I'm listing all my Hoyas into three categories depending on how well they are doing in my conditions. I would think these conditions would be indicative of most centrally heated homes located in the Northeastern U.S. with the exception that I might keep it a little cooler, because of the cost of fuel oil. These observations might be able to help those wondering what Hoyas will do well for me with winter conditions in the house similar to mine. The temperatures range from a low of 58 degrees at night to a high of about 67 degrees on a sunny day. Relative Humidity ranges from 30% to 44% depending on how cold it is outside. Most of my Hoyas are getting enough light either from windows or under high quality artificial light. I am going to have to assume that I am watering and fertilizing properly for my conditions.
Catagory 1 - Hoyas are thriving, putting on a fair amount of new growth, good color, and may even in rare cases be developing peduncles in the winter.
H. cumingiana
H. fusca
H. hellwigiana IML 1101
H. DS-70
H. cv. Iris Marie
H. carnosa
H. kanyakumeriana
H. sp. Kunming Kina
H. lobbi IML 1161
H. multiflora
H. macgillivrai
H. magnifica IML 0152
H. memoria IML 0107
H. merilli
H. motoskei IML 0149
H. polystachya IML 1043
H. pubicalyx and its hybrids
H. pururea fusca
H. reticulata IML 1101
H. revoluta IML 1455
H. serpens
H. sp. Hatson pean IML 1438
H. vanuatuensis
H. australis ssp. Tenuipes IML 0001
H. coriacea
Catagory 2 - Hoyas are holding their own, maintaining good color and form, just not really growing noticeably.
H. aff. Anulata IML 1120
H. aff. Finlaysonii
H. archboldiana
H. brevialata
H. callistophylla
H. cembra
H. blashernaezil IML 1631
H. kenejiana
H. kentiana
H. lacunosa
H. retusa
H. leytensis IML 1287
H. pauciflora IML 0352
H. pottsii
H. tjadasmalanguensis
H. samoensis
H. obovata
H. loherii IML 0987
H. nummularioides
H. compacta
Catagory 3 - Hoyas I'm not having much luck with, yellowing leaves, dropping leaves, just don't appear to be happy or not like me for one reason or another.
H. polyneura
H. australis ssp. Australis
H. citrina
H. erythrostemma
H. heuschkeliana Pink and Yellow version
H. bella
H. obscura
A couple of other observations H. citrina was doing well until just this week when all the new growth just died almost over night. This could be a case of over watering. I no longer have H. bella - I threw it out after years of struggle. H. lacunosa almost made the bottom list, but because it comes back so strong in the summer - I gifted it into category two. Remember that these are my experiences, and because of variables such as available light, watering and fertilizing practices may not be yours.
Doug
3 Tiered Ratings For Hoyas Growing In Cool, Dry Conditions
Wow! You do have quite the collection! I have printed out your information to study!
I'm beginning to think we here in Florida are real wimps! Our house temp stays at 72 during the winter and 74 during the summer! Yeah, our electric bill is over $200 each month but that's not bad considering our pool pump runs 24/7 year round and the central air conditioning runs probably 350 days of the year when the heat isn't on! LOL.
My few hoyas stay outside with the exception of the couple of days I bring them in when we are predicted to have extremely cold nights. They have all been inside for three days now and tomorrow will be moved back out since we are supposed to be back to daytime temps in the mid 70's and nights in mid to upper 50's. We have nothing but humidity down this way most of the year!
Not meaning to sound mean, LOL but I am glad to hear one of you expert hoya growers is having trouble with H. polyneura. I just bought a pretty basket of it a couple of weeks ago and it has been declining since I brought it home. Leaves yellowing and dropping. I'm thinking I should leave it out in the cold - maybe the house is way too warm for it.
Lin,
I'm relatively new to Hoyas myself, and I'm just trying to do the best job that I possibly can with them given my "restrictions." I envy your weather, and if I could afford to keep my house at 72 degrees in the winter here in VT, I'm sure that I would do even better with my plants. Yesterday the high temperature here was 4 degrees, and today I was stupid and forgot my long underwear. Let me tell you I've regretted it all day. It is supposed to warm up here next week and maybe hit 50 on Wednesday. If it does that people will be on the street with a t-shirt and shorts.
