Thoughts on Propagation.....?

Another thread here has prompted me to ponder something Lin said (I think it was Lin...) and that is that various methods of propagating - and growing hoyas for that matter -and depend a lot upon where and how we live. For instance, I water down my hoyas in the greenhouse when it is very hot and there is a breeze: I water down the leaves to cool the hoyas and I wait for a breeze so that there is air movement and my plants don't get muggy and full of fungi. So...we all deal with our environments in different ways.

I think a thread of this kind was written about years ago....I would like to 'modernize' it.

Could we post for the sake of information and illumination for all of us:

1. Where we live and the good aspects of our climate and the negatives of it. I know folks in AZ and NM have to deal with VERY DRY (no yelling....) conditions.

2. How we compensate for the 'problems' we think we have.

3. Which hoyas we find grow well for us and which are 'challenges'.

Perhaps, if we keep to the topic (ahem :>} ) this could be a Sticky.....

I know that I am learning new stuff every day.....

Okay, I'll play, even though I really don't have enough experience to be very useful...

1) I live in Pennsylvania, where I'm actually dealing with two totally different micro-climates depending on the time of year---in the winter plants near the window are experiencing very cool conditions with extreme atmospheric dryness (gotta love that forced air heat!!)....in the summer, when I move them out onto my partially shaded deck, they typically experience extremely hot, humid, muggy conditions...

2) This switch from cool and dry to hot and humid is especially hard on my cool preference hoyas....for instance, I find that h. serpens and h. bella both put on lots of new growth and lots of peduncles during the winter...unfortunately our winter sun (when we get it at all) doesn't seem to be strong enough to create actual bud formation, so all those lovely peduncles end up dropping off once the plant is moved out to the hot deck....I did manage to get two nice bloom clusters on my bella out on the deck in the Spring, before things got very hot, but the serpens hasn't yet managed to perfect a bloom....the same thing goes, to a lesser extent, for the warm preference plants which tend to do very well on the deck, put out peduncles late in the summer, and then blast them as I move them onto the dry cool window sill inside...sigh....it's definitely a juggling act....

What does best for me are, of course, the intermediate hoyas, like the carnosas, pubicalyx's, etc....they usually do manage to bloom, usually sporadically throughout the year....anyway, often enough to keep me hooked :-).....

I'm considering NOT moving some of my more finicky hoyas outside next summer---sometimes I think the shock of the move does more harm than good...

As I said, I don't really think I have enough experience yet to have much useful information, but hopefully I'll keep learning and tweaking conditions and end up with a lot of healthy, happy, blooming hoyas in the next few years :-)

SR

I am still a novice at these beautiful plants called hoya. I have been gardening and growing all kinds of house plants for many years, with trials and tribulations, successes and failures. Sometimes I just think plants have ideas of their own that don't necessarily agree with ours!

The oldest one I have is the carnosa Krimson Princess that a dear elderly friend gave me back in the mid 1970's. It has lived in a container out on my pool deck all these years, never a favorite plant, but I have always loved the looks of the flowers and it's always had sentimental value because it came from a friend. I just never thought much about it, I knew it as a Wax Plant, but that was about it. I found the correct identification after joining DG a couple of years ago. My second hoya I got as a cutting in a house plant trade, then found a couple of the Exotic Angel plants at Home Depot, began checking out this forum, received a few more cuttings as well as rooted plants in trades/swaps and learned that there are so many different hoya and that some are very fragrant. I WAS hooked!

WHERE I LIVE: Daytona Beach, Florida. Elevation, 10'. Average relative humidity @ 75%. We have a very short spring season, very long hot and humid summers, maybe a couple of days of fall type weather (if we are lucky) and usually a month or two of a few cold nights here and there in winter. We have been known to have frost on occasion and even a rare hard freeze but for the most part we have decent (but humid) year round weather. I won't get into discussing hurricane season ... that's another story entirely with trying to secure plants and everything else from extremely high winds!

Most of my many, many plants (hoya included) stay out on the screened pool deck, on a covered deck and on covered front and back porches year round. If temps are predicted to be below @ 45 or so I do bring the orchids and a couple of other plants inside but most everything gets shoved up against the south side of the house and covered with old blankets on cold nights.

