Hi all! I have a H. nummularoides that is an Exotic Angel. The top of the soil feels really hard like a rock when I touch it to see if it needs water. The top is usually dry put if I dig down it feels wet. I know that it is almost blooming time for it. It does not have any peduncles on it yet. Do you think it would be better to wait until after it blooms to re-pot it or should I go ahead and re-pot it now? It has bloomed faithfully for me every year. Any advice???
Thanks!
~Teresa
I have always been taught to repot every single thing i buy as soon as i get home.....They cut so many corners in growing........don't blame them........but hoyas I think do best in a soil-less medum with bark and maybe even some Orchid mix with bark.........remember I don't really grow hoyas..........
It is just that I have never left a plant in the soil it was grown in...........even African violet, ets.............
Hopefully someone with more experience than me will come on with better advice, but since it is in the EA soil and that soil is half wet and half bone dry, I'd go ahead and repot it, with good free-draining potting soil, into the same size pot (perhaps pop it right back into the EA basket).
Ann
MsKitty............i have a question about hoyas..............i have been told by two different nurseries that grow them to pot them up in a soil=less mix.........not a potting mix..........and then to add bark for drainage.........there is a lot of difference in a Miracle Grow potting mix and a soil-less mix...............like Sunshine, Metro, Pro mix, etc.........
gessiegail, I think sometimes nurseries get caught up in the latest fad, trend, and/or new product, and forget that plants need organic matter to grow and be healthy - mostly because they want to sell us all that stuff so they can make money.
The only thing I have found that Hoyas prefer is a more loose-draining soil. That said, I have some hoyas that I have been growing for years in their original heavy, packed in dirt (my H. curtisii and H. multiflora/javonica, for example, remain in their original EA soil and do quite well). On the other hand, I have typically repotted most plants with a loose-draining soil that is made up (generally) of 1/3 potting soil (any kind), 1/3 perlite, and 1/3 orchid bark.
Ann Wayman, who grows thousands of hoyas very successfully, grows hers in plain old Miracle Grow potting mix with, I believe, a little bit of perlite thrown in; while Carol Noel (who also grows thousands of hoyas very successfully) grows hers in an even faster draining soil than I do, because she waters almost ever day and it rains frequently where she lives.
So ... to answer your question I throw a couple your way: 1. How often do you water? If you are a heavy waterer, then I would suggest the most free-flowing mix (like Carol's), if you prefer to water infrequently, I'd use mostly potting soil, or if you are somewhere in between, I'd use a mix like mine. 2. How frequently do you feed your plants? Soil-less potting mixes require more diligence when it comes to plant nutrition, where regular potting mixes allow us to be less thoughtful about fertilizing.
I think how you answer those questions will dictate what kind of mix you should use. But, personally, I'd prefer to grow my plants in good, old-fashioned dirt.
I hope this helps (and I hope others come and tell you about their experiences!!!).
:-)
Ann
Teresa, I have never successful grown a re-potted exotic angel plant. That said, there are many others who can successful remove every speck of E.A.. soil from their plants, re-pot them and have them grow like gang busters.
Your nummularoides is beautiful. I bought one of those this summer, but it is not nearly as huge as yours. I just pull the bottom off the E.A. pot, place it in a larger saucer, and water only from the bottom.
Ann made many good points in her response to your questions, and I think that you should do as she suggests, and weigh all of the factors, and go with what you think will be the best fit.
Good luck, please let us know what you end up doing, as I am about to get a huge E.A. plant myself, and REALLY want it to grow successfully. I am a bit more nervous about this linearis than any of the other E.A.s I have purchased, as I am aware of the blood, sweat and cussing that went into getting it - ha! I have talked to Jen about how she grows hers though as it is an E.A. linearis, and is absolutely beautiful.
S
I just knew I was right...........using 1/3 potting mix, 1/3 perlite and 1/3 bark...........darn it.........I spent all day Friday getting rid of the original soil................now I will have to be faithful about fertilizing and watering.................because those soil-less mixes dry out so quickly.............................I need to learn how to think for myself.............i worked in greenhouses and know better than what i did.................better hit a good fertilizing and watering program............
Thanks so much..............
Teresa I have a curtsii that is an EA plant, and when I first received it I repotted it.
I let it sit on newspaper and kept changing it as it got wet. After most of the water was gone, I then carefully removed as much soil as possible and repotted it into my potting soil mix. It's still growing and doing well! HTH!
