It seemed to me that everyone but me could grow multiflora's like weeds...everytime I bought one it would look beautiful for a couple of weeks and then start getting brown dots on the leaves. And then the leaves would fall off...and eventually the plant would die. I tried this with 3 different plants, and still no luck. So, I decided to change something that I hadn't already changed before. I started giving my 2 leaved multiflora bottled water! I had previously given it tap water that had set over night.
Well, it is a month into my "experiment", and although I can't say I've got a full, blooming plant on my shelf, I DO have a multiflora with NO brown spots on it's leaves and it seems to be thriving, instead of dying! So, I would assume multiflora's don't like Chicago water (can't say I blame them). I have started bottled water on a couple of other non-thriving hoyas and will see if it makes a difference or not with them....
Sue
Solving the multiflora mystery
Very interesting. I finally got mine to a place where it is blooming like mad, but it hasn't put on a single leaf. They are scheduled for repotting tomorrow so I'm going to be able to see what the root system is doing. They seem to really like water, I hope I don't have to start buying bottled water :) Although I know someone that has one of those osmosis water system and thats all they use to water there plants. I think thats what the water system is called. Good Luck with your multiflora.
I have never had a problem growing multiflora/javenica. I labled it like this because at this point i'm not sure which I have. It currently has buds close to openinig so when they do i'll try and make a more positive ID as to which I really have.
What I really wanted to say here was that even by letting it sit over night I personally wouldnt water ANY of my plants with city water. I am strictly a well water user. City water which is so lovingly provided to us by the city (and so cheap) yeah right!!! has every chemical known to man added to it and they want us to drink it.
I dont know how it is in your area Sue but you can always tell when they add chemicals to the water here. At times it smells as if pure clorox bleach is coming out of the tap,at other times the water is very slick feeling. I just wouldnt ever use it to water my plants.
There is a guy down the street with whom I went to high school with.HIs family and my family have been close ffriends and neighbors since my father was small. He at some point after graduation got a job with the local water treatment faciltiy and he told me that if people had any idea what was being added to their drinking water they'd never drink it again.
When I first got into hoyas seriously about 3 years ago I did have problems with H. multiflora,H. serepens and H. bella. Then I found out that the 3 of them like to keep their feet moist but not dripping wet and since then i've not had any problems at all growing any of them.
I currently grow in the neighborhood of around 140+ or - one or two varieties of hoyas and I tend to let them all go dry between waterings with the exception of those 3. I know that some of the others are suppose to be kept moist and not allowed to dry out but I work a full time job and just dont have time to cater to the exact needs of each and every plant that I grow.
I have been growing many of them under these conditions for going on 4 years now and have had zero problems in allowing them to become dry before watering againg. Of course growing them all in a gh dries them out quickly and I check them daily after work and if one needs water I give it some so they are not allowed to stay dry for long periods of time. In fact they are all watered at least once a week(nov-mar) sometimes twice. From april til nov they get watered more often. I live within a mile from the ocean and it does tend to get quite hot and humid here.
dmichael
I know about keeping multiflora moist all the time...and also bella, but it just didn't seem to do the trick for my multiflora...not until I started using the bottled water. I've also started using the bottled water on bella, but not long enough to see any changes yet.
Most of the suburbs around Chicago, and Chicago proper, get their water from Lake Michigan. Back MANY years ago, when I was in college they told us the water we were drinking at that time had previously been through 21 kidneys!!! 35 years later, I can't imagine what they have to put in our water to make it "safe" for us to drink. I usually drink bottled water because it tastes so much better than that out of our tap...looks like my multiflora shares my taste in water
We will be moving to NE Georgia this next fall, and my plants will be getting well water from an area with lots of springs...can't wait to see what changes this makes in my plants ...
Sue
Let me tell you about our city water.
It starts out as river water from the Waccamaw river,it is pumped into the water treatment facitlity where God knows what is added to it to make it safe for us to want to drink!!
We pay an extraordinary amount of money to have it supplied to us,we poop in it,pee in it and use it for cooking ,showering and whatever else we have to use it for. It is then flushed or drained into the main sewer lines where it goes to the wastewater treatment facility.
There it has God knows what else added to it,it is treated and pumped back into the river where it flows about 2 miles back downstream to the first water plant and the is pumped back to us to use again. Who knows how many kidneys this stuff has been through!!!
dmichael
David Dear,
Like I said befor that is so sick..... oh, and wrong... My hair is standing up on my neck and arms, while I do the heeby jeeby shiver. Yuck That should not be allowed.