fertilizer and leaves

About a year ago I began using a home made beer formula fertilizer on my hoyas and had amazing results with it. Three to four months into its use I heard of another fertilizer that everyone was oohing and aahing over so I thought i'd try it as well. Turned out I didnt have near the results with using the new one as what I was having using the beer formula.

While using the beer formula my gh grown hoyas actively grew all winter long and put on so much new growth that I actually had to braid some of the vines to keep them in check!!! Not only did it make them grow like crazy but it alsom ade the leaves grow larger than they normally would.

I stopped using any fertilizer on my hoyas for about 2 months but have gone back to using the beer formula now. I've been using it for almost a month and a half now and look at the difference in the size of the leaves on this hoya macrophylla variegata.

I noticed that all of my hoyas produced leaves like this while fertilizing them with the home brew. The leaf on the right is an old leaf produced prior to my restarting to use the beer fert. The leaf on the left is a brand new one and all of the new ones that have been produced are this size.

dmichael

this is H. pentaphlebia. Old leaf on the left ,new leaf on the right after using the beer fert.

this is H. arnottiana. the new leaves are almost twice as large if not larger than the old ones.

Sara,just because I know you want to see it i'm not even gonna post a pic of my new H. lambii leaves!!!! You think the old ones were awesome,you should see the new ones!!!

Have you noticed any improvement in blooming?

I recently moved all of my hoyas into a new larger gh with more open air and space and since then I have noticed more buds and blooms.

Do you think it's fertilizer related or due to the new conditions?

While using the beer fert and having the hoyas in the old gh they produced many peduncles but no flowers. So I think it is a combination of both. My H. fungii that i've had for 3 years has always been loaded with pedunlces but not once has it bloomed. It now has over a dozen clusters of open flowers.

Are you going to share the beer formula? Can I use Corona Beer and do the Hoya's want a lime with their too? ; )

I was just checking in to ask how to encourage blooms on a hoya that is not blooming.

Thank you....I'm trying to figure out why mine skipped blooming this year.......wondering if maybe the beer fert. will make a difference..........one more thing, do you notice a "beery" smell around? Hubby is now a non-drinker, the smell of beer would be too tempting......

David, you really are a pigtail puller aren't you? HaHa...Maybe I didn't want to see your stinky ol' lambii hoya anyway!! :)

I am pretty convinced that the beer fertilizer is the only way to go. I use it every week, very faithfully, and won't go back. I use Eleanor's vf-11 for rooting, but haven't had any problems with either. I have noticed since using the beer formula over a year and a half ago that the color of my hoyas is a much deeper, darker green.

Those macrophylla leaves are pretty awesome David.

Cheers,

( what bbeer do you give your hoyas? I know that YOU prefer some such beer like ice house isn't it?)

S



This message was edited Oct 1, 2007 10:32 PM

It does not leave an odor!!!!!

There are at least 2 different formulas going around for this fertilizer and a few feathers have been ruffled as to which is the original and which works best!!! This is the one that I use with great results.

12 oz-- beer--I use ice house
1/2 C-- ammonia--non lemon
1C--epsom salts
2C--water
1/2 C--molasses
4 TBS--bloom booster fertilizer--store bought
250-500 mg--vitamin B-12--I use 500mg

Mix ingredients well and apply at the rate of 1TBS per G of water every 2 weeks.


It does not require refrigeration. In fact I keep mine sitting on a shelf in the gh but out of direct sunlight.



I crush the B-12 between a sheet of wax paper to make a powder so it dissolves quicker. I also use 2TBS per G of water as opposed to the called for 1TBS.

Please try it at the recommended application rate first to see if it works for you. I don't try to push my growing methods on anyone and always let people know that what works for me may not work for you,in some cases it may work better!!!


dmichael

It does really green them up also like Sara says.

Any Jim Brickman fans on here?? I keep one of his cd's playing for my hoyas as well!!!!

Thanks for the recipe! I put Osmocote on my hoyas when they were planted. I wonder using this in addition would be too much fertilizer? I am a newbie to hoyas, so any thoughts are appreciated!

dmichael, I have had the same results as you and I think we have both posted about it in the past. I too started using the other fert like you did and I also have gone back to the home brew. I use Bud because that's what the DH drinks. Glad someone else is having the same results! Would love to see a photo of the H. lambii leaves.... perhaps dmail? :~)

Have a great night and God bless you and yours. -joanne

CactusPatch...I would not fertilize with anything if you have Osmocote in the mix...wait for a year at least!!!. Osmocote is not very stable and is actually released re: the temperature NOT the water into the pots. I didnot know this and had to repot all of my gh because the excess fertilizer burned the roots.

