Evening all. Ran by Lowe's on the way home on an errand and just happened to pass by their indoor plant section. Consequently, I need for you to confirm the identities of two newcomers to my collection. The first was tagged as H. bella. I'll show you the plant first...
and now the leaves...
Now the second one.. It was tagged as Dischidia pictinoides 'Pebble Beach'. I think you can see the leaves clearly enough in this one to be sure. Any opinions? Thanks a lot for your help.
Barb
What a score! You lucky girl!! The dischidia is definitely the 'Pebble Beach' because I just saw somewhere who had one for trade and I was thinking about doing it....lol. Yu'all find such neat hoyas.
:) Donna
Good on ya! Barb!!
The first one looks like H. brevialata (or could be H. incurvula...the former's leaves are a bit longer than rounder). The second one is D. nummularia variegated form. Word of caution from someone who killed hers deader than a rock: don't water it from the top. My take is that they like to be on the dry side...and I watered from the top even after repotting it from Exotic Angel soil to my own, and it rotted from the center out. I saw these growing wild in Australia in the dry season when it is VERY VERY dry... I rescued some vines and put them on some Tree Fern bark which I moisten once in a while when I remember...and they seem happy.
In fact, I have killed this at least 3 times from 3 different sources so I guess that makes me fairly knowledgeable.. LOL
Carol
Carol, so it's not the 'Pebble Beach' one?
Donna, if you want me to, I will try to root you some cuttings. The plant is very full and I don't think it would miss enough pieces to get you a small pot going. Just let me know. I'm getting ready to set up my bubbler experiment, so I think I'll include some from this one and see how it goes.
Thanks for the ID confirmation, by the way!
Barb
Hmmmmm..... if the Dischidia likes it on the dry side, then Heaven help it, 'cause I'm part Jewish Mother, too.. can't walk past a plant without giving it a spritz or "just a little drink". I may move it to a cocoanut fiber lined small basket and change the soil (yes, it's an EA plant). I wondered why it looked so good when all - and I do mean ALL - the neighboring plants had expired, or nearly so, from lack of moisture! As you can tell from the pics, the first thing I did when I brought them in from the car was spritz them. aarrgghh!!
Now.. what's your opinion on the bubbler idea for this one, Carol? A probable no-go? Think a potting mix would even the odds?
Barb
Bingo! Carol definitely wins the prize on the Dischidia. I Googled the name D. pictinoides and came up with what I believe was the plant Christina (?) showed with the large bubble things where ants live in the wild. As an aside, that's on my "Gotta Have For Sure" list!
Now.. going to go find the other one...
Okay.. Carol takes the other prize, too! I looked at the tag again and it lists the complete name as Hoya "sulawesii" and underneath that says Hoya bella. I googled H. incurvula and found a pic that matches it with the caption, "Hoya incurvula Sulawesi". So, now to find the culture of the H. incurvula...
Carol, a thought... since Hoyas are for the most part epiphytic, if I were to attach some sphag. moss to a piece of rough-cut board or bark with a small gauge wire mesh and place rooted cuttings of the Dischidia in amongst the moss, how do you think that would work? Yes? No?? Maybe???
EDIT~~~~Well heck... I just re-read your post, Carol, and saw that is exactly what you said you did! DUH!!! Maybe it's time to go to bed...
Barb
This message was edited Oct 17, 2005 9:38 PM
Pebble Beach is something someone made up to increase sales!!!
Somewhere I have a photo of the difference between H. brevialata and H. incurvula leaves...will try to find it. I know that EA sells a lot of H. brevialata under other names. Heck....can't find the photo...will take one tomorrow.
Yeah...spagnum moss/board etc. great idea....keep dry. I have a piece of that dischidia on some moss on a tree outside and it has not grown in 2 years. Too wet.
Aloha....:>)
HI...silly me. Check out this website http://www.cloudjungle.com/eshop/productsbykeyword.asp?keyword=Dischidia&catalog=Epiphyte
Harry Whitmore is a fascinating fellow with a large interest in, and collection of Dischidia. We have traded back and forth...this is a good site for id and for more information on this and other epyphites....
Enjoy
Carol
Wow, Barb! What a GREAT SCORE!!! Whoo hooo....happy hoya dance...happy happy haaaaaappy!
wOw!!
I'd seen that hoya before, and have one just like it...(I agree that it's likely H. brevialata....but best wait for Carol's comparison)
AND I have a very small specimen of that same dischidia ....and I *KNOW* I probably paid more for mine than you did (since it's an EA plant)
That's a really nice, full plant!
