Personally I would not mix different plants together. In the future if you decide to trade you will have a very hard time knowing what plant is what. Also as each plant grows they will be competing for the same resources.

If you were to put three or four Hoya pubicalyx cuttings in the same pot you would quite quickly end up with a crazy tangled mess of vines. Any of the climbing species would end up entangled and slower growers could suffer if paired with more agressive growers.

I am interested to hear if anyone has first hand experience growing mixed plants, what were the pros/cons of this type of setup.

Mike

I'm with Mike. If you intend to one day be a serious grower who wants to keep track of your individual species, if you ever hope to sell or trade, you'll have a nightmare on your hands. It's also harder to watch for pests and to keep track of the progress of individual plants. It's ok to start cuttings in a communal pot - in fact, it can be beneficial. I find that cuttings that are trying to root tend to root a little faster if they're in a large communal pot. I figure they're throwing out "rooting hormones" which benefit all in close proximity. But it's important to keep them well tagged until you seperate them to make sure you don't lose track of what's what. This may not be important now, but it's likely to be very important at some point.

Denise in Omaha

im one of those people who dont care about specific names. just call it a mixed hoya. all hoyas grow slowly and when you buy plants there may be as many as 8 hoya cuttings in one pot. so there is no problem with potting up several varieties together. it will look very interesting in a hanging pot. but like the other two said, if you are a serious grower and likes to be specigic about names i dont reccomend it. but if your not, go ahead with it if you want

I have never grown different hoyas together in the same pot, but I do have some hoyas I purchased from stores that come with a good dozen cuttings in a single pot, as teengardener stated. While the pots looked really nice initially, once they start growing they become a mess. The plants take up so much room as there are so many of them. Also, it's harder to see how the individual vines are doing. I just noticed the other day a vine on my Krimson Queen (another one with a dozen vines in one pot) is starting to die. My two cents worth, it's easier to care for the plant if there is only a vine or two per plant per pot :)

Mel

And one thing I failed to mention before - different species have different needs. Those with succulent needs benefit from a bit of drying, while thinner leaved varieties won't thrive if allowed to dry too much. Some can take quite a bit of sun while others prefer to grow in a shadier spot.

Denise in Omaha

yea i wasnt gonna mix any without doing the resreach first... what i was mainly thinking is the pubicalyx, since i have a few different kinds and only about one cutting of each i thought it would be cool to have them in the same pot, and because it would take up less space having one hanger instead of three... maybe i wont do that though since they will probably get crazy.

i just really thought that the pink silver, red buttons and black dragon would look so cool together...

i think what ill do is ahve them in three different hangers but make sure they are grouped together so i get basicly the same affect

Amber I think I might look neat at first but after your plants become more than a year or two old it will be a serious mess. Hoya pubicalyx becomes very large. I attached a link to a photo of a large plant growing on a palm tree. This plant very well could have been started from a single cutting.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Large Hoya pubicalyx

holy crap thats huge, yea i definatly plant them in seperate hangers and just group them together. thanks for the pic to put things in perspective

i didnt know they get that large. the onnly one that i ever grown is hoya carnosa krimson queen and hoya carnosa compacta 'hindu rope'. hoyas usually dont grow nearly as large indoors as with other houseplants. but im not going to object with a photo like that

(LOL Nice picture, Mike.)

I really relate to the way you put it, Mel. I too experience more difficulty caring for plants in that setup.

Amber, the publicalyx Black Dragon is in the process of being published as a new species - its growth actually ends up being quite different. In the setup you propose, (different hangers, grouped together), these aggressive species will be climbing toward each other and getting their vines tangled before you know what hit you. I do think you'll get the effect you want, while keeping the care and identification easy for yourself. :)

I tried to find the old threads where this question was proposed before, but no luck. It does come up periodically, but mostly with people experimenting with their first Hoyas or people who have received duplicates of the same plant. Even in those cases, I personally prefer to keep the plants separate as they are usually different collections of the species and end up looking subtly different. And then someone is likely to come along someday looking one that looks a particular way. Hence the people who collect dozens of pottsiis.

Wow, Mike! That one dwarfs my largest one, which is about 3' tall AND wide...

Denise in Omaha

My hoya varnosa is in only a four inch pot. Not bad for me to have it for three month considering im only thirdteen