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Name: Carol Noel Hawaii (near Hilo) It's all about choices.
I get mealie bugs and I drench my plants in BATS about every 10 months. Just did it about 3 weeks ago when I cam back. It's systemic . When I see them I spray them with 100% rubbing alcohol....FRIES them!!!!
I had mealie bugs on 2 of my plants (my first Hoya plants that I purchased from Lowes or Homedepot). I did a research and found out to do 50/50 of rubbing alcohol and water...so I did that, but I was so scared that I would hurt the plants, I was sitting with a cue tip getting one mealie bug at a time...funny...
Olesya, I think the spider mites came from putting the plants outside in the greenhouse for the summer. They are extremely small, I can just barely see them move with this these aged eyes of mine. They only really cause problems on the thinned leaved species, but the damage they cause is unmistakable. The leaves all get stippled, and and there are fine webs on the backs of the leaves. Eventually they kill the leaves entirely. The plants that I am having the worst time with the mites have been megalantha, javanica milky way, and coriacea.
Hmmm, hopefully you will get rid of them. Your plants are amazing. They look very healthy and happy. I absolutely love your youtube videos. You do such a great job with that.
Best wishes with the spider mites, Doug...I sure hope the treatment works for you. I had spider mites only once, on a beautiful Hawaiian Palm...I treated it with BATS, and the entire plant died. Let us know how things work out for you. Fondly, Patrick
Thank you Olesya for the compliment on my videos I have a lot of fun making them; I just uploaded a couple of new ones, both on Hoya kerrii for Valentines Day.
Thanks Patrick! Bugs used to scare me more than they do now. I've come to the conclusion that when you keep a lot of plants a few pests are inevitable. I keep a pretty close watch on them and will take action when it is needed for sure.
Reporting back: a month later after starting using K-lite fert.
1/12/13
My H. Lacunosa used to get to this point and drop the blooms, and would go in circle at this stage, so you see all those died off blooms.
2/12/13
After using K-lite for a month... (the same pedicle)
I agree its great to see others having good results.
My multiflora 0153 is starting to bud,which I think is because of using K-Light.I have read on many other sites that is one is not so easy to get to flower.
Doug, I think I watered this plant only twice within that period of time. I don't recall watering it more than that. This plant showed the most progress. I have a couple of starter plants that picked up in growth pretty nicely after K-Lite. So, I am very happy about the results.
Cindy, Thank you for recommending this product. I am happy about your Multiflora. My Multiflora is still a baby. So, a long way to go....
Results fro K lite have been impressive for some but before I jump on it I want to ask questions.
I looked at FirstRays website for K lite. It is combined with epiphyte fertilizer but NPK combo is 12 or 12 point something (difficult to read ),1.3 and 1.3 with Calcium and Magnesium added and some trace minerals. https://www.firstrays.com/cgi/cart/commerce.cgi?cart_id=1360...
I thought high nitrogen promotes mainly leafy/vegetative growth. Can someone explain how did it promote blooms? Don't you need high middle number for blooms/ Or did trace minerals with Calcium and magnesium help more ? I have a southern ag fert with almost same ratios for orchids but I am no good at orchids yet.
Olesya, whatever the reason, booms on your lacunosa are impressive. How often did you use K lite? Did you use anything else? In the end, if K lite helped getting it to bloom, ratio of NPK does not matter.
Alka, I used K-Lite only twice in that month span (that plant specifically), for the first time ever, so it was kind of an experiment. I use it with every watering now. I didn't use anything else before using K-Lite. I just watered all the plants with regular water, no fert. I guess, you can say, the plants were missing out on something that they found in this fert. Saying the truth, when I started using K-lite and noticed that the blooms started getting bigger, I was afraid that they would fall off again, so I waited some time until the next watering. I would study the blooms to see if they are growing strong to water with K-lite again. I am happy with the results.
I am 'very' new and inexperienced in Hoya world. So, I try it, if it works, I use it, if not move on to something else....so, I can't explain much. sorry.