Carol

Somewhere I have a beer formula fertilizer developed on that same theme...but changed by a chemist to work for hoyas and orchids. When I find it I will post it.

I noticed the same as David, however I use the formula without any bloombooster or B12. I think it would be at least wise to cut those out for the winter months. I have lots of new leaves and bigger leaves too. Seems to perk them up also. I did notice more ROOT growth from them when I was using the MSU fertilizer though. I switched back to the beer brew because I missed seeing all that new viney growth with lots of new leaves I get with it.
Marcy

This is good to know. Just getting set to make up a batch myself. Needed the blackstrap molasses. Then, reading David's recipe I realize I have bloom booster but don't know where it is (just moved, you know?) and no B12. So, Marcy, knowing that you leave those out until spring I can make up a batch and do it that way until I find the other ingredients. Thanks, David, for the inspiring pictures. Can't wait to see the growth.

Stella, I have always used the beer formula the way that Marcy said: no vit B (I really don't like the vitamin smell, even from only one tablet), and no bloom booster. I am a bit curious whether there is a huge difference with those additions, but felt that adding the comercial bloom booster defeated the purpose of making my own fertilizer.

I think that you will be happy, and a bit surprised by the results of the beer mixture. Like Marcy and David, I have noticed much larger, greener and shinier leaves.

Sara

Marcy,thanks. I forgot to mention about the root growth. I probably shouldn't do what i'm about to tell that I do but I haven't had a problem doing it thus far. Once my new cuttings have rooted in nicely I also start watering them with this fert.

Cuttings such as H.aff. latifolia 1590 that I jsus received about a month ago have roots popping out of the tops of 4" pots. My H. darwinii has roots like this also amongst others and before I began using this stuff I never noticed that with any of the cuttings that I rooted.

This is the only fertilizer that I will ever use on my hoyas. I have such great results from it that there is no reason for me to use anything else.

dmichael

I have also seen great results with the beer fertilizer. I try not to use it too much though as I find otherwise I get etoliation of my hoyas, which is not very pretty. I use Superthrive instead of Vitamin B12 - I've been watering some of my plants with just Superthrive recently, and that really gives them a boost!

Carol, at some point I had copied your friends revised beer formula into my plant notebook-

1/4 c epsom salts
1 c amonia
1 c molasses (black strap good)
2 c water
1/2 Isop. alcohol
4 T 20-20-20 bloom fertilizer (store bought ok)
or Sterns Mira-Acid 30-10-10

mix add 1 T per gallon water w/ every 2 weeks

and here are my notes under the recipe that I must have taken from your post-

Eps in bark/peat nd more nitrogen so xtra amonia good
too much sugar in beer risk microbes
double molass., molass good!
B-12 prob overrated - won't hurt but waste $$$

PS - isn't Icehouse one of those higher alcohol beers?


This message was edited Oct 2, 2007 7:51 AM

No beer?

yes, no beer - I believe the person who revised the formula (and carol can correct me if I am wrong) said that it was not necessary, too much sugar, and could make the soil way to hospitable for microbes etc. and that the molasses (which is also high in sugar, no?) was a much better substitution, containing lots of good stuff for plants - in fact, so much good stuff that it could even be more than the recipe calls for.

Jen...thanks for posting that...I had gone back to get it. Another reason for NO BEER is the $$. LOL

While thinking about this...some questions came to mind I thought I would share:

Are we growing plants so that they grow well, are healthy and not lack for essential nutrients (which they need because we grow them in artificial medium), or are we 'Barry Bonds-ing' them to get "bigger/better/more" ?

By gettings the all American goal of "bigger/better/more", are we stretching the plants' capacity for growth and production? What if the world runs out of something for the beer forumula and all fertilizers...are our plants on the 'steroids' going to come to a screeching halt in growth and fizzle out? Or start showing deficiencies because they have become dependent on something in molassas that is not necessary but tastes good? Are we creating another form of an eating disorder for plants?

We all know that bigger is not necessarily better LOL - I think I may make both formulas and try them against the MSU fertilizer for a year or at least 6 months...and see what happens when I STOP using them.

