I love that little frog planter, too, frogs are great!!
I've never really had any problems with bella, I keep it on the drier side, meaning I check it at least every other day and only water when it feels mostly dry. The only time it every looked bad was after I repotted it into a soil that had that "stay-wet" additive. As soon as I noticed it was not doing well, I repotted back into my normal mix and it bounced right back.
As for lacunosa, if there is any chance that it was abused/overwatered before you got it, then you may be in for a rocky time. I had one that I bought that had been overwatered, and I tried everything - letting it go dry, repotting, etc...It would be good for a while and then start failing, and just when I thought it was out of the woods, about a year after I got it, it died. It didn't turn yellow, it just wilted away to nothing, so I am pretty sure it was root rot. I have a few plants I made from cuttings of it that are great, though. Considering it is an easy one to root, a fast grower, and and an early bloomer, taking cuttings from the very beginning is the way to go, especially with the EA lacunosas. You just never know.
Cuttings for Postage- Hoya Bella
I did well with my Bella in UK, I had it hanging in my kitchen out of the direct light - it loved that place but it got so heavy in it's little pot that it uprooted itself - I had to take cuttings back from neighbours I had passed on to. When I left I gave it to my next door neigbour. Now I am growing a carnosa - which is looking good but no blooms yet.
I've killed more hoya bella than I care to admit. However, I was just at my sister's and she has this gorgeous bella - just finished blooming not too long ago. Anyway, I asked her how she rooted it - because she, again, gifted me with a cutting. She says she has really good luck putting the cutting in a plastic pot (filled with her potting mix), placing the plastic pot in a large glass salad bowl, covering it with saran wrap plastic, and sticking it on the bottom shelf of her plant stand - very little light. Think I'll try that this time!!
Karen
Good luck this time Karen
After following this whole discussion and thinking that Hoya Bella would be a bit too much for me I walked into a nursery in Boise and saw a blooming hoya and "had" to buy it. LOL
I'm pretty sure it is Bella but I'm coming to the experts here...... It was growing in a green house and has lots of red on the back of the leaves, very pretty. There are more peduncles on it too....so of course irresistible!!
So do I have myself a Bella here???
~Brenda
This picture is a bit blurry but you can see the red in the leaves.....they need some scrubbing bubbles to really look good. LOL
~Brenda
My Lucanosa did the same this is summer. It was doing really well for the first part then the buds started turnin yellow and falling off then the leaves started turning yellow. Had it outside for the summer. I moved it in the sunroom where it now gets mostly direct morning sun, the bright light in the aftrnoon. I quit watering to where it is very light. I mean very dry. When I do water it the water runs right through it. Once every 2 wks or so I put it in a big bowl and let it sit for a while to soak. It now has peduncles all over it and no yellow leaves. Actually it looks healthier than it has in a long time. I don't think this one likes much water.
dawn
Brenda,
Nice find! I'm interested to see what that bella will look like after the scrubbing bubbles treatment - I hope you post an "after" pic.
Gabi
I have never seen that red in bella leaves, but then other than my own, I haven't seen that many bellas. Since I am limited on bright light, and I noticed bella always did ok in a lower light position, I have always saved my brighter spots for light-needier plants. I like the way the red looks, though.
Ok Gabi, here is Bella after her scrubbing bubbles treatment! It worked really well and she looks great! Now to see if this finicky one will take that rude treatment along with the re potting and keep living for me!! :0)
I like the red too Bhavana but if it was because of the high light in the green house it's not going to last!
~Brenda
Gosh Brenda it's so full and nice looking!!! I have a question cuz mine is kinda thin; if I pinched the tips will it get bushy ? It's doing so well I dont want to do anything wrong but I sure wish it looked like yours.......
Wow Brenda! It looks like a whole new plant. I may need to get myself some scrubbing bubbles. How do you use it? Thanks for posting the "after" pic :)
Gabi
Anaid I just bought this Bella about ten days ago but I can tell you that in looking at it closely I can see that it has been pinched back a lot so I am assuming that is what made it nice and full looking.
Gabi I did what meltn talked about on another thread with the scrubbing bubbles, I showered the leaves real well then I sprayed the "bubbles" on and waited two or three minutes and then I rinsed the leaves really well. Wah Lah all the water spots and dust were gone from the leaves and she looked great.
I now have her in an east facing bathroom window where she gets bright light filtered through trees and the extra humidity each time we shower. I'm hoping this will keep her happy enough to stay alive and to bloom!!
~Brenda
What keeps the scrubbing bubbles soap from getting in the soil medium? Or do you just let it go there & don't worry about it? I am sure it would go into the dirt when you rinse. I can't remember what she said about the soil getting soapy. Does it matter?
Marcy
She said that the Scrubbing Bubbles can go into the soil and it does not matter..... I still did my best to avoid that by angling my showering away from the soil as I'm already nervous with this Bella after reading this thread...... so far she looks good and shows no ill effects from her scrub! :)
I went and found the other thread and here is a quote from about the scrubbing bubbles from Meltn......