Blessings,
Awanda
Teresa, I think the best thing you could do for that plant is just to send it on over to me. :)
Are you mostly concerned about losing your blooms? If so, just to let you know I have transplanted hoya's that have been in bud and have not lost the blooms. I make sure I keep them out of the sun and provide lots of humidity after replanting. I would think the worse thing that could happen is that you may not get as many peduncles as you did last year, but you will def. get some. If your that concerned you could wait until after it's blooming period and repot it. Or again, just send it on over :)
TamiF, You are right, I am concerned about loosing blooms. It seems to have done good for me all these years but I just don't like the hard rocky feeling when I touch it. Then if feels like it needs water but if I poke down further it is wet. ha ha! Thanks for the offer. I can send her to you for the summer and you can add your magical touch and make her grow and grow, just as long as she comes home BEFORE bloomin time. ;o)
Sara, I myself have re-potted EA's with not much luck at all either. This weekend I re-potted about 4 or 5 EA's, so we shall see how they do. I should have done one at a time for safety reasons. They've just been existing for years. They haven't put any new growth at all. So I am hoping they will do something....anything... good of course.
By the way linearis didn't work for me either. I tried it several times. It grew longer and longer and really long and then one day I noticed the stems were hollow and it died a slow death. I tried to take every cutting I could with no success. My many Bella's were the same, grew and grew and bloomed and poof@%$# she was gone. For now, I scratched them off my list.
Thank you Ann and Everybody for your helpful advice. I am more of a heavy waterer so I think I better go ahead and re-pot. Just maybe, I will get twice as many blooms! :o) (fingers and toes crossed)
Just wanted to say hello to you. I live just on the edge of Alamogordo and rarely see a fellow New Mexican on the forums! Do you garden or is you interest mainly in hoyas? I have been a gardener all my like. Just recently started growing hoyas. They are the reason I joined DG. A friend in Alamogordo gave me a cutting so I looked for info. Some sweet person sent me 3 more cuttings and now I have a small collection! : )
Like Sara, I have had much better luck when I leave EA plants alone and don't repot. However, if you're uncomfortable with the soil then I'd change it. I like when my hoyas are growing in my own mix because I feel more comfortable with knowing when to water. But I started leaving my EA hoyas alone because it was too much work to repot, and I found that I only lost ones that I repotted. But it's still a pretty tough call with EA plants. Good luck :)
Gabi
cactuspatch.....................every summer (I am an old grandmother now) 5 of us who were friends spent the summers with our kids in Cloudcroft...............everyone loved going to the valley in La Luz cherry picking................pretty part of the world..........
Hi Cactuspatch!
It is nice to see another NM here especially that close. I found another gal off ebay who lives here also. She grows Epis. There is also gessiegail who used to live around here.
I love to garden although hoyas are my favorite. What do you like to grow?
I have been growing hoyas since 2001 or so. Before you know it you will be hooked!! Especially if you hang out around here and see all the pictures, you will want one of every kind and color. Your want list will grow just like the rest of us.
What kind of hoyas are in your collection so far?
:o)
Gabi, I went to re-pot my plant and my DH made me leave it alone until after it blooms. He says "if it ain't broken don't fix it". He actually enjoys me having a GH. I find him wandering out there almost as much as me, okay, not that much. He likes to see the blooms too especially if they smell good. He is a good man who supports my addiction! ;o) So I guess I have to wait to re-pot.
Teresa
Hi gessie, the cherries are great when they don't freeze like this year! winterhaven I will look at the tags and dmail you later. I do find this place addictive. When I need to take a break I sit down and there is always something interesting here!
Now here is a good laugh. ALL of my larger hoyas are EA's and they are ALL in their original soil *lol*. I have bought 2 EA's and re-potted them in the "good stuff" only for them to up and die and off I went back to the store with my receipt for refund. I figure, if it isn't broke...don't fix it I guess *lol* As far as the soil getting rock hard....here's the good laugh part....when it gets real hard like that I take a butter knife and "cut" the soil all over the place until is loosens up and then I take a fork and break up any chunks. I add a teaspoon of osmocote and water well. This "aerates" them I guess as they are the only hoyas that seem to grow like gangbusters for me are the EA's for some reason. Here is my Curtisii, I would be SO afraid to re-pot her and have her die on me :(
Here is Compacta with an "up-do" as she was just hanging waaay too low since being outside this summer but this is HER window so we had to come up with an idea about how we were going to get through the winter. She decided to just put her hair up *lol*
Hey Teresa...so neat to see you back here!!!!
Everytime I repot EA hoyas I struggle with them...or lose them. We have too much ambient humidity...you shouldn't have that problem, eh? LOL. Also...be careful with plants that are SO full over the whole pot as they don't dry out as quickly....
SandyC waters her EA hoyas from the bottom and they grow beautifully!!!!
Aloha,
Carol
