I'd like to know others experiences with the slowest growing Hoya in their collection. I've got a candidate that is so slow growing as to be invisible to the naked eye after five months of perfect growing conditions. It is so slow growing that after all that time, it is smaller than when I got it in May. I've had Barrel Cactus that grew much faster. My pick for slowest grower or non-grower is Hoya tjadasmalanguensis (don't ask me to pronounce it!). I bought it from Carol in May, and it has done nothing. It is alive and looks relatively robust, but it does not seem to want to grow. Anyone else have this particular species; if you do, what conditions does it like?
Doug
Candidates For Slowest Growing Hoya
lol....I have a nice cutting of that one that I got a while back....same here...nothing, though it looks nice and healthy.
H. deykei is another one (received this rooted from the lovely Ann W.) that hasn't grown a speck...even though it, too, looks nice and healthy.
There is one more, though i can't think of it's name at the moment (and it's at home) .....it, too, is one of those 'large leaved' hoyas......maybe the bigger the leaf...the longer it takes the plant to produce it? Makes sense, in a way.
H. hypolasia and H. thompsonii are both panfully slow growers.
Ric
I would have to say my Lambii and hypolasia. I think they sleep the majority of the time:-). On the other hand my tjadasmalanguensis all green, grows like it's insane!
Blessings,
Awanda
Awanda,
It is comforting to know that someone can grow that thing!
Nan, I'm glad I'm not alone with not being able to make this one budge. I like your theory on large leaf Hoyas, but it does not really hold true for me. Many of my big leaf cuttings have sent out large runners in a very short while. I'm wondering if it matters if the cutting came from really old growth; it will root, but for some reason just sits there after that, or Maybe H. tjadmalanguensis just likes Arizona weather.
Ric, I guess there is something to be said for slow growers as well; they don't have to be repotted very often, and you never worry about them outgrowing their home.
Doug
My H. tjadmalanguensis likes hot, humid NC. It has bloomed about 4 times and put out a long viney runner. I don't have any new leaves but it is chugging along. The slowest growing one for me is pachylada. It has bloomed 4 times this summer and is very fragrant. No new leaves but with blooms like that I don't care how it grows! LOL My very worst hoya was a kerri. I got a cutting on hard wood. It must have sat close to 2 years before it decided to die. It is funny because that was the hoya that got me started collecting them.
Karen
Karen that must be the secret - lots of heat and humidity; they're in pretty short supply here in VT. I usually look to buy Hoyas that are in the cool to intermediate temperature range according to David Liddle. I think I made a mistake with H. tjadmalanguensis. It is very hard to gauge how much to water something that does not grow. Hopefully it will make it through the winter in my house; the best I can give it is 8 hours at 68 degrees and 16 hours at 62 degrees. That is what my programable thermostat is set for, and that is two degrees higher than I've ever had it set at in previous years.
Doug
Maybe that's why my tjadmalanguensis puts out a lot of growth, my greenhouse is hot and humid.
Blessings,
Awanda
I have to agree with Ric on this one. H. hypolasia and H. thomsonii have to be the worlds slowest growing hoyas!!! I've had 6-1 node cuttings of thomsonii in a 4" pot for well over 1 year now and they look right now just as the did when I first put them in there.
I think before I ever see thomsonii fill up a basket, i'll be an old,old man!!!
As for H. lambii well you all have seen what I can do with that one!!!! It's one of the fastest growing hoyas that I have!!
dmichael
I would have to say my H. latifolia (IML 88) the one with dinner plate size leaves. It has sat there with 3 leaves for like 3-4 years. The leaves just seem to get a little bigger. I probably should have moved it out to the greenhouse. Does anybody know what type of environment this plant likes?
Teresa
I would have to say Picta. I have had the thing for YEARS and I think it has put on 3 new leaves *lol*. I just don't know about this one *lol*
I find it interesting how some hoyas in different parts of the country will grow slow for some people while in other parts of the country some of us find them to be very fast growers.
Teresa says that her H. latifolia IML 88 is slow for her but mine grows so quickly that I am able to take feet of it in cuttings to share with people every year. I got that particular hoya when I went in on my first David Liddle consignment about 3 years ago. It is now over 6ft long.
