 9 new bud stems (one has finished blooming) but seems to be the only one interested in flowering! I will add a pic of it's blooms to the database, but wish to confirm it's heritage with you hoya-gurus first. Also, do they bloom at a certain time of year or does that depend on variety? I'm a fairly new hoya nut, 9 varieties so far and looking to grow!.....Thanks for your help!
Hoya bloom
Hmmmm. Are you giving them a high middle number fert....like 10-60-10? Are you keeping them watered????? Many people let them dry out too much...bad for hoya/blooms. Especially when forming an umbel you want to keep the soil watered...dry only on the top layer down about 1/2".... Maybe during your bedrest your were bored and watered them more???? :D.
Ah, I could be keeping them too dry. I use VF-11 so the fert is good. Could it be not enough light too? I DID move the kerrii to a brighter spot a few months ago...and it's the one responding. I will take my "moisture meter" home from the office and check the hoya-pets at home. My Mom was here when I was on bed rest...she must have taken perfect care of them because I was only allowed to get up for restroom privileges...she gets the kudos...! BTW I bookmarked your website.... it's great! Thanks for your help!
Oh, thanks. H. kerrii can take lots of light and drier conditions...try more water. The soil should be damp 1/2" to an inch into the pot....and some hoyas like it even wetter (H. lacunosa, H. obscura, H. multiflora, H. bella - water babies they are!).
As for light - I am revising/rethinking all of my thoughts on light. David Liddle grows his hoyas under 80% shade cloth....and many hoyas are understory plants that like the cool damp dim light under and trees... I am adding more shade cloths to my greenhouse...I find it is very bright in there and think the plants would have more fun with less light.
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I do know H. polyneura likes it shady. I have had one for years that was surviving, but always looked a bit shoddy and pale. It also would loose a lot of leaves causing these big long stems hanging all around it with only a leaf here & there. So I took a BUNCH of cuttings (almost left the poor ol' mother plant bare), rooted them in a Big Lots greenhouse, and put the mama out on the 3rd shelf down of an old bakers rack on the North side of the house. It is very shady and cool there. Since I had the cuttings, I didn't care that much about the ugly ol' thing anymore and I only watered it when I would go over there to water the persimmon tree over it (which added to the dark conditions it was now in). Well, let me tell you....that mother plant has now got the most lush, dense, and dark green foliage I have ever seen on it. It even looks better than the rooted cuttings I have from it. Ha. Now I am afraid to move it back out into the light anywhere for fear it will hate it. So there it sits in all it's glory and beauty completely away from anywhere that anyone but me will ever see it. :-( (kinda sad, huh?)
Marcy
True...except YOU know it is there....and YOU are the most important viewer. If you can keep it cool, you may get blooms!!!!
Thanks for all your input....how neat about your polynuera Marcy, you may need to make room for a hammock out there so you can relax and enjoy that mamma plant! I put a little "drop" drawing on the name tag for my lacunosa to remind me, thanks Alohohoya! Ok, one more question (actually I have lots but trying to pace myself,,,LOL) One of my "unknown name" hoyas has a new long stem (@18") that came from one of the main stems...the plant itself has dark leaves with some cream variegation...the new stem is pink and all the leaves on that stem are pure cream! It's actually quite lovely. Can you take cuttings from a stem like that or does it need to stay connected to the plant because it's lacking it's own chlorophyll? Can send a pic if anyone is interested. Is this normal? I appreciate your help and time all of you! (Crasulady2 are you there?)
Karen
Carol, I found your post regarding David's growing method interesting. This past summer, I had to put 2 shade cloths over my greenhouse due to the heat, and it didn't affect the growth or flowering of my hoyas at all; as a matter of fact, they seem to do much better and the leaves appeared greener.
Blessings,
Awanda
Kachinagirl - that long new vine sounds too young to strike, even if it weren't all white. Very new AND very old growth are usually impossible to root, with new growth being the worst. AND with the lack of chlorophyll success would be doubtful. All white or pink growth from a variegated plant is said to be detrimental to the plant as it doesn't produce its' share of chlorophyll and sucks it out of the healthy plant. I have been told it should be cut off - yet I have heard from people who have no problem letting it stay on! I generally wait until they mature and if they have NO green and continue to produce all white, I do cut it off....
Awanda - I am in the process of doing that same thing....except my shade house is 80' long!!! The plants were doing just fine UNTIL the sun started its' journey south and the new angle really lets the light/heat in. I have noticed that the green darkens up when in less light. My "propagation" area is much darker than the rest...much less stress on the cuttings trying to deal with light as well as heat!
Thanks AH, I will keep an eye on it. Can you help me ID my 2 "unknown" cultivars? Karen
I can try...
I read this thread with great interest, as all of my hoyas are grown indoors in pots. I don't know if yours are in pots outside or in the earth, but if they are in pots, my sure fire method for getting a hoya to bloom is to keep it as potbound as possible-only go up 1" in pot width when repotting, and only about every 2 years. My DM is a very, very negligent indoor plant keeper and even hers will bloom using this method. I've always given my hoyas lots of sun- I'm rethinking this now as the foliage on all of them is far too pale and sparse, so, I have moved them all back from the window, they're still in a bright room, but getting little direct sun instead of nearly all day. The blooms haven't stopped yet this year.
Hi Ceedub,
yes, all my hoyas are in pots, either at home or my office. Here in the central valley of CA, full sun from a window would probably crisp them! I have diffusing shades, that take the heat out but let light through. That's where my kerrii is now and as it's October I may try moving some of the others over closer to the window and see what happens. I remember my Mother saying that hoyas like "tight shoes" too, so I will be letting them stay where they are for a while. The kerrii has probably just grown into it's pot, that and the extra light is most likely what popped the umbels. Ready for a hoya-horror story? Years ago my sister had a huge hoya, gorgeous. A friend watched her house while she went on vacation...yes...she "pruned" the hoya for sis! All the umbels, all the new growth.....and threw all the cuttings away! Sis was heartbroken but somehow didn't cry until her friend left! Augh!
Well, if you really get desperate for blooms, stop watering altogether and put the plants in direct full light....the plant may die but in the "survival process" it blooms. Stress does wonders!!!
ceedub, too right about letting the plants be potbound!!! Hoyas are "advanticious" plants, growing where they can eek out space to root and competing with the rest of the bush. David Liddle showed me a picture of a H. kerrii he collected: growing tall on a bare tree above the brush, totally exposed. The clue is that it was growing on the shady (protected from the sun) side of the tree, clinging to a small space.
Hey...just kidding in the first para.
kachinagirl, I find here in my area, that they only flower one time in the year, but the flowers stay on or flower over a period of a month or more. This plant looks as if it is going to fall over dead any minute, the leaves are very yellow, but it only flowers once a year. Perhaps it is the wrong time of the year. Start fertilizing it weekly in early spring and see what it will do. Mine is putting out new growth now, finally. I have a reverse variegated H. kerri and it dropped all of it's leaves, I now notice this past two weeks that new leaves are coming on now, and it still is reversed. It did not revert. So now I'm beginning to fertilize again, thinking it must be a winter grower for me down here in So. calif. controlled greenhouse conditiions. I just don't know, I gave you two opposite directions, that one outside flowers only one time of year, the one in the greenhouse is not old enough to flower at this time, no nodes. Nomra