I know this subject has been beat to death, but I bought a HUGE full variegated Kerrii in a 6" pot for $16.00 at a local nursery. How do I make sure I don't kill it. I know it needs to dry out some between waterings, but what light does it need?
Thanks,
Sandi
Kerrii care?
Sandi - I can tell you how I grow mine - I have it in bright filtered (not direct) light, I let it get dry between waterings, and I have been fertilizing with the MSU fertilizer. It has been growing gangbusters over the last few months! Hope that helps!
Karen
Karen,
Thank you,
What window do you have it in and what is MSU fertilizer?
Sandi
Growing gangbusters? I will probably be an old, old lady in my rocking chair by the time my kerri grows it's next leaf. What am I doing wrong?
I have ginormous green Kerrii growing in an East-facing window here in San Francisco. I use Eleanor's and have it in fast-draining soil. It seems to grow in bursts when the temperature reaches into the 70's (something seemingly rare these days in SF), and on those hots days I give it plenty of water. My variegated Kerrii grows much slower, but I guess that tend to be true of all the variegated types. Good luck!
I do the same with my kerrii as Julia does (regular kerrii, not variegated). Mine is in an east facing window, with fast draining soil, and I use Eleanor's. It has grown double it's size (or maybe even triple!) since I got it in February. It grows a new leaf or two every other week. I actually find it to be my fastest growing hoya in terms of individual leaf growth (in other words, if I see a baby leaf, it will be full grown by the end of the week). I keep mine pretty rootbound (it's in a 3" pot), and I seem to have to water it pretty often, even though it's so succulent. But I do let it dry out completely before I water it. I really think the trick is to give it lots of light. I had it in a very low light area up until 2 months ago, and when I put it right in front of my eastern window it just took off.
Hope that helps,
Gabi
Sorry - I guess "gangbusters" is a relative term!! LOL What I mean is that it has probably put on 10-12 new leaves this summer - for my variegated kerri, that's gangbusters! I have it in a south-facing window, that is partially shaded by a tree. I think MSU fertiziler has done wonders for my hoyas - I have eight or nine hoyas with buds, and that's alot for me! There's info on the MSU fertilizer on the "hoya fertilizing" thread.
Karen
Here is my kerrii. I bought it for myself for valentines day!!! Ha! Hubby was thrilled, cause that excused him from having to get me anything. That was way back in 2002, and it is in a 12 inch pot now.
I used to freak out, because I would get 2 leaves a year, and between DH, my 2 kids, and the dogs, I would loose 3-4 leaves a year. I felt like the frog in the well in my 8th grade math class!!! Now I get tons of growth in the spring and summer, and only a little in the winter, though the leaves seem to increase in size, just not a lot of vine growth.
Mine is in a south (filtered) window, and I just use the beer fertilizer, and foliar spray with VF-11.
Sara
Wow Sara...that's a beauty! Good growing!
Gabi
Beautiful, Thank you for all your help.
Sandi
Beautiful, Sara!!!
H. kerri has been found growing on a trunk of a dead tree in the middle of a harvested rainforest: i.e. in full sun. I saw the photo at David Liddles. This is NOT to say that it was gorgeous...but it was growing!!! I find mine grows gangbusters when grown dry...V E R Y dry (as my air is humid I get away with watering maybe once every two weeks)... Don't try this at home without supervision!!!! H. kerrii is one of the 'almost' true succulent hoyas...since I ignored it it has grown and bloomed like a pagan!!!
Beautiful Kerrii, Sara, that is the first one that I have seen that large! I do not see them here !
Larry
Oh thank you everyone for your nice compliments. It really did take a while to grow, but like Julia said, it does seem to take off when the weather warms up. It is loving the hot temps right now.
Cheers,
S
Yes, I let mine dry out between waterings too. The only time I have lost leaves is when I overwatered it. Put it in something that drains very well.
