A month ago I cut up my H. calycina as it was all over the place. Half of the cuttings I put in a 10" pot with the bottom half full of Perlite and the top half with my own mix. The other half I put in a pot with just my usual mix. I put both on the heat mat. A month later I unpotten them to pot into individual pots: the cuttings (3 to 6 nodes!) in the pot with Perlite in the bottom had roots as big as half of my fist. The other pot had small boring little roots.
I am sold. Everything I propagate and pot up is going to have Perlite in the bottom of the pot (I use a large size, #3). I think it provides for less compacting of soil in the bottom of the pot, better drainage AND more oxygen to the roots thru the holes in the bottom of the pot.
Carol
Results from a Propagating Experiment
Great job Carol. Now ...how much perilite do you put at the bottom? Say 1 or 2 inches & then soil mix on top of that?
Marcy
About half full of the Perlite, Marcy. I also have added more Perlite to my regular mix...so it is quite 'fluffy'...LOL
Carol, I FINALY found the big perlite! It only took 10 phone calls to every nursery and hydroponics store in the phone book, but I found it an hour away. So off to Eugene I go tomorrow to pick it up. I have been looking for this for about a month and could not find it. I bought the 4 cubic foot bag of the regular propagation grade. Now I am going to have A LOT of perlite.
Thanks for sharing your findings, it's appriciated :~)
-God bless, -joanne
Sounds great Carol! Lately I have been rooting mine in straight perlite and have been very happy with it. I think maybe more oxygen gets to the rooting area? I don't know....but I like it.
:) Kim
Carol........ You are really onto something.
I have rooted lots of other things in wet perlite on a heating mat so why not hoyas too. In 3 weeks as you say I have had huge amounts of roots on abutilons, impatiens etc.... So many that I had to dig into the perlite and lift the cutting out with a ball of roots and perlite. I haven't had enough growth to do any cuttings on the hoyas I have but I will sure give it a try next chance I get.
I am guessing here but the magic is likely in the perlite and heat combination.
Bea
Thanks for the info, Carol - I'm trying this on my new cuttings!
Karen
HAHAHA...I think I am going out and RE-do all the stubborn cuttings, too. I think the secret of the Perlite is the air/oxygen to the roots!!!
Carol - way to go, thanks for the constant sharing of all your discoveries, I love to hear these new ideas - especially when already proven successful (I need all the help I can get in rooting certain types!)...I have a few I am hoping will hold on long enough for a re-do myself & I am definitely trying out your method! (once I get my accessories...)
I am finally caving in to buy a heat pad after this (and way too many dead barely sprouting babies)...if anyone has a recommendation I would love to hear it..I never thought this would be necessary in sunny san diego...
Abbie...so many kind growers helped me out when I first started...and are still helping me out... The Universe needs balance...no? Check out www.CharliesGreenhouse.com . I think they have them. Hey...here in sunny Hawaii I have 3 big ones I use during the winter!!!! They love their little feetsies warm!!!
This is a really agood way to pot up your hoya's. I have been potting mine up this way for a couple of years now. I posted here about this last year after doing the same thing. One plant was potted in half perlite and soil and the other plant in just soil. The plant in the half and half grew to almost 3 times the size of the plant planted in just soil. The roots really love the air circulation Marcy I thought I read about this method in one of your postings, but maybe it was Leslies. This last year I tried hydroton balls, which are round clay fired balls, I only tried it on one hoya, and I didn't see great results. I think the hydroton balls dry out to fast. When I unpotted it this spring it did have a nice root system but the roots were very dry and stuck really good to the hydroton balls. I think the perlite works much better. Carol thanks for the experiment, it's good to know that they root really well using this method too.
Tami-I remeber the pic you posted and the one replanted being really big and the other being small.....infact I ended up with the smaller one.......I have a few of mine repoted so far.................
How did your plant survive the winter Sandy? I think you will really like this potting method.