I couldn't find the picture I had thought I had...so I made another one. The leaf on your left is H. brevialata and on your right is H. incurvula. Seeing them side by side, it is easy to tell the difference in the base of the leaf...
Here is the underside of the leaf. Note the difference in the bases as well as the obvious costa (main rib) close to the base on the H. brevialata. Hope this helps.
So... what I have is (top one) H. brevialata and the other one is D. nummularia variegata. Here's what Mr. Whitmore has to say about the latter... "Grows really slow and is difficult." Looks like I have my work cut out for me.
Nan, I lucked out with the Dischidia. I had to practically climb up on the shelf to reach it (much to the consternation of the hired help!) but ho boy... never stand in the way of a determined Hoya/Dischidia hunter, right? It's an 8" EA basket and I paid $14.95 for it.
Donna, you have mail.
Barb
Barb...you done good! And....with shipping included, you *did*, indeed, pay less for that 'big 'un' (lol!) than I did for my tiny one!
It is a slow grower, and you might find that it will occasionally have a stem or two dry up. I don't find it difficult, though....mine is hanging directly in the south window (obstructed by a sheer curtain) and it goes *very* dry before I water again. When it looks a bit shriveled and I don't have time to soak it...I just mist it.
Mine is in a tiny orchid/water plant type basket (the type with holes....know what I mean?) and is planted in a chunk of coir...only......I take it down and submerge/soak it once in a while.
It does bloom quite freely, several times a year, (very tiny white flowers that do not completely open....there's a name for that type of flower but it escapes me!) and occasionally grows a seedpod!
I did plant the seeds on some sphagnum once and most of them sprouted, but I'd inadvertently forgotten about them, forgot to water, and they dried out and died of dessication!!! :(
My most important advice is to watch the watering.....let it get quite dry before you water.
Okay then.. lots of light and very little water for the Dischidia. If I hang it from the ceiling it'll be harder for me to water. That might help. Thanks for all the help, guys. I'm slowly acquiring the knowledge necessary to keep these beauties nice and healthy and beautiful.
And speaking of learning... is this really just TOO anal, or have any of you done it? I was thinking of creating a card file with the common name, all the Latin stuff, culture, most successful propagation methods, yadda yadda yadda, for each plant. Think that is carrying things too far? C'mon.. be honest!
Barb
Barb,
Others may think you are anal, but I already have a file like this on my computer! Everytime I find information about my hoyas on the net I just copy and paste to my "Word" file for each of the hoyas I own. This "hoya disease" isn't compatible with my aging brain, so I need to write everything down if I expect to remember it next week....LOL
By the way, I find most of my info on this forum (thank you everyone!) There are so many knowledgeable people here who are willing to share with us. We are VERY LUCKY!!! (And we don't want that knowledge to go to waste now do we????)
Sue
Ok...I started a word file, but it was just to LIST the ones I own. (Im only half done with that one..ha). Now I like this idea of having some info on each one or at least on some of them. How do you do that in word? Do you make cards or just a page on each one or just write stuff under the name in the "list"?
Marcy ---> plant smart...computer dumb!
How Dawg!! Sue, you are a woman after my own heart! I've used this brain of mine for nearly 60 years and sometimes I do believe it's just (as the locals might say) plumb wore out! Of course being a flower child in the 60's and pickeling a few brain cells in the intervening years hasn't helped a lot either! Ahem.. I'm on the straight and narrow now, though. :)
Did you put it in a spread sheet format or a page for each plant? Wanna share?
Marcy, no sweat.. we'll help you do it. Shoot, I taught someone how to do HTML over the phone, so this project should be no problem.
Barb
Edited cause I can't type!
This message was edited Oct 19, 2005 1:56 PM
What a great idea, Barb! Not anal at all!! And I'll be "lurking" around on this thread, Sue and Barb, while you teach Marcy! Marcy, I feel your pain - I'm "computer dumb" also! Karen
This message was edited Oct 19, 2005 3:29 PM
Yes, Sue, please tell us how you set up your information. Do you have a separate document for each hoya?
Also, I was wondering if others would like to share specific info. Perhaps we could have separate threads for each hoya. I think it would be nice if we could share culture info, blooming times, lighting issues, and other information we have learned through trial and error about each one. This way it would all be in one thread that we could update periodically. (I hope my rambling makes sense...)
Ann
Isn't there spaces for that kind of info in the plant files...?
Christina
There is no heading for hoyas. I would be game on this whole idea!!