PROBLEMS: The problem I used to have years ago was with the potting mix I used, usually just a bag of store bought potting soil. For me, most store bought soil is entirely too heavy for any plant roots to breathe. I assume the nurseries use it for just that reason, to keep them wet during transportation all over the country. Using straight potting soil, I found my plants would get root rot after a very short time.

Ok, being that we are very humid here ... even though human beings don't necessarily like the humidity, plants seem to love it! Since we do have such high humidity in this part of the country, I have come to use a very well draining mix for all of my plants. We usually get a lot of rain in the summertime so I like a chunky mix that drains quickly. With global warming and weather changes around the world, we have seen our share of drought the past few years too. But, it is easy for me to water because all of my plants are outside and I just turn the garden hose on and spray away!

FERTILIZING/FEEDING: I can't comment too much on fertilizing ... I am a bad plant person when it comes to feeding ... I do it sporadically at best. When I think about it, I use Eleanor's VF-11 and sometimes when I'm fertilizing the orchids with the bloom booster I will use that on any plant that blooms, hoya included.

HOYA'S THAT DO WELL FOR ME: Well, I don't have a lot of hoyas and I find the carnosa clan to be extremely easy. I have quite a few small plants and cuttings that I've received in trades and swaps the past year and a half and they are all doing well. I tried my hand for the very first time this past spring with ordering unrooted cuttings in the Co-Op and was afraid I was wasting my money since they were coming all the way from Australia, but I have been very pleased, after a couple of days at trying a couple of different methods of rooting, I finally resorted to sticking with my potting mix and am pleased to say they are all doing so much better than I ever expected! They have put on a lot of growth over the summer and maybe by next year I will see blooms!

PESTS: Well, I can say (knocking on wood here) that I have not encountered many pests with my hoyas with the exception of mealy bugs on H. compacta, which I caught and took care of with cotton swabs dipped in isopropyl alcohol. I found a fine webbing on H. brevialata a month or so ago and thinking it could be spider mites of some sort, I thoroughly sprayed the plant with an insecticidal soap and that seemed to work.

HOYA'S THAT DON'T DO WELL FOR ME: One hoya I've had a hard time with is H. nummularioides. I bought a beautiful Exotic Angel basket of that one a year ago. It did real well for the longest time and then all of a sudden vines began to dry up and die. I removed it from the pot and a lot of roots were completely dead. I cut the remaining vines into pieces and stuck some in my regular mix and a couple of others in jars of water. The cuttings in the mix died. I checked a few days ago and the few cuttings in water are putting out new roots, so there is hope for it yet.

PROPAGATING: I tried rooting cuttings in straight perlite in a zip lok bag as I had read others were doing. Mine rotted! As I stated above, I have had some luck with H. nummularioides cuttings rooting in a jar of water - so far, so good. The best way for me is in my chunky mix of a combination of potting soil, lots of orchid bark mix and lots of perlite. So it goes to show ... what works for one may not work for another.

Ok, now y'all know my life story regarding hoyas. Hmm ... I'm 60 years old and have a collection of small hoyas that totals probably @ 25-30 plants, can you imagine how many I would have if I had learned of these great plants ten or twenty years ... or even 30 years ago! Aaah, but if only we could go back in time. ^_^


edited to correct one tiny misspelling ... but there's probably a few more!

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1) I live in West Virginia about an hour outside of DC/Baltimore. The humidity in my little house is higher than it should be as I have almost 200 gallons of aquariums...(long story....)so I do think the hoyas like it! Most of my hoyas which are mostly on the small size reside in a south facing bay window with protection from a sheer curtain year-round and maple tree leaves in the summer. The hoyas on the top shelf also benefit from artificial light. The outside climate proved to be pretty beneficial for some of my hoyas this year! Outside humidity is moderate and it was fairly moderate temperature wise this summer, as well.

2) I did have a problem with not being able to judge how to change my watering with the seasons. One of the ways I choose to deal with this is the semi-hydroculture (see other thread). Also have an problem with rooting some hoyas - have no answer to that one yet....Am sure I'll encounter more problems as time goes on - live and learn!

3) In my limited experience - I do okay with most already established hoyas. Ones that have "taken" off this year are Iris Marie, buotii, vitellina, pink silver among a couple of others. One that I've struggled with (not including current cuttings.....) since I got is obscura! It's frustrating to read what an easy one this is to grow when a year later mine still looks like it's on the brink of going down!

Wow...this is all really good information!!!