PLEASE, UNDERSTAND that there is no judgement nor opinion in my questions...simply some thoughts meandering thru my lizard brain...

Carol

Carol you have a point ....maybe my reasons ( besides the belief that maybe size DOES matter - hee hee) is that I feel guilt for not being able to provide the best conditions for my plants. If they aren't going to get enough light and humidity, well then, they sure as heck are not going to lack for food! But really, do they need it? If other needs are being met, and you have the right soil and either repot or topdress as needed, then they should be getting most of the nutrients they need from right there in the soil.

However, I use less soil now and mostly bark and perlite in my grow mix, so is there enough nutrients in there for them? Maybe not, making the fertilizer more necessary in my situation.

I wonder if it is connected to the "Oh, eat something, you will feel better....". Our artificial mediums (bark, perlite etc.) do not carry nutrients (at least mine don't) so some fertilizer is necessary. I know folks who use NONE.... and they have good plant growth and bloom. But they are growing out doors... Indoors would require a fertilizer...but ...how much of a good thing is a better thing???

David, that is a big difference in your leaves; sounds like the beer fertilizer works great for you. So are you not using the people poop fertilizer :-) anymore?
I may try the beer fertilizer next spring. Keep up the good growin!

Blessings,
Awanda

Awanda, the milorganite was something that I just decided one day for whatever reason to start adding to my soil mix. I didnt really see any differences in how the plants grew while using it.

The reason I stopped using it is because i received a very nice box of lengthy,healthy cuttings from a friend which ended up being an almost 100% loss because I added too much milorganite to the soil and it really did a number on them.

I root all of my cuttings in soil and have never had a problem until I mixed that last batch and added more too much of that stuff to it. It is supposed to be non burning but it almost killed all of those unrooted cuttings.

No more experiments!!! I know what works for me so that's what i'll continue doing and i'm not going to let anyone else talk me into trying something new again. Mama always said "if it ain't broke don't fix it"!!!!

My hoya mix is soiless so I do need to fertilize and I alternate one of the ingredients in the beer formula depending on what season it is. During the spring and summer I add bloom booster to the mix. During the fall and winter months I add a growth stimulant to the mix. Both are dyna-gro products and are supposed to have all of the trace elements and the micro and macro nutrients that the plants need!!!

dmichael

David, forgive me if you have answered this a million times - but what do you use in your grow mix? (and you may have even told me but you know how that goes, I can't even get it straight what state you live in half the time)

Jen just think of Myrtle Beach when you need to remember where i'm located!!!!!

MY hoya potting mix consists of the following:::::

40 dry quarts potting mix-- I buy a nursery brand from a very high end nursery located close to my job that caters to the local millionaires!!!!! no kidding!!! The soil is about all I can afford there!

to that I add:::

16 qrts orchid mix--Better -gro special orchid blend from home depot.
16qrts--perlite

Just found this thread and read through it. Told Hubby I was going to try the Beer Fertilizer on my few Hoya's and some other plants. He is laughing. We don't drink so he thinks it's hilarious that I'm gonna buy beer for the plants! He said I should make sure they are all over the age of 21 so I'm not contributing to the delinquency of minor plants!


:) Just had to share

I didn't want to start a new thread since this kind of goes under the "fertilizer and leaf size" category.

Check out this monstrous kerrii leaf! I really don't know if I can attribute the leaf size to the fertilizer I use (Eleanor's VF-11) - all I know is that this is the first leaf that grew since the plant was given to me, and I have been using Eleanor's with every watering (and as a foliar spray).

WOW Gabi, that is an awesome leave. Like you said, if it’s the fertilizer or not I wouldn’t care, as long as your plant keeps growing that way.
Congratulations,
Lourdes =)

gabi
Wow! WHatever you're doing - it seems very happy!
DIane

Gabi that's FANTASTIC! Is that the reverse var. kerrii? You've got the touch friend. Way to grow.

-joanne

Thanks guys :)

Yes Joanne, that's the reverse var. kerrii you gave me! I just love it. My regular kerrii's leaves are soft and bendable, and the reverse var. one has rock hard leaves - so cool! I just couldn't get over how big that leaf is - it just kept growing, and growing, and growing! I don't even know if it has stopped growing - should I be scared?! LOL

Gabi, that was a gift to me from another forum member about a year ago. It sat there and did nothing for me no matter what I tried so I passed it on to you. You've had it a few months and you are getting growth like that! Yea for you ;~) -joanne