Greetings All!
I am new to Hoyas and I Wonderful DGer sent me a bunch to get started. I have had this Kerri for a year. I finally have new growth coming in and the leaves do not look normal. ( I would not know because this is the first growth on this particular Hoya. But I am guessing it has somekind Bug or Disease anyone tell me what this is? And how should I treat it? I hope you can tell with the photos .
Also its this particular Hoya a slow grower or it it just mine?
Close up#1
Its on both new leaves the brown spots.
,
Oops!
.
All 3 of them are covered.
I just lost a new leaf off my Kerrii Varigated this morning that had the exact same problem....lots of new growth but some just sorta start puckering and drop off....I have found this to be a very slow grower & also very difficult to propagate....I'm hoping the experts will weigh in...thank you for posting this, Katrun...Deb
I think Kerrii in general is typically a slow grower (I've read this and also experienced it), and the variegated one is even more slow I think. As for the black spots...that happened to one of my Obovatas as well. Not as much spotting, and also I didn't have the other weird stuff going on (the white stuff and "eaten" looking leaves, but I'd love to know what those black spots are as well.
Gabi
I've never seen anything like that before. Do you see any sticky stuff on any leaves of the plant. A possibility could be mealy bugs. They are hard to spot when newly introduced to the plants. They tend to stay in soil until ready to feed. They leave a kind of sticky sap on the leaves. Another possibility could be from over-fertilizing, or salts left over from watering. Try washing the plant with a 50/50 solution of alcohol and water, and see if that helps it from spreading. Mealy bugs and aphids like new, tender growth to feast on.
Hopefuly someone on DG will have the answer for you. I sure hope so. That's a lovely hoya that you have.
Eileen
The stippling could be some bug sucking out the sap...it could be a fungus. It could be both. The white stuff looks like sap that has leaked out. I would get a bottle of DACONIL and give it a good spray...I know they sell it at Walmart and HD too. I would also take off the badly infected leaves....
H. kerrii is a very vvvveeeerrrryyyy slow grower....
If I may jump in here and ask:
What fungicides/insecticides are safe for hoyas? Which do you all use?
I have a few Ortho products, Orthenex and a Systemic I believe, but I don't know if they are safe at the full doses or should be diluted. I see Carol's recommendation of Daconil which I just read is for fungus/disease, but what would you use for little critters? I know about the alcohol for mealies, but what else might come in handy? I'm always afraid to spray my hoyas for fear of killing them, but I'd like to be certain the plants are disease/pest free, and would certainly like to give them a pray before bringing them into the house for the winters.
Thanks in advance for your help. I hope I haven't hijacked the thread but I believe this is relevant to the original post.
Mullettman, good question see my post in the "Can You ID this Plant" thread next to this thread to see what can happen with some of these critters. It is simply too much of an issue for me to chance setting my prize plants outside.
This message was edited May 1, 2007 2:11 PM
There is probably good information about Imidocloprid in the Sticky Posts...this is a subject that comes up a lot of times....
Thank you all so much for everyones input and experiences.
I am glad its not just me!
I have used the Ortho products on all of my plants.
I did not use the 50/50 solution of alcohol. I will try that first and then try the Daconil.
I have never used that before. This particular Hoya looks tough and could handle using the Daconil to me. Now that I have him outside with fresh air and nice weather I hope he would improve.
I will remove the new growth. :(.
And treat him with the 50/50 and see how that goes, then the Daconil if no improvement. I will post a picture and keep everyone updated so hopefully this will help anyone else afraid of killing their Kerrii.
As I researched this plant they say this is a good plant for kids!
Easy care ......
Hello Aloha Hoya.. I love all the information and pictures you post.
I lost my Favorite Hoya Sigallatis. I guess I need to start off with easier ones!
Deb... wish you luck on your KerriI!
To add to this excellent discussion ... Annie Wayman just gave me an excellent piece of advice: for those of us who don't have a greenhouse full of plants, if we think a plant has mites or scale, she suggested putting the infected plant (and ones surrounding it) into a garbage bag with a pest strip for 24 hours. The fumes from the strip will kill the bugs & their babies. When you take the plant(s) out of the bag, rinse off the leaves and keep it sequestered from other plants until you know 1) that other plants don't have bugs and 2) to make sure you killed the bugs on the suspect plant.
Ann
Ann - It sounds really good...but I tried it with a H. compacta for 24 hours 3 times and then 48 hours 2 times and I NEVER got the mealies. I finally drenched it with BATS and - I kid you not - I put all of the vines in a bucket (it was a huge plant) and poured a gallon of alcohol down the vines into the bucket and then sloshed it around for about 5 mins. After the alcohol dried, I put the hose thing on 'MIST' and cranked up the pressure of the water to wash the dead mealies out. THE NEXT DAY I took it to Hawaiian Ag. to be inspected in order to ship it to the mainland. It passed....and I passed out!!!
Carol, do you think the pest strip doesn't work on the mealies because of the waxy coating they have? The mites seem to be most prone to death by strip - perhaps because they don't have any kind of protection from the fumes??? I hope you weren't standing when you passed out (LOL)!
:-)
May I ask, what is BATS?
Bayer Advanced Tree and Shrub. It is a drench formula. There are lots of threads about this...you might want to look them up.
I will, thank you.
I looked and it isn't available in Canada.....darn......back to the drawing board I go.
This message was edited May 7, 2007 9:26 AM
There are different names for products in other countries. The main ingredient is Imidocloprid. It is also sold as Merit, Provado... I am SURE it is sold in Canada but just in a different product. They are all the same.
We can't get the Imidocloprid unless we have a pesticide liscense........oh well, whadya do?
Have you asked your nurseryman for an equivalent?