Where I live on the rainy side of the Island of Hawaii, has warm days and cool nights (we are at about 900' altitude. In the winter it can get down to the mid 50s when the wind comes off snow on the mountains (yes!!). Growing hoyas, this means I have a major problem if I water in my greenhouse and the temperature drops...the real large assortment of fungi could set in...root rot etc. So I am eying the weather...I do my 'wet work' before 11 in the morning....12 noon at the latest in the late fall to early spring.

When it is really hot, I water down all my plants in the greenhouse and the shade house. This is to lower their temperature, not to water them. This way, they don't get dehydrated and guzzle all their water at night. I find the air flow is really important in my greenhouse....

I am growing my hoyas drier than I used to and they seem to be growing really well. I am not propagating anything new now....because I don't want to run my heat mats.... LOL. Elec. $$$ is going out of sight....we pay more, I think, than anyone in the nation... I am only trying to recover struggling plants and I may put on one heat mat and set it at 65deg instead of 73deg. as before.

I have just finished putting all my plants thru a BATS treatment...and next week I will water them all with a fungicide....and then sit and wait. Warm and humid is neat....cool and humid isn't fun!!!

Lanzarote, Canary Islands...Spain, off west coast of Africa.
Temperature ranges from in the Summer 30/33 C. daytimes, 20/22 C. nights
Temperature ranges from in the Winter 22/25 C. daytimes, 15/18 C nights, tho it can drop to around 12C the odd night. Humidity, according to BBC weather page between 80 to 93 %, tho Im not sure how accurate that is as it dosent really feel humid, so im buying an instrument to measure it. All I can say is in the mornings everything is often quite wet with dew.
I have been growing mine outside, altitude 360 meters, under shade cloth for 3 years here now..tho I have been growing for around 20 years in the UK before. (very different conditions there).
My lower range temperature Hoyas seem to love it. My higher temperature range Hoyas dont grow so fast, but so far havent been affected by the cool night temperatures in the winter. ie, died.
My mix is a course Orchid medium and Perlite 50/50, in clay pots or moss lined baskets. I use an open mix and clay pots/ baskets so if I overwater in the winter, they dry out quicker. Ive kept them quite dry in the winter, and water 2 times a week in the summer. I dont have a great range of fertilizers here, so I use an Orchid fertilizer, and a general plant fertilizer at a weak strength, alternatively.
I have had problems with the Usual Suspects, bella, linearis etc, but I keep propagating and trying new locations/mixes etc, and seem to get 2 spurts of growth a year from all my Hoyas. There are occasional cuttings I root or some Hoyas, which just dont seem to like me.....I can then get the same cuttings again, and they do fine....I think thats just pot luck ( does that saying originate from a gardener? )
Like Carol, I damp everything down..floor, leaves in the summer, but avoid this in the winter..so far no fungus/mould ( watch this space)
Mealies are a real problem here, and I have finally reverted to using a chemical (composition Clorpirifos on the label ) which i had used elsewhere and after 2 treatments havent defoliated or killed any Hoyas yet ( phew). Whereas it dosent kill all bugs, it has kept them well at bay. Ive never understood quite how they get to some plants...little bl..dy acrobats in my view..should be in circus' performing death defying feats....and why they dont just stay on 1 plant defeats me..must have an adventurous spirit to travel.?...dunno.
Anyhow, I have seen many carnosas outside other houses which take quite a battering with wind...can be windy here, and also a lot of sun, and they dont look bad at all. I will be planting more outside later when my building work is finished and I have more walls and trees, to experiment.
I always use the Ziplock bags with out a 95% success. to me, they HAVE to have 2 holes for air 2 thirds up either side, and be opened every 3 to 4 days and sprayed to succeed, and be kept in a bright and warm spot, or they will rot
Carol, this is why Im always asking you pesky questions about your growing conditions. Whilst I dont have exactly your temperatures or volume of rainfall, its all a bit new to me growing outside of a greenhouse, and try to pick up on hints on how you grow them outside and any errors you may have encountered.:))
Anyhow, thats it from the Canary Islands. I know we have many different micro climates here...10 mins drive down to the coast can be a 3 or 4 degree increase in temperature, 10 minutes more inland and at the same altitude can be 2 or 3 degrees cooler, but I like my cool nights to sleep ( and I have an aversion to Brits abroad, ;)) )
Lets see what I write in another 3 years when they will have been growing here 6 years, ya veremos
Dominic

Surprisingly enough, my climate on the 'dry' side of the Big Island differs quite a bit from Carol on the
'wet' side. So here goes.

