Getting Closer!!
Possible Hoya macgillivrayi Problem - Any Ideas?
Perspective Photo.
One More. Next time I post it should have opened up.
This photo was taken two hours ago. There is two things I can't believe about this. One is that it still has not opened, and two is that the size of each bud blows me away. They are all well over an inch in diameter now. I'm a little bit afraid that the peduncle will not hold the weight and break off if they get much bigger.
Doug
Wow Doug - that's a huge change in size!
I wouldn't worry at all. I saw a mac that was budding up in person, and the buds were either as big or even bigger than the ones in your picture. These guys get REALLY big. So the only reason they aren't opening is because they are still growing, believe it or not!
Gabi
Doug,
I just found the thread on Epiforums where Eddie posted a bunch of pics from our trip to Meadowbrook farms (GREAT hoyas and other plants there) in July last year, where I saw macgillivrayii buds. Aside from the main pics on his first post, he put some pics on the bottom of his post. The middle picture is of a set of macgillivrayii buds - that's Eddie's hand holding them. So if you click on that picture to enlarge it, you'll see that your buds have MUCH more to go! I hope that makes you feel more at ease, because I know you put a lot of effort into getting these to bloom.
Gabi
Oops. forgot the link to the thread!
http://www.epiforums.com/showthread.php?t=1881
If you have trouble finding it, just look for a thread by Eddie in the general hoya lounge called "2007 Unofficial Northeast Hoya-con"
Gabi
Thanks Gabbi, very much.
I found the picture, and you are right mine could still grow yet some more. I had never seen the bud either in photo or real life before. It looks like you guys had a lot of fun on that trip!
Doug
It was a blast. Since you're in the Northeast you'll have to come on the next trip!
I would enjoy meeting another Hoya fanatic in person. I've nevery actually met one for real yet.
Doug
Then we should definitely have a 2008 northeast hoya-con! It's great when you meet people who are as fanatical as you are :) I'll discuss with Eddie and we can arrange something in Spring or Summer.
Ooh - do we actually have a traveler?! Christine, you'd really come from Canada? Actually, certain parts of canada aren't too far from here. It took me 6 hours to get from here to Canada - I forget where, but it was close to the border. But the nursery is about 3 hours (if I recall correctly - or maybe 2 hours) south from where I am.
How is Canada with customs when you are driving back in? Do they let you bring plants back? That would just be too funny - "uh, officer, I just came back from a 12 hour drive to buy some hoyas" - they might take YOU into custody..LOL!
Oh - Doug, how are those ginormous buds doing? Are they taking over your house yet?
Gabi, I will know how big those "ginormous" buds are tonight hopefully. I was unable to make it home last night to see them, because of the 15 inch snow storm we had. I have a kind of a strange situation. My wife and I have an apartment here in the city (if you can call it a city - 40,000 VT's biggest city) in a college dormitory where she oversees the student's residential needs. Our house is an hour outside of where the dorm apartment and our jobs are located. So if the weather is bad, or I am exhausted from work, I won't always make the trip and will stay here in the city.
I would love to meet some other hoya people. It will be slightly challenging to me, as I'm practically agoraphobic - I never go anywhere, and have not left the state in at least five years. I am totally unused to driving in traffic of any kind, and driving in the city where you live would give me a panic attack, but having said all that I would try very hard to make the effort to meet up with everyone, because it really sounds like fun - I read the complete transcript of your 2007 NE Hoya Convention.
Doug
I love travelling, and have travelled a lot in upper New York state as far east as Lake Placid. I live just a bit east of Toronto on Lake Ontario, and the nearest crossing to the east is about 160 miles away at Gananoque. My mother, however, lives between Gananoque and Cornwall (the next border crossing east) so I could start out from her place (after a duty visit...lol).
Bringing plants back ... I've never tried, but when one declares everything one buys, one rarely gets searched ... she says naively... who's gonna worry about a few leaves anyway....lol...
And Doug, you beat us, we only got 14.5 inches of snow last night and this morning. The joys of living in and near a big city (I actually work in Toronto) is that the snow removal budget is huge enough to keep people in motion.
