It is so exciting to see a plant do this when it seems there is no hope! I have had both results, but usually it happens that they survive when its a variety I don't care as much about, or am not as desperate to save. Someone visiting from overseas brought me a thomsonii cutting, I was so excited to have this one, even though it didn't look good from it's long trip....it slowly declined until there were no leaves left, but I kept trying till the last stem rotted and withered away.

I know of someone who lost a pubicalyx, dead all the way down to soil level, she threw it on the compost pile and forgot about it, till several months later she came across the root ball and the plant was growing like crazy again.

Xuan, Hoyas are tough for sure, I am glad to see the stems without the leaves rooted. Good job!

Thanks for sharing that, Xuan. Many of my cuttings from the recent DL order lost all their leaves because they had arrived in bad shape (they went through an ordeal before getting here), and I still have a few bare sticks that have rooted. Now I have hope that they'll grow leaves! Thanks!

Gabi

Thanks for sharing that, Xuan. Many of my cuttings from the recent DL order lost all their leaves because they had arrived in bad shape (they went through an ordeal before getting here), and I still have a few bare sticks that have rooted. Now I have hope that they'll grow leaves! Thanks!

Gabi

Gabbie---I too have a couple of bare sticks from the DL order....both of them have rooted, and the subcalva is finally putting out a new leaf...so don't give up!

SR

That's great! That would be really exciting to see leaf growth on them...I definitely won't give up. Thanks!

Gabi

Xuan,

God bless you for posting this!! Like you, I find it hard to give up hope that one will root, but there usually comes a point when I just say "enough is enough!" But I got this cutting of (I'm pretty sure!) imperialis a couple years ago from Yale (does that sound right, Yale??) It was one of those I'd SO wanted for SO long, and I babied it, watched it, hovered over it, as it lost one leaf then another. Pretty soon, it was a bar stem, but I couldn't bring myself to give it up. Mind you, this was summer '06, I'm pretty sure... Well, I would check the bare stem now and then... One time, it would have some roots, another time it would be almost rootless, but still alive. So this spring, I got an imperialis from Gardino's, which is doing beautifully, so I thought, "OK, it's time to give up on this pathetic cutting - it's just a reminder of FAILURE!!" And STILL, I couldn't toss it! So I put it on a top shelf where I wouldn't see it all the time and splashed some water on it now and then.

After reading your posting, I got my step-stool out and got up to look at it and - OMG!!! - it has the teeniest, tiniest new bit of growth on it! The old stem has died back to the last node before the soil line, where I see a new leaf (or new growth points) on each side that is still green. I can't hardly believe it! It's so terribly dry, so I hope I haven't let it over-dry! But this will teach me, too, not to give up until pigs fly!!

Denise in Omaha

Xuan
Good thread, thanks for posting!!

Denise, what a wonderful story, thanks for sharing and congrats on your imperialis growth!

shanna

I'm glad you took interest in my post :-). It's just the love of hoya we all share. I hope everyone's bare sticks will have leaves before long in this warm weather.

Xuan

I'm glad you took interest in my post :-). It's just the love of hoya we all share. I hope everyone's bare sticks will have leaves before long in this warm weather.

Xuan