1. Kona - dry side of Big Island. Fairly hot and dry most of the time. Rarely gets hotter
than 85 - 90 even in 'summertime'. Usually a nice breeze AT MY HOUSE, forget what
elevation I am at though. Clouds up in the afternoon/evenings most days up here. And humidity is worse some days than others - sorry, don't know #'s here. But that is what makes it really hot.

Most of my hoyas are indoors, which I'm realizing is probably not the most advantageous. I am going to start moving a lot of them out to the lanai, which faces west. Example, just moved H. cv Ruthie out 2 weeks ago and she is growing even faster and looks to be putting on a peduncle.
Plus, she's an Eriostemma so that's just what she wants is to be outside. The only 2 Hoya to bloom for me have been H. obscura and H. javanica ( Cyrtoceras Floribundum ) and they are inside.
I water once a week and use MSU every 3rd or 4th watering. I have them potted in a
mix that drains well of regular potting mix and perlite added.

2. I have a couple of plants from Carol ( 'wet' side of the Island ). She uses a super fast draining mix, as that is what she needs because of so much moisture over there. I found that those plants were not doing well when I got them home. They just sat there and even started to decline. So I think part of it is that they weren't getting enough moisture here. The fast draining mix and the dryness here was too much. I repotted them into my own mix which keeps them from drying out quite so fast.
And remember that I only water once a week. So, there are so many variables that one has to figure out; what works for you in YOUR environment, with YOUR way of doing things.

3. I've only been growing Hoya for one year now, so I still don't have lots of experience. But in my environment with my way of doing things I find that H. obscura, H. australis, H. pubicalyx, H. ciliata, H. verticillata variegata, H. cv Ruthie and H. fungii are growng well.
Some that seem to be just sitting here are H. motoskei, H. cv Noelle, H. vitellina and H. subquintuplinervis. Mind you, these are rooted cuttings, BUT I've had them for months now, with no new growth or any decline. I know sometimes they take awhile to get movin.

I have noticed that I can get cuttings to root within a week if I keep them 'asking' or 'searching' out the
moisture. I imagine that is because of our humidity. I only spray them down every other day or so and have found that they root MUCH more quickly than if I soak them. And using a plastic baggie here is out of the question. Rot and more rot, every time...
Oh and rooting hormones seem to be bad news for me too. Every time I used them my cuttings would not root and they seemed to rot. I have found out that I don't need them anyway !

Looking forward to learning more !

Paula

Well. I can just copy and paste Lin's post, all except for propagating. ^_^
I'm also in Central Florida on the East coast. My hoya are also outside all year round, except for two or three that I have in the house
PROPAGATION: cuttings are planted in 1/3 AV mix, 1/3 orchid bark and 1/3 perlite.
WATERING: During the summer months - April thru end of September, they get hosed when there hasn't been rain for a week or more. During the winter - October thru March I hose them down about once a week. If it rains, the they get rain water.
FEEDING: When and if I remember, I use either Peters or Orchid Bloom food at 1/4 strength. I try to feed at least once a month. But I don't always remember.

I live in NY and keep my plants indoors except for the Spring/Summer (I put a few on my balcony).

PROPAGATION:
I use my regular soil mix (equal parts of regular potting soil, orchid bark, and perlite). I pot them in the smallest plastic pot possible - usually 3"-4", and I wet the soil. I then put the pot inside a ziplock bag with holes poked in it, and mist every 2-3 days. I use a heat mat usually, unless it's Spring or Summer.

WATERING:
I water most of my hoyas when dry (about once a week in the Spring/Summer and once every 2 weeks in colder months). Some of my hoyas stay moist all the time (multiflora, lacunosa, serpens). I use tap water that has been sitting out for over 24 hours. I also have most of my hoyas on pebble trays to increase the humidity.

FERTILIZING:
I use Eleanor's VF-11 with every single watering, and sometimes as a foliar spray. I wish I could use it more frequently as a foliar spray, but it's too difficult with the plants being indoors.

HOYAS THAT ARE DIFFICULT FOR ME: bella, waymaniae (just to root...I've never been able to get a rooted plant of it), and serpens.

Great idea, Carol!