Christine
Doug,
Looking forward to hearing about the bud situation. Can you imagine if you came home to open flowers?? I think it's great that you would consider making the effort to come, but do whatever makes you comfortable. You have a while anyway :) Either way, I don't live IN manhattan - I live right outside it. So you don't actually drive through the city. I used to get anxiety driving those city streets - now I just get angry and aggressive.
Christine,
I'd check on that plant situation. I think it's a concern of bringing back pests - but I'm not 100% on that. Maybe you can mail the stuff back to your house though. Everytime I've gone through customs to or from Canada, they wouldn't even let me bring a piece of fruit in! I've also had my car searched before. So yes, you should declare everything, but if you declare plants you will probably have them taken away - and that's a long and EXPENSIVE trip to make to end up with nothing in the end! It's been a few years since I've been to Canada, so maybe they've become less strict? When you are bringing or mailing plants from country to country, isn't it that you either need one of those phyto certificates or you just can't bring them into the country? I'm curious on that if anyone knows.
Well, I just came in one more time from cleaning out the snow where I work. We got an additional 2 inches on top of the 15 we already got from this storm. Christine, I used to go to Montreal and buy aquarium fish and smuggle them back all the time. I guess if it was up to me, I would just have the plants, and not say anything about them. It is all up to the individual on how much risk one is willing to take. I would be willing to donate plants towards an auction to help pay your bail if necessary:)
Doug
Gosh, that's lots of snow Doug. I need to come up there and snowboard!!
In addition to the auction, I'll get my significant other (who works in bail bonds) to cut us a deal on the bail :)
Gabi
Well, I've been home, and the buds have not opened yet, only gotten bigger. I rigged up a support to help hold up the peduncle up just in case it decided to break off. It sort of looks like a cluster of red Japanese Lanterns hanging in mid-air. Maybe by the end of the weekend they will have opened.
Yes, Gabi the skiers and snowboarders are very happy! They did a segment on the local news, and to quote one of them they said with a big smile "we are just choking on powder." What ever that means. I'm glad you have an in with bail bonds; it could come in very handy:)
Doug
These blossoms are almost there. If you look closely, you will see that they are beginning to pop open.
Doug
Here is the entire plant again. It should be in or about to flower for a quite some period of time as there are other peduncles on it with as many as 12 buds on them. I sincerely hope the big one is open by Wednesday evening - the next time I will see the plant.
Doug
Alright!! Almost there - they really look like they willn pop open any second. I just love the way you have the peduncle propped up! Good thinking.
Can't wait to see your blooms, and it does seem like you will be having non-stop blooming due to the different stages of all the umbels.
Good growing Doug :)
Gabi
Thanks again Gabi for the compliments. I'm just glad that this plant that I was so worried about in the fall, not only survived, but thrived and will soon bloom. It makes all the work worthwhile.
Doug
Be sure to post pictures, Doug, when it blooms - I'm excited for you!
Karen
Hey! It's been 2 days since the last pic! Did it open!?! :)
I will know tonight! The weather here has been so hideous that I have not been able to get home to my house for two days. If it has opened I will post pictures here tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm very excited to go home.
Doug
Well, It opened, and it is spectacular! I will post a couple pictures here and a couple in the February Blooms thread, because I'm excited, and it may never happen to me again.
Doug
I took a lot of photos, and I have to sort through them to find the best. It must have taken a lot of energy to open these flowers, because the buds blasted on two of the other peduncles. I still have another peduncle with some buds that are much more advanced, and they are ok.
That does not even look real!! What a beauty!!! Does that one require a lot of attention? Isn't that a warm one? What a treat to have that bloom for you! Good growing Doug!
dawn
Thanks Dawn! It is kept in a bathroom, which is the warmest room in the house. It seldom dips below 70 degrees even at night. This is not because I keep the house that warm; it is because there is a heat register in a very small room, and when the rest of the house calls for heat at 62 degrees it over heats the bathroom.
Doug
That looks unreal! Congrats Doug!!
Gabi
Thanks Gabi!
Well it had to come to an end sometime. The blooms are gone now. I got exactly two weeks out of each cluster of flowers so the big mac was in bloom for a total of one month. Now if I can get that to happen every year, I'll be a happy man.
Doug