Nope, but I'm gonna(picking up phone now)
Hi Katrun,
I have both the green and variegated Kerriis, the green one grows much faster (in fact just put out a 2 foot vine this past month). The variegated one keeps shrinking. It was beautiful when it came a few years ago -- I ordered 2 plants off the Internet, only one survived -- and both fell victim to the cursed black spots. I took them to UC Berkeley's hort experts, and they had no idea what was wrong with it, but told me to spray it with athlete's foot spray (Tinactin). It's barely clinging to life at the moment, but the black spots are gone, at least.
You might want to ask the person who sent it to you what their growing conditions were - re air movement, humidity, etc.
My 2 cents,
Julia
Just an FYI:
Bayer Advanced has some rebates through their website now. It looks like there may be a few bucks off of the BATS. I'm still trying to decipher the eligible products but it looks promising. Worth looking into.
I hope this helps.
It appears to be a $5 rebate off from BATS with the typical 8-10 week turn-around also making sure that you dot all your i's and cross all your t's. It is the reason that most people don't want to fool around with rebates - my self included.
This message was edited May 9, 2007 12:22 PM
Well, call me frugal but I'll slap a stamp on nearly any rebate for a 25% savings. I just thought because the BATS had been mentioned here recently there might be others who were going to purchase some. I bought some this morning and am mailing out the rebate now. $5.00 saves me the cost of shipping my next box of cuttings :)
JulieSF,
Annie Wayman uses sulpher on fungus (which is way, way cheaper than Tenactin). You can buy it at just about any plant or hardware store. She just takes a pinch of it and dusts the leaves that have fungus on them.
Ann
Mulletman, I think it is great that you mentioned the BATS rebate here, and I'm sure that it will help a lot of people out. Please don't take offence. Rebates are a pet peave of mine. I just wish the company would give you either an instant rebate at the checkout or lower their price by $5. I usually will purposely avoid a product that is offering a rebate and buy a competing product instead. In this case that is not possible, and I will buy the BATS.
What kind of Sulpher?
There ARE many many MANY different kinds of fungi that attack plants. My 'kit' has at leave 5 different products - some are foliar, some are drenches. It is important, but not necessary, to know what you are fighting!! Some fungicides are systemic, some are not. I have three I rotate as the fungi can become resistent if you use one too often. Ann Wayman is lucky to have a very controlled environment in a naturally dry ambiance. With the humidity here I am constantly on the watch and I spray regularly as a precaution.
BATS is one of the best products around!!! It does NOT, however, migrate out to the flower/fruit producing parts of the plant and therefore you MAY find Mealybugs on peduncles or flowers. A shot of alcohol will zap them.
Julia,
Wow! Athlete's Foot spray! Go figure. I will try. He is hanging on. I have my Kerri out side . I really think he likes it. Thats too bad that both of yours fell to the "Black Spots".
It must be something in my house. Like low humidity poor air circulation...ect.(any number of things). They were very healthy when I got them. It always fun and interesting to try and care for new plants. It seems like my curtissi is going down hill now that I moved him out side!
No black spots, but he is turning yellow, and looks awful. I think I might offer him to some newbies before goes down hill!
Thanks for the 2 cents! Always welcomed!
Good luck, Katrun.
Some hoyas are easier to grow than others....I've had a hard time with curtisii as well. And just lost a sigillatis. Sigh. I just shower love on the ones that grow for me and try not to get upset when the difficult ones die. What else can ya do? Good luck.
Julia
BTW...Kerrii are one of the few really succulent hoyas. They do best on minimum water!!! Minimum humidity! I remember seeing a photo of a kerrii (David Liddle had it) growing on a tree in the middle of a clear cut forest in the tropics = HOT = HOT = DRY.
I try to grow mine that way...
'try' is the operative word....
they grow....slowly.
Carol - Dont' you find the green kerrii grows faster than the variegated? At least that's been my experience. I picked up a 10-inch, huge pot of it a couple years ago and have it a very airy soil (lot of orchid chips) and it seems to be putting on more growth with the very light mix and frequent watering....
OH yes, Julia...the solid green everythings are so much better growers, I find. I have a solid green kerrii growing 50' up a tree and blooming it's head off while in the same time (4 years) the variegated one has grown maybe 5'. Variegation is a virus so perhaps it affects other things as well as the color....??????????????
I am going to have to repot mine and stop watering so often. I was even spraying it everyday. That could be the reason for the spots as well.Duh!!
I was not thinking. I was just so excited with my small but new collection of Hoyas it did not dawn on me, that the Kerrii was more of a succulent.
Julia, I am right there with you on the sigillatius. Isnt that such a beautiful hoya?
Carol, (Hoya Queen) LOL! have any good pics of one?
Carol, your green kerrii sounds spectacular. Could you generalize and say the thick-leaved hoyas, like kerrii, australis, krinkle 8, etc. need less water than thin-leaved hoyas like multiflora because they store moisture in their leaves? I know you're not supposed to generalize about anything these days - very un P.C. - but this seems like an accepted rule....
Julia
Hmmmm. Actually you are right. 'Krinkle 8' is a H. carnosa cultivar and carnosas seem to enjoy growing a bit drier than, say, H. coriacea or H. lacunosa. I find when I grow them drier and in lower light, they bloom like fools.
Some of the H. australis are fairly succulent - the ssp. orimacola and the ssp. rupicola for instance. I find the other H. australis are tough plants, but they aren't as succulent.
H. kerrii for sure. Also H. pachyclada and H. subquintuplinervis and their cultivars would qualify as well for "being able to grow drier". I wouldn't try growing them sans water...
Katrun...definitely no misting (although my green kerrii enjoys rain every day...but it is also out of doors and growing epiphytically. )Picture of which?
Carol