" I promise that I would never suggest using something that would harm your Hoyas.
I spray the entire plant (front and back of leaves), the pot and the soil without harm. I do not use it in direct sun light, but, I have never seen any damage to the plants. Spray a little on a cloth and wipe the leaves with the cloth. Once you see the shine of the leaf, you will be spaying the whole plant !
I wish I could take credit for the idea. I believe I read about it in the Hoyan."
I have a beautiful hanging h. kerri that I'm going to try this on by spraying the "bubbles" on a cloth as I don't want to unravel it from it's hanger to take it into the shower...I'll do before and afters when I do it!
~Brenda
This message was edited Nov 6, 2007 9:21 AM
Now that you bring it up Brenda, (and for anyone with an answer) I have a couple of Hoyas that came wrapped on a piece of wood to form a basket. The smaller of the two looks cute like that because of the color of the leaves and cuz it's branches arent very long. The other has pretty long branches and they just wound them up like u do your garden hose and attached them to the wooden handle. I just want to know if it will harm the plant or slow it's growth if its' wound up like that instead of hanging like my other hoyas.
Ok Brenda, what's this scrubbing bubbles you are referring to? Do you actually mean the bathroom cleaner named scrubbing bubbles???? Or is it a concoction of soap and water that someone has come up with? And is it used just for cleaning leaves, or is it also for an insecticide? I am real curious.
Anaid from what I've seen they use the trellis's on the hoyas because #1 it looks nice and #2 it keeps them from taking over the world! LOL I have kept several on the bamboo hoops and I have taken some of them out if I preferred them to hang, so it's up to you and how you want them to look.
Yes Lin, it's the regular ol' bathroom cleaner!! As far as I know it is really just for cleaning the leaves and leaving them shiny and pretty but any good scrubbing and showering will also help keep your plants pest free so it's a double bonus!
~Brenda
So you spray that stuff on your plants?!? I didn't know you could do that? Doesn't hurt them? I guess not if you just did the one above. So you just spray and then rinse immediately?
I left it to do it's work for about 3 minutes then rinsed it off. I had read about it in another thread where meltn says she takes a different hoya into the shower with her each day and does the scrubbing bubbles routine to keep them looking good and pest free!! According to Meltn's quote from above she read about this method of cleaning them in The Hoyan.
When I do a search for The Hoyan I come up with this link....
http://www.psthehoyan.com/
Maybe Meltn will see me trying to copy her methods and stop in and give more details! Her hoyas are awesome so I know she knows what she is doing!
~Brenda
You spray it on and let it sit for a few minutes, then spray it off. I don't think I would try it on an African Violet, but it works great on Hoyas. I recently tried it on H. polystachya, a large beautiful leafed variety, and the soil was drenched in it, and it did no harm at all. There is a lot of different kinds of this scrubbing bubbles out there now. You need to look for the original with the hand spray trigger. You don't want the aerosol or anti-bacterial. I think it says with orange action or something to that effect.
Thanks for that link Brenda! I remember reading something there when I first joined DG a year ago ... I am going to go back through each one and re-read .... my brain doesn't retain much for long!
I just went out back to water a few plants and whatta ya know .... I have H. nummularioides blooming!! I am a happy camper! It smells WONDERFUL! I want to move it inside for that great fragrance .... wonder if it will go into shock if I change the location on it? I have Lacunosa blooming too .... still one of my favorite for fragrance!
I want to print out the info from PF for H. Nummularioides but don't have use of either printer right now .... hubby installed a new operating system on the computer last night ... now I can't print from the desktop or laptop - he either forgot something or missed something and will fix it when he gets home this evening! Arrrrrrrgh .... printer withdrawal here!
Here's H. nummularioides:
All I could find was the aerosol can that is green with a green lid so that is what I used....Doug did you end up finding the original article about this method or did Meltn tell you to use the hand trigger stuff?? Just curious what the differences would be, especially as I have already used the other!!
I did go do my h kerri all by hand with the scrubbing bubbles this morning. Before the plant came to me it had been hanging outside and several leaves had bird poop on them. I had tried rinsing and wiping when it first arrived but that had not been enough. The scrubbing bubbles did the trick this morning though!
I doubt you can tell much from my before and after pictures but in person it is a very nice difference. The plant is now glowing and looking as healthy as I know it is!
~Brenda
After......
Gorgeous plant Lin!! Those perfect little blooms are so pretty!
~Brenda
Brenda, I can definitely tell a difference in those photo's .... the second pic the leaves are definitely cleaner! I am going to the grocery store later today and just put scrubbing bubbles on my list! I think it will be great for cleaning the leaves as well as if it gets into the soil will help to keep buggy critters at bay!
Brenda,
I just assumed that the hand trigger stuff was the original, but maybe you have the original! All I know is the hand trigger stuff worked great and caused no harm. There are just too many different types of products now - mostly unnecessarily. Do you remember when there was only one kind of orange juice?
Doug