Other than the two I mentioned (hypolasia & thomsonii) I find all of my hoyas to be rather fast growers. It could be because we have almost ideal conditions for hoyas here. I live a mile from the Atlantic, it is HOT (high 80's -high 90's) here from April til October with anywhere form 75-95% humidity daily.
Yesterday morning at 5:30am it was 74F with 94% humidity..Anyone want to move to S.C.!!!!!!!!
dmichael
How interesting, my Thomsonii grows like gang busters. Everyone has their pia hoya:-).
Blessings,
Awanda
Australis ssp. rupicola is slow as molasses. Also, H. merillii, which grows well for other people, for me has produced exactly 2 new leaves in three years.
Thanks! I think I will move ole H. latifolia IML 88 out to the greenhouse and give that a try, hopefully that is the key.
~T
"Pot of Gold" from Asiatica! I must have been on serious drugs when I bought it!!! In one year it has put on 2 leaves and the start of a vine (5"). It's cousin grows like a weed but this one.....?
H. tjad. will suddenly start to grow...it seems to take a long time...but it will spring into action. I have a tray of them in the retarded state!
I really feel that each one has its' moment...and 'katie bar the door' when it comes!!!
Carol
Carol,
I have found myself a bit obsessed with that "pot of gold" macrophylla from Asiatica myself. Do you regret buying it, or just regret that it is soooo slow? Seriously, I have so many other things that are true needs, that I just can't bring myself to pay the crazy high price that Asiatica is asking for it. It really IS beautiful though isn't it?
S
I feel so extra - FOOLISH, IMPULSIVE, DUMB, VULNERABLE, AND ^%$***&^% NUTS to have bought that plant, Sara!!! Since I seldom get the buyers' remorse (because I seldom buy!!!), I have been chagrined to feel this way. HOWEVER....
1. there is no rhyme nor reason for them to charge so much for shipping. It does not compute!!! Trust me...I know. I have been accused of charging too much for FedEx but then, the accusors never thought past their nose!!! Their shipping is outrageous...unrealistic and I don't care how far their greenhouse is from their shipping bay.....
2. Their plants (received two dischidias in this category) are often mislabeled and they charge more for them when they are wrong.
3. IF they offered the Holy Grail I would not think of it!!!
I could go on and on about this company, this plant (which is lovely but...what theheck...for that money it should be a knockout...it isn't. I would not charge more than 15$ for that small of a plant if I sold it (and the top node was shaved in half in order to get a rooting node for the next plant).
I suspect their plants are grown in Thailand and shipped potted. They probably buy them in lots of 100-300 for about 10$ each. What a mark up!!!
Sara..you are smarter than I am!!!! Don't regret a moment!!!!!
For some reason my heuschkeliana just does not grow, it sits and sulks, and occasionally loses leaves. With the sparse growth I have had, I probably have the same amount of leaves I had to begin with. Sigh!
My imperialis and pentaphlebia/merrillii/? are also incredibly slow but the addition of beer fertilizer has managed to kick them into action so I have a couple more leaves.
On the other hand, my kerrii is off and has sprouted a whole new branch - I suspect because I kept knocking off the top of its main branch and I'm now trying to figure out how to pot it up - should I try and hang it, or put it into a bigger pot with a trellis? Hmmmm...
Awwww Carol, I haven't bought it yet, but I really, really, like the centrally variegated leaf on that macrophylla.
Honestly, I haven't ever had anything shipped from Asiatica to me. I have twice gotten plants from them, through friends. One attended a show/sale recently this fall, and another ordered, and said that the actual shipping was much lower than the charges.
I have never thought that your shipping was high. I think that Fedex has a base rate, and then increases from there. I am sorry that you regret your macrophylla purchase. I have found that I regret some hoya purchases, but usually only after they die on me!! HA!
Then again, I have never spent the amount of money they are asking on just one plant - that is usually an entire order for me.
S
I must
Some of the asiatica plants ARE small ( sara got two little ones - and they were the more expensive ones, weren't they?) but I did get two very large plants when I hand picked them. Rather than order, I live close enough to go to the place and probably will go in April for one of their open houses....though I got a nice birthday check from Daddy....I am being a good girl - no more hoyas till the spring!