Gabi

I have been growing my hoyas on the Gulf Coast of southern Florida at or just above sea level for about 10 years.
Summers are March through October and typically 80-90 degrees and very humid and full sun most days. The plants thrive during these months and I find it hard to keep up with them...keeping the new growth butterfly clipped and tidy.
I grow them on my screened lanai which gets sun most of the day during the summer months. I am amazed that the hot Florida sun does not wreak havic on the leaves...must be the type of screening? I also rotate some of the plants to a spot which is outside and semi under an Oak tree. They do well either place.

I grow the 'mother plants' in clay orchid pots and all the 'babies' in small clear orchid pots. The soil is a Coco Coir / Perlite mix... seems to work well. I water every other day if we have had no rain...with the clear pots I am very aware of how dry the soil is. During the humid months I also run a fan to deter fungi and mold...it gets really steamy here and stays for most of the summer and always water in the morning.

Winter months are mostly carefree. November through February the sun remains but the humidy disappears. I am able to water every third day like clockwork and little threat of pests. The days are 70-80 and the nights usually stay around 65. When there is a threat of cooler temps I bring all the outside plants onto thes and lanai cover them with light sheets or blanket and start the patio heaters when the temp goes below 55. My orchids suffer a bit but my hoyas show very little damage...maybe a few spots on some of the leaves.

The only other time I show concern is the Hurricane season. Then I of course bring them under cover or in the garage or maybe even in the house.

Right now I am growing about 150-175 different kinds of Hoyas...most of those are large or medium sized (thanks to Carol for making those available to me and sending them across the continent safely). The other 250 or so are small plants that I have started from the larger plants.

I have found the cure for a plant that just sits and does nothing...clip it back and make a baby. Then they both take off and are full of new growth within a couple of weeks. My clippings show new roots within a week or two...maybe the clear pots but I don't think roots care about light? I use a liguid rooting hormones on the clippings.

The hoyas I have trouble growing are: H. linearis, H. curtisii and H. nummularoides. Mealy Bugs seem to love my H. cv. Iris Marie and H. sussuela...I douse them with 50% Rubbing Alcohol and 50% water. Also have just recently been introduced to BATSS so hopefully will not have these issues in the future.

Now that I've introduced myself to this site...I look forward to joining in on some threads. I learn so much but don't have much advice yet...

Joni

Since I have posted...I have experimented with Hydroponic Systems...full fledged reservior, pump amd light. Rooting difficult cuttings is now done by this method without fail ...to date. The jury is still out on some Eriostemma Lauterbachii...but I've not totally given up on that one.
I am now successfully growing H. linearis...three months...lots of new growth and I give them no favoritism at all. Just get water when the others do and misted everyday at least once.

I also have put some Eriostemmas out to climb my trees...they are putting out lots of new growth with the aid of some limestone, chicken manure and 'tying' to the trunks of the trees.

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This message was edited Apr 13, 2009 2:38 PM

Usually I lurk, but since my conditions are so different I thought I would chime in. I live in a high rise Apt. near New York City. My hoyas are grown indoors year round. Most of my hoyas came as cuttings. I root them in an old 10 gallon covered fish tank that has gravel in the bottom kept very damp. I have had 90% success this way rooting them in the mix that I grow them in Miracle grow with i part fine orchid bark plus #3 perlite equal parts. I have about 45 hoyas. So far Bhutanica , obovata, pachyclada, purpureo-fusca, pubicalyx have bloomed for me. surprisingly the only ones I have had trouble growing so far have been shepherdii and Multiflora. Just order a new Multiflora plant from Logees. Most of my cuttings came from Bob Smoley. I have benn growing Hoyas for about ten years, but only had the carnosas till recently.

Although I live in humid and hot south Texas in zone 9, I still root all my hoyas inside under the gro lights inside a zip lock bag and it only takes a week or so and they are ready for a basket outside.

I hang mine in the trees and hang them depending on their sun or shade needs. I don't know a lot about hoyas but I love them and they bloom when they want to. I don't bring mine in at all. They stay on the front porch in the winter (Jan and Feb) where I wrap 6 ml poly around the porch. I have never had any fungus problems but we always have a cool wind (even when it is over 100 degrees outside).

I put heaters out on the porch in the winter if necessary and keep it above 50 degrees.................the hoyas bloom away like they think it is summer. Most of mine are ordinary but they are fun!