Sara...that is a beautiful plant. The leaves look so dark, lush, and pristine. It must love that spot. Do you have to turn it around to face the sun? Also..is that a variegated one in the bottom of the pot?
Marcy
Sara, I have that same exact pot, lol. Is the variegated Kerrii growing at all?
Here's my green kerrii, it's a lot leggier than yours....wonder why.
Sara, it doesn't even look like that is a very bright location, or is it just the picture? I'll agree with everyone that it is a beautiful plant.
Kerri was one of my hoyas that didn't go outdoors this spring/early, until about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and I noticed that since putting it outside, it has grown more. Maybe the humidity is what it needs. My plant started out as three cuttings last spring, and one of those cuttings rooted but never had any new growth at all until now, since I have put it outside.
Marcy, I do turn it, as I am trying to get it to spiral around the garden stakes, plus, the leaves tend to grow toward the sun, so it will get too heavy on one side if I don't even it out. I do have a variegated one on the bottom. It is growing Julia, if you look carefully, you can see the variegated leaves in the center of the spiral toward the top. I couldn't resist buying the variegated one, so to rationalize it with my limited space, I put it in the same pot.......then it isn't taking up any more room than was already spoken for. Julia, yours is about the size mine was 5 years ago, so age really does make a difference. It looks really nice and healthy.
Jen, it is a very bright location - it is in a filtered south window. I have a covered porch that keeps the sun from burning the leaves, but it is very bright and warm. The south exposure here is almost comparable to the west. I have my sheer curtains pulled, as I took the picture at about 7:45 pm last night, and it was still quite bright, and hot.
Julia, that pot was a Shopko steal!! I got a set of 4 different sizes for $3.99 at the end of season clearance last year. It is nice and heavy, so chances of it getting tipped are a lot lower. My kerrii may be leggier than you realize, as there are multiple vines worked in and among each other...
Thank you all for the nice comments. My hoyas are way under appreciated by my family, HA!
S
This message was edited Jul 25, 2007 11:04 AM
I didn't put mine outside. I can only imagine how big it would be now if it was outside!! Oh, if only I had a big backyard instead of a balcony.....
Sandi, Last winter, I kept the var. kerris right beside a large light cart and under a ceiling fan in the sunroom. They are planted in 8" clay pots with bamboo hoops. I find them very forgiving given that I often forget to water them and they remain healthy and happy!
I use Alaska fish 0 nitrogen fertilizer and an occasional dose of Dynagrow bloom. When I first started collecting Hoyas, that was my Hoya to "die for." It remains one of my favorites! Enjoy!
Mel
Mine was growing beautifully until one day I was inspecting my plants, picked up my compacta and found a spider in there! I dropped the pot (I HATE spiders) straight onto my kerrii, which sadly lost its top growing point. It's now sulking a bit... but I hope that it'll grow some more and produce some new leaves soon! It's currently growing what looks like a very weird arial root (hoping against hope it's a peduncle). It's in a very warm position currently, which'll change when I move.. this weekend!
Hills, as another official Spider Hater, I understand your reaction and would have done the same. My body goes into an uncontrollable panic mode when I see a spider, nothing else matters except putting some space between me and it. I have brevialata hanging outside under one of the eves and last night I noticed one those big red garden spiders building it's nighttime web right next to my plant! At first I wasn't going to do anything, but those spiders disappear in the morning, and the thought of it hiding in my plant all day waiting for nightfall was more than I could take. All I could picture was me sticking my fingers into the pot to check to see if it needs water....shudder, shudder! I don't kill spiders if they have the decency to stay outdoors, but I did get a stick and relocate him.
My brother lives in the same town as I do, and for some reason he has a black widow infestation at his house - yesterday he found a very lively black widow in the trash can in his garage. Sorry, but I would consider that grounds for moving!!!!
Anyway, I am sure your kerri will make a comeback, last winter I busted the main stem on mine when I was moving it, I didn't even really bang it hard, it just snapped under light pressure, but it grew back. Not very quickly, though!