Hoya carnosa potting dilemma

Hi everyone,
Some of you might remember my Hoya carnosa from this post last year. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/824453/

Along with most of my plants it has had a very tough summer. It was very shrivelled looking so I stuck it out in the rain for a week which improved it greatly, then I picked off any dead vines and leaves, and unravelled it all from itself - which was a big job! I am try to decide how to repot it and I would like some opinions.

I am going to post 5 photos, one here of the whole plant as it is now, followed by some sectional closeups, then I am going to ask my question. Firstly, here is the whole plant, unravelled from itself -

Here is the base of the plant

Here is the middle

And here are the ends - the longest vines are about 2.5 metres or 8 feel long.

Finally, here is a peduncle to go with my question. As you can see it is of good size, showing that this plant has been flowering for a long time.

I want to repot this plant. It has been in this hanging basket without renewal for a very long time, possibly more than 10 years. All I have done for it in recent times is top up the pot with sifted compost each spring to replace soil washed out in the winter and give it a light sprinkle of slow release to replace any missing trace elements, but I think now the time has come to bite the bullet! Even in its current (trimmed down) state, the plant is very heavy and awkward to handle - especially because the plant all grows to one side because it has been hanging against things all its life. I would like to put it in a largish regular plant pot, one big enough for a good sized trellis. If I did that I would then be able to move the plant around if I needed to mitigate the effects of bad weather. Since it has been in this pot so long, do you think I should wash ALL the old potting mix off? Also, how do you think it will tolerate the transition from all stems hanging down, to all stems growing up - does anyone have an opinion on what H. carnosa prefers in this matter? Possibly someone in the forum has actually done what I am now considering.

Finally, it is now mid autumn here, we have had recent overnight lows around 7C/45F, but it won't get really cold for another 6 to 8 weeks, when the overnight lows will dip to around 3C/38F. Do you think I can get away with doing this NOW rather than waiting for spring. The plant was virtually dormant for the entire summer this year - no flowers, no growth, and a fair bit of die-back was observed - which is what got me thinking about repotting it. There are actually one or two points on the plant that look as if it is trying to grow NOW, even though that is wildly out of season for it. Our coldest month is usually June or July and this plant is normally showing signs of new growth around August. Personally I think it is just grateful for the rain last week - It was our first serious rainfall since August last year! Anyway I look forward to hearing your opinions,

Ciao, KK.

Cheers KK - I would NOT put it in a BIG pot. Mine lived in the same pot for 30 years...granted...I never watered it properly and it bloomed rather well. Carnosas can take the cold....occasionally but not a steady diet. They also prefer shade to bright light and they like to dry out first.

You might wait until Spring...the plant knows the dark cold days are coming...and it will recover but more slowly than if done in the spring....

Old stock gets woody and brittle...you might take some cuttings and make another pot full...just in case...and let it climb all over the place!

HTH
Carol

Hi KK,
I have a very old H. carnosa Krimson Princess that some dear elderly friends gave me about 33 years ago. Originally it was a little plant in a little pot and after a couple of years I put it in a hanging basket where it remained for almost 20 years. It became so root bound that there was very little soil left in the basket, so I divided it between two hanging baskets where it remained for another ten or so years. Last summer I decided I wanted to plant them climbing up so I went rooting around in the shed for something to use as a trellis and found two old 8' aluminum railings and got my husband to saw them in half to use as trellises. I got two large pots and re-potted both of the Hoya's and they seem to be doing fine growing up instead of hanging.

I have always had the habit of rinsing all old soil from plant roots when I'm repotting. I don't know why except maybe in my mind I thought it was like me taking a shower to get all the muck off after gardening! ^_^ I recently I read somewhere that it really isn't necessary to remove all soil from the roots when repotting but it's just habit with me.

I don't know if it would stress your plant to re pot it during cold weather or not, hopefully some of the pro's will pop in with some advice. My preference is to do it in spring or summer when there's no chance of chilling temperatures. We don't usually have real cold winters where I live but occasionally we have nights that do get into the 30's (F) and it's not unheard of to sometimes even get into the 20's, but fortunately the cold doesn't last for too many hours, it usually warms up considerably as soon as the sun rises.

My Krimson Princess seem to be reverting back to solid green, which at first I didn't like but I've gotten used to it. Here's a picture of my "Twin" K P's.

.... oh, I wish you could send us some of your rain, we need it!

I'm so sloooow, I see Carol answered your questions while I was typing, LOL. Please listen to Carol, she gives great advice on these Hoya plants that she knows so well.

I am still a newbie/novice when it comes to Hoya's. I used big pots because the plants had such a large amount of roots. I put about two inches of orchid bark in the bottom of the pots, then some soil and then crammed the roots in and covered with additional soil. They are packed pretty tight. It's been about a year and I haven't seen any ill effects. They bloomed last fall but I haven't seen blooms again yet so they may very well be concentrating on growing more roots! The past month I have noticed a couple of new little leaves growing and I'm just happy the plants are happy. I was a bit worried that they might not be happy hoyas when I put them in their new containers!

Hey..still learning here myself!!!!

When I repotted my H. motoskei there was NO soil in the pot and the roots had grown outside of the pot. That carnosa family is tough!!!!

Kaelkitty ~ glad you brought this up. I have two large hanging H. carnosa that are in need of assistance. One has broken its' pot open. Both have fibrous roots raising out of the tops of the pots by at least an inch. I had been thinking of removing from the pots and shaving the roots but worried about the effect it would have one foliage and blooms. I have been pruning one back a good deal and rooting a start just in case. I also assumed that the foliage would need to be reduced if the root structure is diminished. I really don't want to go with larger pots as they will be even more difficult to move. I would agree that for you, this is not the season to tackle this as they will sulk in the winter cold and light. Good luck & thanks for asking this... pod

Pod....have you considered potting UP your hoya. Sounds like it is time.

I was really hoping no to... a larger pot will make them totally unmanageable and I do have to move them to winter shelter. No experience shaving roots?

Yes...Christina on myhoyas.com trims hers' roots every year, I think....you might send her a Dmail... MyHoyas

Thanks ~ I am willing to try that with at least one of them.