I received a nice surprise yesterday from a wonderfull DG member and she sent me 3 different kinds of Hoyas, Curtine, Bilobata and Cumingiana. Can anyone guide me as to what kind of soil they need so that I can plant them today? Any other info you can provide me with would be greatly appreciated it! I have never grown them before and they look just lovely!
Newbie to Hoyas, Need help please!
Are they cuttings, or are they plants? (do they have roots?)
Just out of curiosity, what is "curtine"? Never heard of it.
The best soil for hoyas is a chunky well draining mix. I use equal parts of regular potting soil, orchid bark, and perlite.
Good luck and enjoy,
Gabi
Gabi,
I think she meant H. curtisii. .. .we'll see.
Thank you so much for replying, yes Gabi I meant Curtisi, sorry about that. Well it looks like some are cuttings and some a few tiny roots. A friend of mine told me that they are much like succulents and she suggested also using a combination of cactus soil.
I've heard they take a long time to flower, any truth to that? Can they go outside in the summer time, sorry to ask so many questions, but I have no idea what these beauties are. Thank you to all for responding!
No need to apologize :) I figured it was something else since that name didn't sound familiar. Curtisii is a great hoya, and so are the others.
You can use cactus soil, but I'd recommend using it as the regular potting soil part of the mix. It still needs chunky "stuff" in it, like extra perlite and/or orchid bark.
Yes, they can take quite awhile to flower. Some are faster than others, but the ones you listed will probably take longer, especially in NY. I live in NY (I actually grew up in Nassau County - maybe we were neighbors! I'm from Merrick). I would definitely recommend putting them outside in the Spring and Summer. That's what I do with a few of my hoyas (whatever fits on my balcony). If you put them outside, just acclimate them slowly and don't put them in full sun. I find that H. carnosa and the like do well in full sun, but I've burnt a bunch of hoya leaves in the sun, so I try to keep them out of it. I also find that the ones that go outside during the Spring and Summer grow a lot during those months, and are also more likely to bloom if they are mature enough.
No need to apologize about the questions - this forum is a very friendly helpful bunch :)
Gabi
Yippie Gabi, a friendly forum, that is what I need! I thank you so much for the information. I know where you are located, I am in Garden City and have a house in Freeport, next to Merrick, OMG, we realy could have met each other. My darling baby daughter is Gaby, not Gabi with the i like you, I have a feeling we have more in common than you think. Love your comments and appreaciate them. Thank you so much. I will plant those babies tomorrow with your friendly advise! Clem
So how long to flower???????????? grrrrrrrrrrrrr
If they are cuttings you will need to provide humidity and heat to get them to grow some roots. Many of us here soak the cuttings for a few hours in room temperature water and then put them in a ziplock bag with lots of air in it. As the air is used up, put a straw in a small opening and blow more air in. The bag must be kept warm and roots should form along the cutting. Once there are roots, you can transition the plants to a mixture of orchid bark, perlite, and potting soil, keeping the pot and plant in an open ziplock to provide humidity. Not all cuttings "take", and some take a long time to grow roots. Curtsii is one that I've never been able to grow (or root), but the other two are much easier to grow. Good luck!
So Suzmyers, i shoudl follow your footstepts! I need to get them to root first, and then when do they bloom??? I am a freak when it comes to flowers! I love all tropicals and overwinter them indoors!
Hi Clemen, and Welcome! You will love your hoyas! I am pretty much a newbie to them myself but find them very easy to grow. Of course, most plants grow very easily in the climate where I live! We have lots of humidity year round and the plants love it! I cannot put any of mine in direct sun ... they end up burned from the intense sun down here. I had my H. carnosa Krimson Princess in my screened pool enclosure and even though the screen filters a lot of sun they still got burned badly ... luckily they recovered when I moved them to a shadier spot. I had to cut a few really bad leaves off and now they get bright light but no sun at all.
I have heard a couple of folks say it doesn't matter what size pot you plant hoyas in but for me, I find the smaller, the better. Mine seem to love being root bound, or pretty close to it.
I use a mix of Miracle Grow Potting Soil, Orchid Bark and Perlite. I use this mix for all of my houseplants now too. It is a very chunky, fast draining mix but with my conditions this works best for me. It's fast draining and plants dry out quickly which is what I prefer because of our humidity. I have had plants (hoyas as well as others) get root rot because of the soil staying too wet in plain potting soil ... it's just too heavy.
I have not had any luck with H. curtisii, tried growing that one twice and it died on me both times. I thought one of mine was bilobata but it ended up being H. brevialata and it blooms a couple of times a year and does real well. I have cummingiana that I got in trade and it is doing well too but no blooms yet.
I am having computer problems tonight. For some reason my computer starts going all "wonky" and backspacing and erasing everything I type! I keep thinking my posts aren't transmitting ... really weird!
Clemen, if you just have little cuttings or real small plants it may be a year or two before you see blooms. I guess it just depends on how fast they grow to get to blooming stage. They seem to take off during the warm summer months so I bet next spring and summer you will notice a lot of change!
