Thanks Mel! Unfortunately VT has some of the highest utility rates in the country, and in VT, I pay the highest electric rate of all the utilities doing business in the state. This doesn't matter too much if you are growing a cash crop like marijuana, but no real money to be made with Hoyas. I estimate that my plant lights add around $80-$100/month to the utility bills. This is still cheaper than trying to add on a sunroom or greenhouse, and then trying to heat it. When these plants go outside into my little greenhouse in the summer, it still costs me about the same to run an electric heater at night to keep the temperature above 50 degrees. I know that it is a crazy hobby, but I love these plants, and they keep me out of the bars!
Doug
Mid-March Madness or Miscellaneous March Hoya Photos
Doug,
I remember your last set of plant pics around your house and plant room, and I am even more amazed now than I was then. Amazing use of space, and I just can't get over how healthy your plants are. You are truly a genius with making the most out of growing/blooming hoyas in cold, snowy, dark Vermont!
Truly a pleasure to look at your pics.
Thanks for sharing,
Gabi
Gabi, Thanks very much for those nice comments; I do work very hard at this Hoya hobby, and it is nice when people take notice. I do think I have too many plants, and I can't really believe that I have ordered more cuttings from David Liddle and the Co-op. In the fall, I'm going to make some hard decisions about which plants I will keep, and which ones will go. I am going to base my decisions on leaf style, and ease of keeping in general house plant conditions. Also, some of my plants have gotten so large that they are starting to become unmanageable. My compacta and lacunosa are approaching four feet long, and I am afraid that the pots will give out under the weight. Any way those decisions are a few months away, and for now I'm enjoying them.
Susan, I would love it if you used that photo as a background on your computer. If you shoot me a dmail with your email address, I will attach a higher resolution photo. I've tried to use these photos posted on DG as a background before with no luck. The only thing I can figure out is that DG's software automatically reduces the photo size when you post the picture. I don't think my Big Mac is going to flower for me this year. I attached a photo of it blooming from a year ago.
H. magillirayii has been a really weird plant for me. I have tried to grow this plant from a cutting at least three different time with no real luck. This plant that you see in the bathroom photo was bought as a mature plant, for $50, from an Oklahoma woman who sold this plant on ebay - best $50 I ever spent. It was tightly wrapped around a heart-shaped trellis that I had to cut into pieces with bolt cutters to transplant the plant. It put on tons of new growth in my greenhouse this past summer, but when I brought it back inside in the fall, much of the new growth died back from the shock I guess. It just recently started growing again, throwing out a five foot stem with three new leaves and two peduncles in about six weeks. I don't think it will flower though; this past summer I had probably 10 new peduncles, and they all died away so they don't necessarily mean anything. I don't really know what makes this plant tick, but it is a great one to keep if you can get some size on it.
Doug
WOW!! Doug, how do you get those leaves so large? My Macgillivray(sp) has the tiniest leaves...
South window...
LeeAnn
I had the same trouble with all the magillirayii cuttings that I have tried - it initially roots well, the leaves stay small, and it just sits there, and then I do something wrong, and it regresses. This plant came with huge leaves, and only grows huge leaves.
Doug
hmmm...mine is growing like gangbusters, but the leaves are just normal leaves...very weird!
Here he is:
Oh my gosh, Doug! Your mac is huge!
Kelly
It's beautiful! I have had really bad luck with cuttings as well.
I love it, congratulations Doug.
Lourdes
Doug,
I was just going back through the pictures you posted here - all I can say is WOW! Your plants and your setups are beautiful! If you'd ever like to come to WV and work on my setups, you're more than welcome!
Very impressive!
Kelly
Doug, the picture turned out just gorgeous on the background. You don't have to do anything else. It filled my computer screen and looks very bright as if it was sitting in my office. My office has one whole wall that is all windows.
I love it so much and could never have a plant that large. (no possible room)
Susan
Thanks again for the kind comments about my plants. If Carol see this maybe she could chime in about what makes the size difference in H. macgillirayii leaves. Is it plant maturity, or maturity of the cutting? Is it a varietal difference? If you start out with a cutting with large leaves does all the new growth have large leaves? I guess inquiring minds would like to know the answers. Some of the leaves on my "Big Mac" are larger than my hand, but I can't bring myself to lop any off to try a cutting as an experiment. All the failed cuttings that I've tried have come from other sources and had small leaves to start with.
Doug
Susan, glad that worked out for you. One other thing, did you used to be susancva on DG? If you are, I want to thank you again for that nice NOID cutting that you sent me a couple of years ago; it is doing wonderfully. Hopefully it will flower this year, and I can post a picture so someone here can possibly id it.
Doug
Susan, It was very, very nice of you to have sent me those cuttings, and the obovata looks fantastic! The NOID that you sent me was putting out a couple of peduncles, but unfortunately, I accidently broke off the active growing tip while trying to wind it on to a trellis - very brittle stem. The plant is still doing great though, and hopefully this year I will post a picture of it flowering, and I will give you credit as the source.
Doug
Doug,
What type of fluorescent light bulbs do you use? One of the daylight tubes that are out on the market? In the pics, the light looks so "white". Most of the time when I take a photo under the fluorescent lights, it has a yellowish look to it. I use cool and warm white tubes, mostly.
Thanks,
Mike
Mike, I use 6500K T-5 High Output fluorescent tubes, which only fit in special fixtures. T-5 tubes are only around a 1/2 inch in diameter, and consume 54 watts per tube. The bulbs are relatively cheap $6-$8 per tube, but the fixtures are expensive. For a four tube fixture, you are looking at a starting price of $150 and up depending if you go for brand name or no name unit. My lights all came from here: http://www.htgsupply.com/
Hope that helps,
Doug
Hi Doug,
Yes, thank you! I can tell that this is going to be an expensive proposition!!!
From the look of your hoyas, these bulbs and fixtures are worth the investment!
Thanks again,
Mike