Hoya carnosa tricolor variation

I have a pot of the above Hoya that has produced a number of markedly different leaves this summer. A number of them are half white and half green. It is also producing stems of pure white leaves. I understand the lack of chlorophyll causes a drain on the plant, but feel that supplemental feeding may counteract that - at least I hope it will. The contrast of the pure white leaves is attractive.
My question is, if cuttings of stems with the half and half leaves are taken and grown, would the resulting growth likely be the same, or are the odds greater that any new growth would be typical of the original plant?
I will post three pictures of the plant.
Thanks,
Barb

Second pic

The last a pic of one of the all-white stems

I don't know about anyone else, but I would experiment and cut off the all white section. I'm curious as to what would grow, or if it would just wither away. It does make a pretty plant, though. So then again, I might not want to change a thing. Decisions, decisions, decisions. :)

wow wouldn't that be something if you could get a totally white hoya? BTW if you do can i have some?

I am just surmising that you can't root an all white plant. I just propagate African Violets and I know that the less green, the harder to root as their is no chlorophyll.

I 'm hoping someone jumps in that knows more than i do????

Oh Barb, that is a Beautiful plant! I love the white leaves! I bought a small 4" potted hoya during the summer that had a lot of white in the leaves like that ... looked very much like your plant but just didn't have quite as many white leaves as yours. I was so hoping the white would stay but it seems to have slowly gotten greener. I was thinking maybe if I gave it more light maybe I would get more white leaves. I remember reading something awhile back where someone was discussing a plant doing exactly what yours is doing with the pure white leaves. I think they said the totally white leaves had something to do with chlorophyll and photosynthesis and something about the branches with the white leaves would eventually wither and die.

I am out of my league here...but an educated guess would be that no green = no chlorophyll = no energy produced by the leaves which are the energy machines. This is the reason they are suggested to be cut off the plant if the plant is faltering...as they USE the energy but do not contribute any. I could be off here...but if your plant starts to falter, cut off the all white.

Now...variagation means that the color is varied....right? It is an unstable factor in the coloration of the leaf. Not all of the leaves will be similar to anything...they will be VARIED = variegated. Sometimes one gets a leaf or a vine that has super patterns...they will VARY = variegation.

Hope this helps.... aloha :>)

I just learned something important from you Aloha..........'use the energy but do not contribute any'
That makes good sense to me.....thanks

Thanks, Carol. I was thinking along those lines - that the variation in leaf color was an unstable anomaly but still hoping it might reproduce if cloned. So far the plant appears to be healthy, but it has a winter inside ahead of it. Should it begin to falter, the white will be sacrificed.
I had a cluster of H. pubicalyx leaves pop up with extremely heavy silver flecks and rooted it. The growth along the new stems followed suit for a season, then all the new growth put out after that time was exactly like that on the original plant. I guess this reinforces why it is so difficult to try to ID a Hoya from the leaves only.
LOL! I don't believe we will ever have an all-white plant for the reason Carol noted, but it would be neat.
Thanks all. It's good to be back.

Barb

Thanks AlohaHoya! You are not out of your league at all with your answer! Thanks for that info! You would make a great teacher ... very easy to understand!

I googled chlorophyll and photosynthesis last night and there's so much info out there it's mind boggling! And, most of that scientific stuff is way over my head! But, I think I got it:

Chlorophyll in green leaves means energy for the plant - Lack of chlorophyll (pale or white leaves) means photosenthesis cannot take place so there is no energy being produced for the plant to thrive.

At least, if I'm getting this biology lesson anywhere near right in my brain, that's close to what happens! http://www.hobart.k12.in.us/jkousen/Biology/phobig.html Now I was never good in biology in high school so I may be misinterpreting the lesson!

Thanks Lin for the link

A few years ago, I actually did try to grow an all-white cutting from a Krimson Queen, and, not surprisingly, failed miserably. The cuttings just, not so slowly, became a rotted, slimy mess. So, if you elect to cut them off, just add them to your compost or garden waste because that's where they'll end up eventually anyway.

Christine

Thanks for the "voice of experience", Christine. Hopefully the plant will remain intact through the winter and then go back outside.

Barb

I just love the white leaves! My KQ has a bunch of white leaves (not as many as yours though), and they have been there for a few years now with no problem. What Carol said makes tons of sense though, and if my KQ ever started to go downhill because of "white-leaf-takeover", I'd chop em off.

On another forum, there was a member who had an all-white stem on his KQ like you have, and he left it on and a peduncle grew on that all-white stem. Gorgeous blooms even developed.