Well, I live in the UK, so my climate is... well, taciturn, as I like to put it...

CLIMATE - well, put it this way, 80 degrees is a "heat wave" in this country. I think it's hit that once this year, the rest of the year it's been mediocre and more like 70 if you're lucky. Grey and miserable most of the time. Has all ready snowed once - although again, this is rare, although frost through the winter is common. Average for summer: 60-70, for winter, 30-50. In the winter we either get weeks of grey skies and very little light or bright, clear but freezing days. All my "fussy" hoyas (lauterbachii, imperialis, archboldiana, onychoides and lasiantha/praetorii) are on a heat mat 24/7, 365 days of the year. I have to supplement the rest of my plants with a light to try and keep them going, as I don't have any window space. I should probably chuck them out in the summer, but I'm too worried about the foxes/local kids knocking them around to let them out.

PROPAGATION: I use a mix of regular compost, vermiculite and perlite. Seems to work OK for me. Cuttings are rooted using Jiffy Pellets, rooting hormone, a baggie and a heat mat. Works well for me.

WATERING: when dry most of the time (maybe once/twice a week in summer, once every couple of weeks in the winter). I use a water filter to water my plants. I should mist more often, but run out of time in the mornings.

FERTILIZING: I have converted from using beer fertilizer to using a cactus fertilizer (32-34-7 I think) at half strength with a drop of Superthrive over the summer. May fertilize irregularly over the winter with 7-7-7 plus Superthrive.

HOYAS THAT WORK WELL FOR ME: Bella (both ordinary and variegated) loves my conditions, so does retusa. Carnosa seems to have sulked on me this year, I'm now wondering if, after several years in the same soil, it might need repotting next year. Multiflora also does well, and regular kerri.

HOYAS THAT ARE DIFFICULT FOR ME: For some reason heuschkeliana and lacunosa really don't like these conditions, and have shrivelled up. I now have to keep what I have left of them on the heat mat in a baggie.

Oh, and I get the dreaded mealies, although I haven't seen one for a while. I use a product similar to BATS that's spray on called Provado Ultimate Bug Killer. Does what it says on the tin!

I live in San Francisco, Ca. Not an ideal climate for the bulk of Hoya species.

CLIMATE: we have a mild climate. In the summer it us usually in the mid 70's during the day, in the 60'Fs when it is overcast or when the fog rolls in. Summer lows are generally in the mid 50'Fs.
In the winter our temperatures vary from the low 40'Fs sometimes at night to the mid 70's during the day. The winter day/night averages would probably be something like 55'F/45'F.
Inside my house the temperature usually varies slightly between an average of 75'/68'F in the summer, 65'/60'F in the winter.

PROPAGATION: I use pure perlite in a 4" plastic pot, sealed in a plastic bag. Takes about three weeks before they seem ready to slowly emerge.

WATERING: for most plants when they are almost dry, which in our cool, fairly moist climate (no summer rain, but always a moist wind from the sea, if not outright fog) is weekly for most Hoya that are not extremely root-bound. Very root-bound plants and some species related to Hoya lanceolata and Hoya multiflora I water twice weekly.

FERTILIZING: MSU at 125ppm.

HOYAS THAT WORK WELL FOR ME: cold growing Hoya are very happy here. Hoya lanceolata and bella, linearis, fusca, carnosa, compacta, pubicalyx, thailandica, calycina- pretty much any clone or species that tolerates cooler conditions performs very well here.

HOYAS THAT ARE DIFFICULT FOR ME: heat loving Hoya are very difficult to grow here, and probably impossible to grow well. Hoya subcalva, citrina, wallichii, and a number of other species that don't seem to tolerate cooler conditions always look ratty, tend to have tip die-off and produce distorted, chlorotic looking leaves, no matter how well they are fed. A few Hoya that are supposed to be not tolerant of cooler conditions have proved to be very adaptable: Hoya cumingiana and onychoides both perform well here.

PEST CONTROL: all my Hoya get treated with imidacloprid yearly, which so far has totally eliminated all insect pests except for spider mites. Plants that are prone to spider mites are taken outside weekly and washed off, top and bottoms of the leaves. Spider mites apparently don't like water, so this seems to keep them at bay, as well as very clean looking.

"Bumping" this thread to make visible to those who may have missed it. Good information that I wanted to read again and I hope others will continue to add to the thread.