Plantladyln, I appreciate your comments, so tomorrow I will need to get some orchid medium and perlite . Today I was looking at them (the new babies) and wondering what to do and was confused. I want to make them alive and be happy, so you can say I am a plantaholic, lol, yeah, hate to kill plants!! Welll probably like most of all of you! That is why we belong to DG? So no luck with Curtisi, how about if I dare you, lol, yeah, lets make a bet she will thirve in NY, if I win you send me a baby, if you win I send you one, if not we both send each other babies, ha haa haa! Or maybe Gabi can send us one to each of us, lol!
nOOOOOOOOOO Plantladylyn, i want blooms sooooooonnnnnnnn!!!!!!!
Patience is a virture ... or so I've been told! ^_^
LOL, Spring will be here before you know it and TRADING will begin again!
Friend, no patience here!!!!!!!!!!!! i have none! But thanks to al!
LOL ... I must confess, I have very little patience myself, and the older I get the worse I get! ^_^
So we are sis are heart!
LOL, I'm the "older" sister!
How do you know, I may be it 45 my friend!
60 here ...
You can still be my best friend! I have met so many beautiful people here, who cares 'bout age! i love them all! And to tell you the truth most of my friends are older than me so I am the little chick, lol, like that, it is like being the baby in the family, and you know I am!
My son, after a bath today!
What a cutie he is too! What's his name?
After killing a few curtisii cuttings, I finally had luck rooting it by planting the cuttings in the potting medium, soaking it well, and I put the pot into a sealed plastic bag for a few weeks. Suzmyers post at 9:14 tonight offers very good routine to follow, but start it out with the cuttings already planted. Once its established, never let it dry out. I sit my curtisii in a dish that has marbles in the bottom - so the plant never sits in water, but has good humidity from the water that the marbles inevitably sit in. And I water it twice a week. It grows like mad.
After two years mine still hasn't bloomed, but I know it will someday. So you will need to find patience somewhere if you want to learn to love hoyas. I'm pretty sure you can get it on EBay...they have everything else!
Good luck Clemen, and welcome to hoya madness!!
Christine
Copo, the love of my life and i have 2 real daughters, lol! Well he is a you know what, i just do not like to admiit it, just like my plants, they are my children, and that is why I am posting here!!
aY Christine, no blooms after 2 years, grrrrrrrrrrr, latin girl here mad! Oh well need to learn to be patient, not me though, cannot stand that! Thanks for the advise and the friendly thread! Love to all
Curtisii. Likes BRIGHT indirect light to bloom. Never ever ever let it dry out or you will lose it...loves to grow on bark or tree fern...not one of the really eager bloomers but cool leaves!!!
You children are cute...greatgranma here!!!!
Hi Clem!!! Just found your thread!!! It seemed like there was a bloom just starting on one of the cuttings, look closely!!! Since I cut it, it probably won't bloom but you already do have a start to a bloom. Like I said I've never rooted the pitcher plant but thought it would be worth the try!!! Good luck my friend!!!! Enjoy the tropics while it is brutially cold up there.
Somebody, please tell Clem not to remove the bloom spur then... lol
Hi Clem! I have some Hoyas too! They're pretty vines, even when they're not in bloom! Two of mine wee blooming when I got them, but it will probably be a long time before they bloom again! I have mine on a little shelf over my sink in the kitchen. I have one of those florescent lights above them which I never turn off. They seem to like it! Good luck, I know you can do it!
OK, what's a bloom spur? I haven't removed anything from mine, though I did lose one of the Hoyas right after I got them.
Doe,
Here's a photo of my ds-70 showing blooms and bloom spurs
Maybe this picture will show it better. I pinched off a stem with a bloom and a bare bloom spur.
Geezzzzzz, I am lurking at work and now I am reading about the bloom spur and I cannot go and check on the plant, grrrrrrrrrr. I wanna see the little bud! Will certasinly check and post again as soon as I get home. Thanks to all for the advise, you guys are really great!
LOL, Jeri, should I tell them how lucky I was to get those Hoyas?
I thought I remembered seeing some great diagrams of the flower parts somewhere but just did a quick search and couldn't find it. I have a busy day today but when I get time I will look some more and If I come across it later I will post it here.
Or, maybe AlohaHoya, Markroy68 or one of our other Hoya experts will know where to find the diagrams. I thought it was in one of the stickies but I can't find it.
I've got some of those on mine!! Does that mean I'll be getting some blooms soon?
I don't know how soon ... sometimes my plants sit like that with those bloom spurs, it seems like forever. It depends on the time of year with a lot of plants too. You will probably see blooms next summer when the warm weather returns - just don't ever cut those little things off, that is where the blooms will form.
OK! Good to know! Thanks!
LOL!! I was shipping Clem a Brazilian Cloak Flower and plumeria and shipping Shirley some hoyas. Of course the labels got mixed up and Clem ended up with Shirley's box and Shirley ended up with Clem's. I've got another box ready to send to Shirley so keep your greedy little hands off!!! LOL!!! We now have a new hoya addict!!!! Meet Clem!!!!
Oh, that is cute, Surprises can be fun! ^_^ Clem, Welcome to the addiction!
Ha ha ha Jeri, i did not think you would dare tell the story and did! Can't wait togo home and check on the hoya and see my little bud!