Gabi

Hi Gabi. I like the white leaves, too. They provide such a stark contrast to the green! Your "white-leaf-takeover" comment made me laugh. I'm glad to hear that the all-white stems remained healthy and produced a peduncle. This one hasn't bloomed for me yet, so it will be interesting to see if any flowers produced are consistent with those on a "normal" tricolor.
Lin, thanks for that link. It's been a lo-o-o-o-o-ng time since I studied that in school. :)

Barb

Hi Barb,
I've a similiar Hoya, and I think yours looking much healthier than any Hoya I've ever seen. My "veriegation" of the leaves color composed of all three color. White, green, and pink. I think it's a type of variegation and has nothing to do with lack of chlorophils. Mine is relatively young, but it did produce a few small clusters of flowers this summer. It roots very easily too. (during the summer months). So finding way to make it all white, or change the pretty pattern of a tricolor variegation of a lovely vine seems like a paramount task. I love mine just like it's. And hoping that it'll eventually be a big lovely vine on its own.
Kim

The name of this plant is Hoya carnosa tricolor "Krimson Queen" - when it gets enough light/sun, the white and sometimes even the green in the leaves will become red. I've always loved this plant because of the red in the leaves, but its got to have enough light for the red to occur.

Christine

Christine;

Ditto; thanks for identifying the lovely hoya. I've found that Hoya blooms perfectly fine in filtered shade. Too much sun will cause the leaves to wilt and burn. Thus, your input is most valuable. Thank you.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/57703/

Editted to add pf:




This message was edited Dec 14, 2007 11:11 AM

Yes Lily, it can really be a challenge between giving it so much sun that the leaves burn, and enough light for the red in the leaves to occur and for it to bloom! I've found early morning or late day sun gives a very good balance for nearly all of my hoyas. A major exception is the eriostemmas, which are just plain sunlight hogs! I give them the same conditions as cacti!

Christine

eriostemmas Hoya? Ahh now I'll have to look that one up. :-)

I believe they're a subgroup of hoya. Here are the names of some of them (from the David Liddle catalogue):

afinis Solomon Islands
0390 W ciliata Philippines
0782 W coronaria ‘Sarawak’
0150 W guppyi Solomon Islands pink
1062 W lauterbachi 'Dom Rv
1133 W " 'Dom Rv. PNG
0068 W purpurea PNG
0010 W aff. sussuela 'McIlwraith Ra.Qld
0013 W " 'McIlwraith Ra.Qld
0172 W " 'Lockerby Scrub Qld.
0175 W " 'Bamaga Qld.'

I also believe cv Ruthie is an eriostemma.

Christine

Eriostemmas are terrestial hoyas and have slightly different growing requirements. Some have even tried to make out that they are not hoyas but a different genus...which is a far stretch...they are definitely hoyas!. They grow along the ground until they find something to climb and then go UP with a vengence. At some point they start hanging down to bloom and can get all the way to the ground and start all over again. They really don't live from the advanticious roots they put out...

I used to grow several different Hoyas years ago when I lived in a larger house. My favorite is the variegated one, which I now grow. It grows and blooms in front of an East side window. Some of the leaves are all white, some all green, others are white and green. Sometimes even a bit of pink shows on new growth. None are patterned the same. This is natural with this variety.

White leaves should not be removed. It would serve no purpose. As far as cuttings, I took 3 cuttings of 4" stems last year that had both patterns in the leaves. They are now each growing in a 3" pot. Two of the new plants have both green, and white leaves, plus a few all white leaves. The 3rd plant has mostly white leaves.

These plants are slow to root, and start into growth from cuttings. They ususally bloom the second or third year from a cutting. Cuttings are best taken in the spring since growth is slow during the winter.

Nice Hoya carnosa you got there. I disagree though that this hoya usually blooms the second or third year from a cutting. I have had a full (large) Hoya carnosa 'Krimson Queen' for about 5 years, and no signs of peduncles. I think it's one of those hoyas that can take YEARS to bloom. Some hoyas can bloom even as a cutting (like H. multiflora, H. obscura, H. heuschkeliana, H. davidcummingii), but I've heard that this one can take up to 7-10 years to bloom. Of course there are exceptions, but unfortunately mine is not :(

I would LOVE to see a picture of your Krimson Queen that has mostly white leaves - that must be gorgeous. Does it grow as well as the other two?

Gabi

My late sister gave me one of these about 10 years ago and it still has not bloomed. For years I didn't even know it was a hoya and since I have known I have treated it better. Now where are the peduncles?

Derge,
Are you asking "where" are the peduncles or "what" are the peduncles? Or were you just being sarcastic :)
Peduncles are the little "stems" that grow off the vines (could be at a node or between nodes), and the buds grow from these peduncles. They look like little microphones.