But there is no way I would pay that much (pot o gold) for a hoya, especially when a friend sends you cuttings 5 times the size of those little plants, then you realize how ridiculous those prices can be....AND eventually the price of that hoya will go down anyway. For now I am happy w/ my asiatica plants, I don't see any growth yet on 2 of them, and one is mislabeled, but I would buy again if I have the oppurtunity to do so in person.
Well, they all seem to have their moments as Carol said. I find
H. kanyakumariana very slow (it almost seems like an artificial plant sometimes. Ha. I had a H. deykii sit for 2 years with only 2 leaves before it took off. Now I can't seem to slow it down. The variegated kerriis seem to be the same way. If one can be patient enough to get through the slow period ...and they live....then they seem to go wild.
Marcy
I got some cuttings that included kanyakumariana mid summer, and though all of the others have been growing like crazy, the kanya just exists...tho I have noticed some new little bud like growths that could be the beginnings of something.
Well...I think the devil made me do it!!!!
Interesting post. My slowest growing hoyas are H. motoskei (even though it blooms, so no complaints here), and believe it or not...H. fungii.
On the other hand, I would say my fastest growing hoya is H. javanica....I could SWEAR there are 2 new leaves (and a new peduncle) almost daily!
Gabi
I've had it for a while now, and it just sits there and does NADA. I've heard that it's a really fast grower, so I'm at a loss. Maybe it'll catch up one day!
Gabi
I'm too new to hoyas to have a slowest grower but on the topic of h fungi. I bought this small plant of fungi less than three weeks ago and the stem you see here with two sets of leaves on it?? It was barely a nub at the base of the leaves! I'm in awe when I look at it each day!
~Brenda
I am new to hoyas too. My multiflora has bloomed twice since I got the cutting this spring. But it hasn't added one leaf? The curtisii has grown like a weed, tons of leaves and long stems but blooms. I potted them both the same and added Osmocote to the soil.
I started this thread several month ago because of my disgust with Hoya tjadasmalanguensis refusing to grow even a millimeter in five months. That has all changed. In the past three weeks, the thing has grown 2 feet with no exaggeration. Now my slowest growing Hoya has turned into my fastest growing Hoya!
Doug
did a greenhouse make the difference?
No nothing that I can put my finger on made a difference except that it got older, wiser and decided not to hate me any more for moving it from warm wonderful Hawaii to cold rotten VT.
Doug
LOL
Glad you're having luck with a hoya that did nothing for a while, Doug.
Same with me - you'll see that I said H. fungii was doing nothing (a few posts back), and probably a week after I posted that it started growing like crazy!!
Maybe I should complain about more hoyas on here - they seem to do what I want them to do when I complain! It's happened more than once on here!
Gabi
Gabi, LOL. Your right; if complaining is what it takes, I've got a laundry list of Hoyas that I'm sick of taking cuttings from just before they croak only to have to start them over again before they kick off. I'll have to compile that list over the weekend and post it to see if it helps.
Doug
Haha! We'll have to make a "Hoya Complaints" thread! Then we can each keep notes on which of the hoya culprits that were listed on the thread have geared into action and which haven't.
I'll do a little test run:
Have I happened to mention that my HOYA ARCHBOLDIANA has done nothing but sit there and look pretty since I got it last year?
Ok, time to wait and see what happens.
Gabi
Put H. thomsonii on the list for me. Been growing it now for probably 3 years and it's made a total of 2 new leaves !!!! Of all the hoyas that I grow this is by far the slowest!
dmichael
David, two leaves in three years, in a greenhouse would be pretty hard to beat for slowness. Gabi, your H. archboldiana is still way ahead of mine; may it rest in peace.
Doug
Doug would you believe that I began with cuttings from 3 different people in the same pot and not one has grown yet?? IT IS the only hoya that I have that grows ( or I should say doesn't grow) like this!!
I actually have luck with H. thomsonii - I got it in the same order as H. archboldiana (the last DL order), and it is in one of those little solo cups. It has grown a nice amount (nothing crazy, maybe 5 leaves and a new vine).
I seem to have luck with the "slow growers", but the typical "fast growers" are slow for me!
Gabi