Thanks, .... I just reread it too and there IS a lot of good information!!!!

This is a great thread.

I live in Knoxville, Tennessee, which is located in a valley surrounded by mountains. This location makes it almost impossible to get weather predictions right and temperatures fluctuate. The most common statement about our weather is: "If you do not like the weather today, don't worry because it will change."
Winter temperatures rarely go below 0 and summers are hot and humid.

I lost count of my Hoya collection a couple years ago. I have them growing in my greenhouse, sunroom, most of my windows and even a few in the garage under fluorescent lights! I have problems regulating temperatures in the greenhouse in winter and there are at least 10 different microclimates in the small area. Winter watering is a nightmare. I use a 75 gallon rain barrel with an added aquarium heater when the temperature is low. Winter watering is such a chore that I often procrastinate and plants dry out often. In summer, I have a misting/cooling hose system strung throughout the greenhouse, which I highly recommend. I move many of my Hoya outside for a summer vacation under my gazebo, under the deck and in trees.

I root most cuttings in thick glass containers with water or nursery flats filled with perlite. For thinner leaf cuttings, I use tall clear plastic cups with holes drilled in the bottom and an inch or 2 of perlite. I have found this to work really well because the these cups retain humidity and the cuttings don't fall out. (I collected the tall plastic cups when my Son did his time working in the food service industry and came home with cups every day)

I have problems with the plants that I tend to fuss over. It seems that the plants I neglect grow and bloom the best.

Well, gotta grow now! I am feeling a pang of guilt and need to water!

Mel

This message was edited Apr 13, 2009 3:15 PM

Climate: I live in Minneapolis so my hoyas don't spend much time outside during the winter! (:o) (I have yet to find that hoya that is hardy to -30°F!!! Some day....)

Summers here are usually hot and humid and the winters are very cold. I have a programmable thermostat and my house is 60°F at night, 70°F for a short time in the morning and then again in the evening and the temp is 65°F during the day when I'm at work.

Culture: My hoyas are grown in my East, West and South windows and seem to do pretty well. I also grow a couple of the smaller-growing plants under fluorescent lights.

I just spoke to my cousin, Paula, and she grows a hoya carnosa in her north window and the plant blooms all the time. I was shocked that she got the plant to bloom in a northern exposure.

I never knew what had happened to the hoya carnosa that my grandma (mom's mom) had and found out that Paula had the plant. I just received a piece of my grandmother's hoya carnosa and I am ecstatic. This is the plant that sparked my interest in hoyas and I am overjoyed to have a piece of this plant. Grandma had this plant hanging in her east window in the living room and the plant bloomed all the time. Grandma didn't like the spurs so she would cut them off. Oh well, the plant continued to produce spurs even with grandma removing them after the plant was done blooming.

My growing medium is a commercial potting mix, containing composted fir bark, that I buy wholesale and add 25% perilite to lighten the mix. Fertilizing is hit and miss. I do occasionally use a slow release fertilizer.

I water the plants about once a week during the winter and twice a week during the summer.

Pests: I no longer put my hoyas outside during the summer due to the number of critters that would seem to hitch a ride inside when I brought the plants in during the fall. I use Marathon on all my plants when I first pot them and it has pretty much gotten rid of the mealy bugs. I need to buy some BATS to treat all my plants this summer. The marathon only lasts for about a year. I may take a chance and put a few plants outside this summer to see how they do. I will treat them a couple of times with BATS before bringing them in this fall and see how that works out.

Propagation: I used to root all of my hoyas sealed in zip top bags, but quit since I would lose some of the plants due to rot. I still use the zip top bags, but I no longer seal the bag 100% of the time. For those hoyas with thin-ish leaves I will seal the bag, but for all other plants the bag is left open. I use a 50/50 mix of my potting mix and perilite to root the hoyas.

Problem plants The only hoya that I really have a hard time growing is H. serpens. It seems if this plant dries out the least little bit, it loses its roots and I have to start the plant again. I just had to restart the plant again and the next time I pot the plant I will use my potting mix without any added perilite to see if that helps.

Favorite Hoyas: It's hard to pic a favorite, but H. retusa and H. macrophylla variegated are right up there when it comes to unusual/beautiful leaved hoyas. For flowers, the plant I originally purchased as H. macgillivrayii, back in the late 70's, wins hands-down. I think this plant is now considered H. onychoides.
Mike