I repotted this plant four months ago and decided to add crushed coral.A two inch layer at the bottom ,It has been growing like gang busters.I don't know if it's the coral or just growing season but this plant has been sending out two leaves at a time since I repotted it.
Dianne
Dianne,
Your hoya is very beautiful. You must have the hoya touch!!
Jaimee
I agree with Jaimee, it's very nice. I'm going to re-pot all of my eriostemmas into crushed coral tomorrow; I heard it works wonders with them.
Blessings,
Awanda
Those are some big, beautiful leaves!
WOW...it is bigger than its' MOTHER!! Definitely will do the crushed coral bit. 2" eh? Good information!!!
Carol
Thanks for all the nice comments!! When Carol brought up the crushed coral about the Ruthie I repotted my Ruthie and from the winter she wasn't looking too good but after adding crushed coral she did a about face and now the plant is very large and a beautiful green.So I took a gamble with sum of my others and with my Latifolia and Archie and cinnmafolia,Fungii and a few others it is paying off.One of the leaves on my Latifolia measured out to 12 inches!! The picture doesn't show the top there is six vines shooting straight up about two feet and as the leaves are maturing they are sagging.I have never seen such massive growth before.So I guess it's safe to say Crushed Coral WORKS?!?
Happy Growing!
Dianne
Dianne that is one massive plant. Nice growing!!! Where can one get crushed coral?
Ric I got my coral from a pet store (petsmart, petco).
Blessings,
Awanda
I guess it would be in the fish section, huh? Is that what is used for sea water fish tanks?
Is this stuff good for just certain hoyas? Where is a list of the ones to use it on? Also, do you mix it in with the soil at all, or just put it in the bottom of the pot? If so...In what amount/ratio? Sorry for all these questions, but this is the first I have heard of this, and I don't want to do it wrong. Thanks.
Marcy
I found it at petsmart,it's a bit pricey but it goes a long way.I put a 2 inch layer at the bottom and put the root ball right on top then filled in with my mix.I use Cactus mix with more perlite and orchid bark.Now your mix might be different than others,I would say whatever works for you.
Marcy I have repotted several this way and they are all in active growth but this hoya has really passed everyone up,Last year it was growing very slow,but growing.Then this spring I decided to pot all my 6 inch plants into 8 inch.pots.
I can't wait to hear about everyones results that try this.Wish I knew why it works tho?
Dianne
Crushed coral has a form of calcium more easily available to plants that crushed oyster shell (or so I have been told). Way to go Girl!!! You have a good eye to your plants!!
Carol
Crushed coral is a tad expensive. I paid $16.50 for 15lbs. It's enough for lots of hoyas though.
Blessings,
Awanda
Dianne,
Your hoyas are beautiful!
I am wondering about the difference(s) between using crushed oyster shells as opposed to crushed coral since they are both composed of calcium carbonate. Or, what about using crushed egg shells, another form of calcium carbonate.
Other than the difference in prices, why would one source of calcium carbonate be better than another?
You know Shirley I don't really think theres too much of a difference.I have been feeding my staghorn egg shells for years and banana's.We had to buy the stag a heavy duty chain.She is 200 pounds and 6 foot wide.
The only difference is like Carol said if your plants aren't getting enough Calcium this will make a difference.I added this crushed coral to my Ruthie and I noticed a difference in the first week,She has been putting out the largest leaves and growing very fast,I also added it to my Meglaster and I have three fully formed buds getting ready to open,I will post a picture when they open.
I will try the egg shells on a couple of my hoya's and watch and see if I get the same results.
Dianne
I am still a bit confused as to why you just put it at the bottom. I would think that would just send all the benefitial stuff out the holes when you water. Seems it would make more sense to mix some in or put some on top. What is the reasoning for putting it on the bottom?
Marcy
Glad you asked that, Marcy. I was wondering the same thing! I have put perlite in the bottom of the pot to inprove drainage, but, it seems to me all the calcium would run out of the pot. If I am not mistaken, crushed coral is used to adjust the PH of salt water aquariums.
I'm going to try this too! Thanks for all the info guys. Off to the pet store i go! Mine are all potted in miracle grow, that scares me a bit now!
So i put a layer at the bottom and put the root ball right on top then filled in with my Cactus mix ?
As with all of my plants, I put a piece of coffee filter in the bottom to keep the soil from running out.
Blessings,
Awanda
I don't think it really matters WHERE you put the crushed coral/egg shells...I was just told by MM to put it at the bottom....to pull the roots down, I reckon....
Carol
Hmmmmm, I'm with Marcy and Mel on this one thinking most of the calcium
would run out the bottom with the excess water.....
I started putting anywhere from 1-3 inches of perlite in the bottom of my Hoya pots a couple of years ago, with a coffee filter to keep the perlite from washing out. (I'd noticed that Gemila's white 4.5in pots were too deep for short stemmed cuttings.)
This was a bonus by accident! Since the perlite holds water the roots went bonkers down to the perlite! Seeing how the roots went wild for the perlite
I started rooting most of my Hoyas in perlite too.
I'm wondering if this is the same type principle.... the crushed coral seems like it may hold water and the roots are growing towards the water????
I can see that, Lesli. Wouldn't the repotted plant have to grow for quite a while before the roots reach the bottom? That said, the plant would not really benefit from the added nutrients until it was pot bound again?? I could see the crushed coral being a good aggregate for drainage much like the perlite.
Mel, I took a 2 year old root bound plant and put the root ball right on top the crushed coral and this is my results.I sure hope you try this so we can read your results.Also they are getting ready to bloom.My Meglaster is also potted up in crushed coral and her blooms are getting ready to open.If my plants were lacking in Calcium I am sure glad I decided to put crushed coral..
Happy Growing
Dianne
That's true about the drainage factor too, however, I would think you could get "too much" in there and mess up the ph of the mix. If one were to mix it in....how much would you use? Say a handful in gallon of mix? I plan to put a tad on the bottom of the pot too.
I went out yesterday and bought a big bag of it a Petsmart. It was 14.95 there. There are probably cheaper places to buy it, but I didn't have time to look around. Anyway, now I am looking around for ones to repot.
Where do I find a list of the ones that like this, or do they all like it?
Marcy
What were the results of this, if anybody tried it? I am going to be repotting a few of my hoya's, and was def. going to put the perlite in the bottom. But was wondering how the results of the calcuim came out, and which hoya's you used it in, besides ruthie..
Thanks Tami
Tami now that you mentioned it, I wonder if that's why my eriostemmas are putting out lots of new growth?
Blessings,
Awanda
Awanda, did you just put it in the eriostemmas or in all your hoyas? How long ago did you do it?
A friend of mine puts a dash of crushed coral in all her mixes....to tone down the acidity....and I put about a teasp. in the bottom 1/3 of the pot with the Eriostemmas and a few others mentioned by TedGreen in his catalogue.
Carol
Tami I repotted all of my eriostemmas in May, so I'm thinking that's the cause of all the growth. I had forgot about the calcuim until I read your post.
Blessings,
Awanda
The Eriostemmas seemed to like it. I didn't see a lot of tremendous growth tho, just good growth. However, a couple of my other hoyas I tried it on got rather "leathery" and weird looking leaves shortly after. I figured it must be the coral & repotted them. Maybe I used too much or they just had a bad reaction to it. anyway, I haven't used it on anything else since.
Marcy
It is a matter of habitat. Many Eriostemmas are terrestials....and they grow in leaf litter on top of limestone.....then they climb or scurry on the ground.
Carol
Oh gee whiz! I thought Dianne was back online! Also, where did Cicada and Jdee go? Cicada? Jdee? Are you out there?
Susan