As for H. polyneura, I think that one of its secrets may be lots of humidity. Just before I threw out the mother plant, I took cuttings from it and started a new one. I have it in a fifty gallon aquarium, and it is doing pretty well at the moment. When the leaves are all nice and green it is a beautiful plant, but when it starts to turn yellow, it is just plain ugly. If I can't keep it looking nice without having it in an aquarium, I going to get rid of it. That is the reason I gave up on Rex Begonias. I could have the most beautiful Rexes in the world but they had to be under glass. It was not worth it.
Doug
Oh my goodness .... Your HIGH temperature was 4?? I really can't complain at all since I've never experienced real low temp's like that except once when we visited Colorado in November and it was negative 7 degrees and such a shock! I grew up in the coastal Virginia area and I remember it getting into the teens in winter but had never been in below zero temp's until that trip to Denver! My husband has lived in Florida since before the age of 1 and my family has been here for almost 41 years now. We had two nights this week down in the 30's. It was 32 one night and 33 another. We were predicted to be at 27 one night with a hard freeze but luckily it never got that low. I know Ocala which is just an hour west of us got to 25. There were snow flurries here night before last! My neighbor who is from Michigan said it was funny walking her little dog and seeing snow in the air! Our t.v. news channels showed the snow flying in Cocoa Beach ... people out on the beach, bundled up in heavy coats and hats with snowflakes in the air! People down here get real excited over snow!!
You say folks will be in T-shirts and shorts at 50 degrees??!! I guess it's all relative huh? At that temp here we are in sweat shirts, sweat pants or jeans, socks and sneakers! Ok, I admit I even have a turtleneck shirt underneath the sweat shirt when it's only 50 degrees out!! LOL. I don't mind nights @ 45 but I don't like it getting much lower than that! The older I get the more the heat and humidity are getting to me during summer but I don't like bitter cold lasting more than a few days! :)
Lin,
I've been saying that someday I'm going to visit Florida for a long time. I have a sister that has lived there for over 20 years, and I've never even visited her (she lives in Davie, which I guess is in S. Florida. If this cold weather keeps up, someday is going to turn into right now fairly soon.
Doug
Well, I don't know what my problem is, but I just lost a bella. I tried to save it but it died anyway. My polyneura doesn't look so good either. I just ordered some Eleanor's VF-11. Everyone seems to rave about it. I hope that it save the polyneura. I love the odd shapped leaves. Right now the leaves are kind of pale. My hoya are all outside growers too. They are inside now, larger one sitting in a bathtub and the newer cuttings are clustered by the sliders in the family room. The temps are warming up so tommorrow they will be back outside. We moved to Florida 20 years ago to get away from the cold on our old bones, and for the most part we've been lucky. Every couple of years we feel like we are back in NYC. Don't miss the snow. Got too old to shovel.
Doug, my oldest sister and her husband live in Davie! We were just there at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Davie is the SW Fort Lauderdale area, I know it well! They had a cold night this week too ... got down to 38 - Really unusual for that far south!
Imadigger: I LOVE Eleanor's VF-11 plant food. I heard about it from other folks here on DG too and bought a case of 6 quarts last February. I am just about out so need to order again! I wish I could find it in Florida because shipping is so high but no one carries it. I was able to have my local Ace Hardware store order it for me last year but I see they aren't listed on the VF-11 website anymore as someplace to get it. I guess I will have to order it direct from them or from Charley's Greenhouse I got an e-mail from them a few weeks ago saying they are looking for a Fla distributor and asked if I knew of anyone!
Here's the website for VF-11: http://www.vf-11plantfood.com/
Here's Charley's website: http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/index.cfm
I just need to see who's cheaper with shipping!
Lin,
It is indeed a small world (both our sisters living in Davie).
