Hi all,
Here are a few photos of the hoops I made from the aluminum clothes line wire. These are some older hoops and the hoops I make now have a larger "U" shape at the bottom of the hoop for greater stability once in the pot. Without this bend at the bottom of the hoop, the hoop is far less stable in the pot.
The first pics shows two hoops of about the same size. The second pic shows a larger hoop and a smaller hoop used for the smaller-growing hoyas. The third pic is of my Hoya memoria (gracilis) growing on one of the hoops. I've had this plant for a number of years and just had to re-pot the plant into a larger pot to keep the plant from tipping over. I used a larger hoop on this plant when I originally planted it, but larger hoops can be added when up-potting plants, as they get larger.
[p.s. and, yes, I know I need to dust under the TV stand. I guess I need to go around the house and take pics to see where all of the dust is hiding. (:o)]
Pic One
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v93/treelover3/IMG_4653.jpg
Pic Two
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v93/treelover3/IMG_4654.jpg
Pic Three
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v93/treelover3/IMG_4655.jpg
Mike
tl³
hl³
Vinyl-covered aluminum clothes line wire Hoops for Hoyas
Wow! Those are great! What did you use to form them so perfectly? And, can you remind us again of how you secure them in the soil? When you are up-potting do you just unwind it from the hoop it's on and wind it around a larger one?
Sorry about all the questions but they are really wonderful. I've got to find some of that coiled wire! I have to make a trip to Ace Hardware tomorrow so I'm going to look for it!
Hi Lin,
Because the wire comes in a coil, when you take the wire off of the coil, it just naturally makes a perfect hoop.
When making the hoops, it's important to make the portion of the hoop that will be in the soil the same depth as the pot. You want the part where the hoop first starts to make the hoop, right at the top of the pot. This also helps to stabilize the hoop in the pot. The "U" shape at the bottom of the hoop also helps to stabilize the hoop in the pot and the soil in the pot is what actually holds the hoop in place. As the roots of the plant fill the pot that helps to further stabilize the hoop in the pot. If you don't add that "U" at the bottom of the hoop, the hoop is very unstable in the pot.
When potting up, I don't normally remove the original hoop, I just put a new, larger, hoop in the pot above the original plant/hoop and attach the new growth to the larger hoop. This will make for a very full plant so if you don't want that, then you could cut the old hoop away from the plant and then wind the growth around the new hoop. To me, this would be way too much work so I would normally just add the extra hoop above the older hoop. By the time a plant gets to the point of needing a much larger hoop, it's usually time to restart the plant so I would just take cuttings and root them and then start over. When potting the new cuttings, I make sure the hoop is large enough to support the mature size of the plant.
I originally found this vinyl-covered clothes line wire at an Ace hardware store, so they should have it or should be able to get it for you. This wire comes with a blue vinyl coating or a green vinyl coating and the blue is a much more pleasing color, at least to me. A garden club friend found the green coated wire and she does not like it at all.
I hope this helps.
Mike
Mike,
Yes! Thank you so much for the in depth description, yes it is a tremendous help! Makes a lot of sense now. I have the coil wire on my shopping list for today, I'm going to Ace to have them order some fertilizer for me so will pick up the wire while I'm there.
Thanks again for the photo's and description!
Lin
Very nice- I'm going to replace the coathanger hoop (lol) in my carnosa with a new one like these that you made. That memoria is gorgeous!!!
That H. memoria is Gorgeous! I can't believe I forgot to comment on that photo ... so excited about the hoops that I forgot!
I got a cutting of memoria in the spring DL order but it hasn't done much. Still alive but just not much growth like the others. Hopefully someday it will look like Mike's!
Thanks! The H. memoria is probably 7 or 8 years old. The plant had been growing in a 4" clay azalea pot and was so top heavy it would tip over constantly. I had to put the plant in a pot much larger than it probably should be in just so the plant doesn't tip over. I'm sure it will be quite a while before I see any flowers since the plant has so much root-room now. (:o(
Mike
treelover3,
Do you prefer clay pots for your hoyas? I'm thinking about switching to clay in the spring. Any pros or cons of using clay over plastic? Do you keep your mix as porous in clay as you would in plastic?
Cicada,
I used to use clay pots exclusively, but not any longer. I like clay pots because of their weight and the fact that clay breathes, but I am so busy now that I don't have the time to fuss over the plants like I used to. When I was growing in clay my mix was a little heavier due to the fact that the pots lost moisture from all surfaces. Now that I am using almost all plastic pots, my mix is much more porous. I do sometimes pot in plastic and then place the plastic pot inside of a clay pot to take advantage of both the better look of clay (to me) and the substance of a clay pot.
Mike
Mike, I was having the same problem with my H. melliflua ssp fraterna and it is in a clay pot. I didn't want to pot up (because it is already in an 6" pot) so I filled a large tomato pot halfway with pea rock, set the plant in it, put the trellis on and wound the plant around it. Solved the problem of tipping over... the pea rock is heavy!
Your H. memoria is a fabulous specimen plant. Good growing!!
Mike,
Thanks for the information. I've grown cacti for years and know how quickly clay pots can dry out in the summer. I like your idea of setting a plastic pot inside a clay one. I think clay is more aesthetic, too.
Shirley
Mike, I use the green wire and use chopsticks to stabilize the hoops. I like your way much better. Less work. I find the green wire is a little stiffer than the blue and holds the vines a little better.
I love your memoria. I got a cutting last year, but it just kicked the pot, and died. I had ordered it from Ted Green last December. Three of the seven cuttings I got from him (memoria, callistophylla, and Teneba pass) never made it. The weather may have had something to do with it. I heard that any shipment from Hawaii goes to NY first, and then to Florida. The cold may have done them in. I'm saving to order them again.
bjf, I wish I had thought of that first! Using pea gravel would have been much easier. I'll keep that in mind for next time.
Shirley, No problem.
Ima, I'll have to see if I can find the green wire. I have not ever seen it anywhere. I just received an order from Ted and all of my cuttings survived, but that is not the case for my last order. Not one cutting survived from the last order. I put all cuttings on a heating pad this time and I also did NOT put the cuttings into ziploc bags. I purchased H. sigillatis from Ted this fall and I almost lost the plant because it was do dessicated when I received the plant. With a little TLC I think the plant is going to be OK. Whew! (:o)
Mike
Mike, I got the green wire at Ace Hardware.
Thanks, Ima, the Ace hardware store where I originally purchased my wire has closed so I will need to see if I can find another Ace hardware in the area. The local hardware store where I purchased my blue wire only had the blue wire in stock.
Thanks,
Mike
If anyone gets that wire and makes a trellis...I would love to see a step by step picture story how to make it. I feel so blond when I read the description...I get dumb and dumber with the years...and am really visual.... please?
Carol, Treelover3 linked us to his photo's in his first post: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/922575/
Sure makes it easy for me if they already have the shape of the hoop from the wire being coiled, and you just have to bend the ends where you want to stick it down inside the pot.
edited for spelling
This message was edited Nov 14, 2008 9:04 AM
Depending on how large you want the hoop, you may need to gently pull the sides of the wire open a bit and to pull on the top part of the hoop to shape the hoop better. It's kind of hard to describe what needs to be done, but once you try to make one of the hoops I think you'll understand a little better. The smaller hoops are very easy, but those that are a little larger around need just a little shaping/adjusting since the coil of the wire is quite small.
I hope this helps.
Mike
I will try it when I get back... What a clever idea....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!