Growing conditions forum: Question on potting medium
After 13 years online, Cubits.org is scheduled to be shut down. Please make sure you have the contact information for all your friends, and that you download whatever content you want from this site.
Views: 62, Replies: 12 » Jump to the end |
|
|||
| I always grow my hoyas in more or less the same mix....very open bark in baskets or clay pots because they are outside, a little open to the elements and plastic pots stay too wet after rain, so I try and keep the medium as open and free draining as I can.....works for me in my conditions. However.....some of my Hoyas which I read need wetter conditions..H lacunosa and the likes, dont seem to thrive as well ( well, if Im truthful the same species from the same source can do well in one pot, and not in another....same conditions but that just confuses the issue ) So....if the plant likes wetter roots and not to dry out too much, should the mix be atlered to have more water retention, ie, adding some peat or other medium that retains water leaving the roots wetter, less air and generally more suffocated, or should the open mix just be watered more to avoid overwatering? Dominic |
|
|||
| Personally, I just water the open mix more. I'd rather water more often than take the chance of rotting roots. |
|
|||
| Dominic, I would have to say that some Hoyas definitely do better in a heavier soil mix than others. The key is to know which ones. Here in the U.S. we need only look to the Exotic Angel (Herman Engleman Nurseries) Hoyas. They use a very heavy mix with a lot of success. I for one always leave them in their original mix, and they grow like crazy. They grow all of their lacunosas in this heavy mix, and it is hard to find nicer ones anywhere. Some Hoyas hate to ever dry out, but will die quickly if they are too wet. It is sometimes a real struggle to get it right - at least for me. Doug |
|
|||
| I completely forgot about the Exotic Angel ones! Good points there Doug. |
|
|||
| Does anyone have a list of which ones they have found to be deffinite moisture lovers? H obscura H linearis ( or so it would appear from EA success ) H lacunosa H curtissii? DS 70 ? |
|
|||
| DS 70 I'm not 100% bought into it being a moisture lover...not for me anyways. H. multiflora is for sure, sulks if let go dry even for a moment. H. calycina loves it's moisture too. |
|
|||
| I didnt know H calycina loved moisture..........Ive always grown mine dry...and not very successfully.... The reason why I had lumped DS70 into my brief was because I had read it was a popular EA plant.....not being in the states, I dont know. I haed only once seen H calycina in a nursery in the UK , the RHS nursery, and all the plants they had for sale were blasting buds, not looking very happy, whilst the Carnosas and Australis' on the same bench were doing fine. From the same place I had found a Hoya completely dying in soaking compost. I scrounged a few cuttings before they threw it out. It has turned out to be H brevialata which is now growing and flowering so well now here with me and I do keep that on the dry side |
|
|||
| I, also, just water more often! I find that when the weather is humid, I really they don't dry out as much. H. curtisii should never dry out. The hoyas in the group with H. callistophylla don't like to get dry either. Leap. The net will appear. |
|
|||
| I would add bella and elliptica as moisture lovers as well! |
|
|||
| I have killed H. linearis growing it wet and growing it dry. I just can't figure out how EA grows them so well in that soggy mix they use!!! My mix is very easy....just shredded redwood, perlite and hydroton. I add more hydroton if they want to grow drier and more redwood if wetter. That whole H. calycina group (magnifica, albiflora etc.) like lots of water, food and growing in big pots... Leap. The net will appear. |
|
|||
| Im having ..or seem to be having..luck growing H linearis in plain Spaghnum Moss...when its starting to dry out, I re soak it.....Might not be saying that later this year, but so far so good |
|
|||
| Hmmmmm Will try the Spagnum on the bits that are left!!! Leap. The net will appear. |
|
|||
| I have mine overpotted in the spaghnum so it stays wet longer. I remember a fab photo of it growing hanging down from branches covered in moss. My guess would be that it would have had to have been quite humid or damp for there to have been so much moss |
| « Back to the top « Cubits.org homepage « Hooked on Hoya cubit homepage « Growing conditions forum |
You must first create a username and login before you can reply to this thread.