Imadigger,
I know what you mean about snowfall. We just broke a December record for snowfall here in Burlington - 45.7 inches during the month. The average snowfall is only about 17 inches. Part of my job is snow removal at work, and than I go home to clean out the driveway. That is just what I feel like doing after traveling an hour to get home in the dark - always in the dark here.
The way I look at these problematic Hoyas like bella and polyneura is that there are too many great looking much easier to grow Hoyas. So if a few don't want to respond, the heck with them.
Doug
It sure is a small world! My sister and her husband live on SW 78th Drive in Davie and have been in that general area for 40 years. They want to sell when the market picks up (hopefully in the not too distant future) and move a bit farther north. One of their kids lives in Sebastian and the other in Port St. Lucie so they are contemplating retiring somewhere in that area. I look forward to it, they will be only an hour and a half from us instead of 3 and a half hours! Florida is growing by leaps and bounds every day and the traffic is getting worse every day but it's really bad down in the southern end of the state, very congested! If my husband ever retires I hope we can live in N.C. or Tennessee during the summer and Florida in the winter! LOL. I don't know if he will ever retire, he dearly loves his job and said he might keep teaching until 72! There was one professor who retired from the University two years ago and he had been there for 50 years ... teaching well into his eighties!
Wow! 45.7" of snow?? And, winter has a long way to go yet! I've never seen that much snow!
I agree about the problematic hoyas - feel the same about most plants! I do the best I can and if they don't like to live at my house, so be it!
When we moved from NY, we settled in Tamarac, Fl. which is NW of Ftl Lauderdale. My son, daughter-in-law and Anthony live in Ft.Lauderdale. It became so congested we decided to move north before Andrew was married. That's how we ended up in Palm Bay. We didn't want too far north, because we wanted to be close to my son. He has a exterminating business in Fl Laud, otherwise he said he would move up here too.
My daughter and her family moved to Palm Bay two years ago. Now if I could just get the other 3 here...... They prefer the cold winters with sking and sledding. They'll smarten up when they get to be our age. I hope, I hope!!!!
LOL. My youngest sister lives in North Georgia. She and her daughter vacation in Florida during the summer but they love the area where they lives and love the change of seasons! My sis likes skiing too and goes with friends to Aspen, Colorado every year!
A couple of photos of the plants doing well. These came from the David Liddle fall order of cuttings, which arrived in September. This is H. polystachya. This was taken a month ago before a cat jumped on it and broke off two nice new leaves. I was not a happy camper.
Doug
H. memoria, which the photo doesn't really do justice. The red new growth with silver splotches is really pretty.
H. Pottsii also with red leaves doesn't grow much, but looks nice anyway.
This is a cutting of H. pubicalyx - Royal Hawaiian Purple. This was taken about two months ago, but it has grown a lot since then. All the new leaves are totally purple, and I'm sure this is not where it got its name, which I think comes from the color of its flower. I think it is the high light that it is grown under that turns the leaves purple black.
Doug
Doug, all of your hoyas look super - very healthy and happy!! I have been looking through old David Liddle catalogs, anxiously awaiting spring, and possibly a new order.
The leaves on your Hoya polystachya look familiar. What IML # was attached to that one, if you don't mind me asking?
I can only imagine the frustration in loosing two new leaves...I have cats too, and I figure that they are lucky they are fast and furry, and generally cute!! Ha! Many a time I have held my breath as one of my cats slid off the window sill, and right into one of my hoyas. Then, they take a minute or two of decide how to get out of my tangle of vines. I usually end up scruff grabbing them, as it generally results in the least resistance, as well as damage!!
Ha!
Sara
Nice Hoyas! The polystacha has to be my fave though! I'd never heard of David Liddle until joining DG last summer so I've never ordered from him. I understand he's outside the US. Does that present any problems ordering? Are they unrooted cuts? And sorry, one last question, is shipping outrageous?
This message was edited Jan 5, 2008 10:34 AM
Oh my, those are Beautiful! I love the foliage on all of them, especially the H. polystachya & pottsii, really, really nice! Great growing Doug!