Here's a pic of a peduncle (of H. motoskei), where the buds are about to open. The peduncle is the long stem that attaches to the actual stem, and the individual "stems" that lead to the buds are called pedicels.

And here is a peduncle from my H. lacunosa (with small buds on it). You can see why it looks like a microphone. Blooms will continue to grow from peduncles over and over again, and this is a peduncle that is very old (the more times it blooms, the more "layers" it gets)..

Gabi

Gabi,
Thanks for you response but I do know what the peduncles are. I was being sarcastic. I just thought as long as I was treating it so much better now the least it could do would be reward me with a bloom. Wouldn't you agree? Thanks for your pictures.

Dee

I didn't now that peduncles would bloom over and over again. Your picture of the layers was very interesting. Why do some peduncles turn yellow and fall off after blooming?

This message was edited Jan 24, 2008 1:19 PM

I figured that might've been the case! Well, hopefully the description and pics helped someone out anyway :)

I agree..your hoya should be blooming for you after 10 years of care - go show it a picture of a blooming hoya and give it an ultimatum!

Most hoyas continue to bloom from the same peduncles (except for just a few - H. multiflora is one that drops peduncles after blooming). So that might be why your's is yellowing and then dropping off. But sometimes peduncles will yellow and fall off for other reasons. What type of hoya is it?

Gabi

I enjoyed your photos Gabbi, and I now know that those individual stems are called pedicels. I need to put up a photo near my computer with all the parts clearly labeled so that I can discuss the flower parts compentently without having to go look it up somewhere.

Doug

Gabi,
I believe my hoya whose peduncles turn yellow after blooming and fall off is H. Kentiana. I purchased it at a local greenhouse last fall and it has not yet bloomed for me. Thanks.

Dee

I agree Doug - I constantly find myself confusing "corona" and "corolla", and always need to look it up!

Dee, peduncles of H. kentiana should not fall off after blooming. I'm confused though - you said your kentiana's peduncles turn yellow and fall off after blooming, but then you said it hasn't yet bloomed for you! Then how could they fall off after blooming?!

Gabi

Gabi,
It must have bloomed while at the greenhouse. This greenhouse had been closed for years but someone must have maintained some plants. The soil was very wet/muddy when I purchased it but don't know what difference that would make. Any more ideas why this would happen?

Dee

Dee,

I still don't understand. Were there peduncles on the plant when you purchased it? And then they yellowed and fell off? So basically they only fell off once, right? I thought this was a continuous problem - but I guess what you're saying is the peduncles fell off after you bought the plant.

My guess for why they yellowed and fell off is that the soil was very wet/muddy, like you said. Overwatering and soil that is "muddy" can cause many problems, including yellowing and falling off of both peduncles and leaves. Did this happen to leaves as well? How is the plant doing now? I hope you got it out of that horrible soil and potted the hoya in some new "chunky" soil instead. My kentiana was a very early bloomer for me (when I said 7-10 years in my above post, I meant Krimson Queen can take that long to bloom) - so maybe there are some things you can do to help it bloom (keeping it potbound, using fast-draining soil, watering when dry, keeping in good sunlight).

Just out of curiousity, how did you purchase a plant from a greenhouse that's been closed for years?! Or did you mean it was closed and then re-opened when you bought it? If so, those plants got lucky that someone was caring for them all those years.

Gabi

Gabi,
I guess I don't give very good answers sometimes. Sorry about that. The greenhouse had been closed for several years and re-opened with new owners last fall. I stopped in just to see what they might have and low and behold there was this hoya. It had already bloomed when I took it home and since then the peduncles have turned yellow and fallen off. No leaves have every fallen off. And I have not taken it out of the pot because I follow a policy that I have always followed and that being, once you have taken a plant out of an environment where it has been for a while it is best not to change the medium too quickly. Too many changes causes too much stress. I know others would agrue with me about that but I have found that most successful for me. The rare times I broke that rule, I ended up loosing the plant. When spring comes I will repot into a chunky medium. The plant looks just fine now and I did give it some beer fertilizer. I don't water to the point of making mud.

Dee

Ok, gotcha. Well, if the plant is doing well, I wouldn't worry too much about the peduncle issue. About repotting too quickly - even though these are tough plants and I wouldn't hesitate to repot within *minutes* of buying one, I completely agree with you about sticking to what works for you.

Good luck with getting blooms :)
Gabi

If you have success with that, I would like to get a cutting later on.
I'll trade just about anything I have for some lol.

Hi Jocie.
I answered your d-mal. Sorry for the delay. I ~and my plants~ have been adjusting to the move to Florida and haven't been able to get on the computer much.
Barb