Heather
Either PlantFiles or a thread would work. The PlantFiles don't really have any helpful information on them, but perhaps if we create some compilations we could move them over to the PlantFiles (although, I am unsure as to how one goes about doing this).
Ann
I'll bet Milan would help.....fluttering eyelashes coyly...eh?
Okay everyone, this is how I have my files set up....doesn't mean it is the ONLY way, but it works for me.
1- The first thing I did was set up a new file in "My Documents" with the name HOYA.
2- Then I went to Word and created a document with the name : H. carnosa. I titled the document:
H. carnosa and then clicked on "File", then "Save As", i
n the box that came up , I looked for HOYA and double-clicked on it,
then under FILE NAME I typed: H. carnosa and then hit SAVE.
3- I went through this with each of my Hoyas and created separate documents in the same way as
for the carnosa.
The neat thing about this is now when I am looking for a specific type of hoya, all I do is go to My Documents, then HOYA and all my hoyas are there in alphabetical order.
When I want to add information I've gotten from the internet all I do is highlight the information by holding my mouse and dragging over it,
Then: go to EDIT at the top of the browser page, AND click on COPY.
Then I close the browser, go to My Documents, HOYA, and double click on the specific type of
plant. Word opens up with that page.
Then, I "LEFT click" my mouse where I want the information to go and "RIGHT click" and then
choose PASTE. Voila! The information should magically appear!
Then close the document and don't forget to Save it!
Hope this isn't too complicated....it looks a lot harder in words than it is in actuality.
And, thank you Christina...I never saw the PlantFiles before...they look interesting!
Sue
Excellent, Sue. I have mine all in one long document. I think I will do what you have done and make a separate doc. for each hoya.
Thanks!
Ann
Thanks, Sue - I'm going to give it a shot!! Karen
WOW. What organization!!! All my information is on little scraps of paper all over the house.....
:>)
Wow - just now catching up to you guys (my stupid Cable Modem has had ISSUES since Sunday afternoon and it wasn't working half the time)!
I don't think this idea is ANAL at aaaaall! It's a great way to keep everything organized and 'on hand'...especially for those of us who have lost brain cells due to age or the 70s or whatever (Barb, I laughed OUT LOUD when I read your 'pickled brain cell' comment!).
I have an Excel file with all my plants inventoried (I was a computer 'geek in my prior life) and I think I'll expand it and use it for this. GOOD IDEA!
B
Carol, I have the same thing. Problem is, I can never find the one I'm looking for when I'm looking for it. Organization has never been and never will be one of my strong points. I paint well, though!!!
Barb
WooHooooooo!!! A geek in our midst! Since I don't have the Excel program on my OLD computer, I'll use Sue's excellent idea about the My Documents folder with a word page for each variety. Good job, Sue!
Look Carol... we're getting organized!!
Barb
Maybe you could send me a disc with your information on it!!! I can pretend I did it and be so proud of myself!!! :>)
coyly fluttering Eyelashes eh!!!???? And I'm not even working for Fedex LOL
IMO PlantFiles would be a good tool for these types of things. Ann stated above that Plantfiles doesn't have much useful information in it but that is mainly because nobody is adding the information to it. Anybody can add info to Plantfiles and it is easy to do (pretty much the same as here in the Forums) and the more people add info (useful info that is :) the more useful PlantFiles will get to everyone.
Many times discussions here in the Forums bring very useful information to light and if somebody feels it would be beneficial for that info to be added to a species in Plantfiles then that someone could make a summary in that forums discussion thread and ask if others agree for the info to be posted in PlantFiles (just a suggestion)
Carol, I actually would appreciate if you could post the pic of the leaf comparison under both species in PF for future reference.
Milan
Edited for fingers typing faster than the brain is
This message was edited Oct 19, 2005 9:58 PM
Righty O, mein liebling Uber schatze! Will do. My bad for not filling in PF more often...please rattle my cage more often!!
Carol
Hey, I figured it out. It's easy. I already knew how to cut & paste, and I do have various things scattered in my documents, so this should be a piece of cake. I forgot that it automatically alphabetizes too. That will be great.
I too was a delusional flower child of the 60s(also completely reformed).. ha, and never imagined then that I would be sitting at a computer putting data in plant files one day. Ha.
Marcy
I never got to be a flower child. My mother wouldn't let me ;>)...so now I live in Puna (the District) which is populated by aging flower children with their fried brains and Rastaman hairdos.... I love it. One is NEVER too old!!!