I have good luck with polyneura by potting it small, letting it get dry completely between waterings and have it in a super fast draining mix. I also leave it outside in the cold here in S. Calif. It looks even better in winter when the nightime temps are in the low 40s. Daytime is 60-70. They are happy and lush out there. Go figure.
Marcy
Marcy: Thank you for the information regarding your polyneura. I am going to try re-potting mine into a smaller pot. I do use a very fast draining mix and let my plants dry out quite a bit between waterings. I am hoping this one will stop the decline and survive for me!
I wonder if anyone has a list as to light conditions for the different hoyas. Are there some that require higher light than others? Do any like full sun?
With polyneura...watch out for mealies...they will send it into a nose dive!!!
Carol
Doug,
Beautiful plants, especially H. pottsii! Are you using turface (calcined clay) in your potting mix? I thought I saw some in the H. polystachya mix.
Shirley
Sara,
Really glad to see you posting again. The IML on H. Polystachya is 1043. You put a lot of work into that David Liddle order and it was really appreciated. I too am really looking forward to a spring order. As for my cats, they now have officially been locked out of my plant room. I noticed more damage today - a chunk bit out of my obovata and bite marks on samoensis, and a broken vine on fraterna. That's it! I've had it with them; they look sweet enough, but apparently they have a very evil plant eating side. Their photo is below. I think the blame needs to be placed on the gray one.
Shirley, I haven't bought any of Al's magic Turface yet. What you see is called Hydroton clay balls mixed into my mix. See Carol's post on their healing properties.
Marcy, thanks for the information on polyneura. I would have to guess that my problem is keeping it too wet. The plant that I said was doing ok in the aquarium has suddenly taken a turn for the worse and the mix is to darned wet.
Diane, David Liddle is from Austrailia and is one of the world's foremost authorities on Hoyas, and grows many, many varieties, and is kind enough to sell cuttings. It is a pretty complicated process to get them out of Austrailia and send them all over the world. It requires someone with enough time to organize an order on this end and get the necessary paperwork. He puts out a list of his available plants (unrooted cuttings) once a year. The shipping and associated inspections costs are divided and shared by everyone placing an order in a bill that he is kind enough to send after you actually have the cuttings. The shipping to get from the U.S. organizer of the order to your house is an $8.95 priority mail box, which you pray the Post Office does not lose.
Doug
This message was edited Jan 5, 2008 7:11 PM
Shame on you Doug! Those sweet things couldn't possibly be evil plant destroyers!LOL
So on the David Liddle orders -everyone divides the cost to get it to the US- Is that outrageously expensive? What would you say would be the average cost -if you don't mind and have time for all these questions
Diane,
It is not really that bad when their are a lot of people in on an order. Most of his cuttings are priced at $6.60, $11.00, and $16.00. There may be a few that are higher than that, but hardly any, and most are priced at $6.60 Austrailian (Their money is worth just a little less than ours). I can't really remember what the shared costs were but I would guess that it was around $15-$20. My bill was in the $120 dollar range for around a dozen cuttings, but that included two that were $16 and two that were $11. It is a great way to obtain some of the more exotic plants at a pretty good price. There is one caveat though, there is always the chance that some of these will not make the journey, and David says right on his order form that you should not expect them to. It could be 10 days or more from taking the cutting to it arriving at your house. I was lucky and all of mine made it. Hope this helps.
Doug
Doug, thanks a ton for getting the IML # for me...I was thinking of ordering that one exactly come spring, but am fairly sure that it must be the same or realllllly close to the IML 1590, which, when I got it, I thought was similar, but not identical to the IML 1410. Is that confusing yet?
Yup, cats are demons in cute furry little bodies. I found that hot pepper flakes are an excellent deterrent for the cats, yet harmed my hoyas not at all. I have also read that if you soak hot peppers in water for 24+ hours, then use the water as an insecticide (not sure if you water with it, or use topically), it is very effective on soft bodied pests like mites and mealies.
Cheers,
Sara
This message was edited Jan 6, 2008 8:12 AM
Here is another nice Hoya doing well for me that is similar in apperance to polystachya except the leaves are smaller. The IML is 1101 and its name is H. aff. Hellwigiana.
Doug
Oh my goodness ... I love the veining in those leaves! You have some real Beauties, Doug!
Lin,
That is what I like about these type of Hoyas the most - the cool veining and very glossy leaves. The next time I place an order for plants that is what I'm looking for. I also neglected to mention that only four months after starting from a cutting, it is forming a peduncle. That is a record for me. When it flowers I will post another picture. I really think that my plant lights are what is making these plants look so good and do so well. I also have a nice peduncle forming on H. lobbi, which I don't really think would be normal for this time of year, but I could be wrong.
Doug
Can't wait to see photo's of the blooms!
I got a few unrooted hoya cuttings from a friend but have had trouble keeping them alive and getting them to root. Any hints or suggestions on rooting cuttings? I am able to root other house plants but for some reason have not had any luck with rooting hoyas!
They usually root pretty easily as long as you have a warm humid spot to put them in out of direct sun. I always used to root in a light potting mix that was going to be used for their permanent home, but I think I am now going to switch to all perlite. Last fall I rooted some tougher to root hoyas in straight perlite, and in three weeks I had phenomenal root growth. I think this is the method that I will use from now on. Also it is hard to over water and rot the plant when using only perlite.
Doug
Thanks Doug! I have rooted other plants in straight perlite a time or two. Usually I use a mixture of perlite and vermiculite but will try the straight perlite for hoya cuttings!
Beautiful hoya, Doug. I love the veining and the color of the leaves. I have cuttings of citrina, callistophylla and latifolia that I just received from Ted Green. I hope they root for me. I have them in a mix of orchid bark, perlite and african violet mix. I water them every couple of days. I'm waiting for my VF-11 to arrive and then I'll mist them too.
Imadigger,
I'm sure you will have good luck with your cuttings. Up here I have to keep them covered to make sure that they have suficient humidity. If you can keep them warm and humid, you really can't mess up too bad. Good choice on plants. You should really enjoy them once you get them established.
Doug
Gorgeous plants.
One tip that has worked well for my on my polyneura. I also grow african violets. I always seemed to either have my polyneura too wet or too dry so I added a bunch of perlite to my mix and planted it in one of those self watering clay pots used for violets. The ones with a glazed pot outside and an unglazed pot inside. I always have water in the outer pot so the polyneura gets a constant amount of moisture and it really has improved its growing.
Dawn
Thanks for that tip Dawn. I am going to give that a try. It is hard to understand what this Hoya really wants; it seems that many people struggle with it. It can't be that hard of a plant to grow, because Exotic Angel grows thousands of them for sale in box stores at certain times of the year. I also agree with you about it always seeming either too dry or too wet. Maybe those self watering pots are really the answer for polyneura.
Doug
Doug,
Now I see what you mean by H. memoria! Wow, your's is just gorgeous. Mine looks kind of dull compared to your's - the leaves are not nearly as shiny. Also, I can't wait for that new growth - it's gorgeous. Good growing!
Gabi
Ok, I grow AV's and will have to try the self watering pot on my H. polyneura to see if there's any hope for it. I repotted that one into a mostly bark mix cause I thought it was one that liked being on the dry side. It doesn't look too good ... hopefully the self watering pot will help!
Dawn: What light position is your polyneura in? I wonder if I should try putting it on my light stand with some of my AV's and other gesneriad plants?
Thanks for the compliment Gabbi. I'm sure if you can just pump up the light a little, your memoria will take right off and look just as good.
Doug
Hi,
I grow my polyneura inside because Houston is just too hot for it outside. I have it right up against a large northern window. But in Houston our sun can be hotter than up north so it gets quite a bit of light - just not hot sun. And the reason for it is primarily because the southern windows in my house are very shaded with large trees (self preservation)
Good luck
Dawn