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thirston

What am I doing wrong?

21 years ago

Or is this normal?

It seems that most of my hoyas get very long runners that are bare and without leaves. These shoots flower as you can see but they are void of leaves for a majority of their length. I would love for the plants to 'fill out' more and not be so leggy. Any tips?

Most of my hoyas are kept in partial shade from the hot Florida sun on the east side of the house. The baskets they are in are rather large for the plants and I seldom fertilize. Is this because they are not rootbound? Do they have too much room?

Thanks for your help in advance.

Here are some photos.

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Comments (6)

  • 21 years ago

    they need more sun is all..and if you do fertilize make sure it's low in nitrogen because they will get leggy. I would prune them all back if they were my plants and put back the cuttings back in the pots so that they can root and your plants will look bushier. Otherwise, your plants look great:)

  • 21 years ago

    Your plants look pretty nice to me! As far as the long bald vines, that's the nature of hoyas. They put out the long, bald vines first then they start producing leaves on the vines. I wouldn't put them in sun in Florida unless it's only a bit of either early morning or late afternoon sun, when it's not intense enough to burn the leaves. Most of my hoyas are inside and I do fertilize them with a diluted mix at each watering. Also, this summer I started misting them with a tiny bit of fertilizer (15-30-15) in the mist bottle and that seems to help the vines fill out faster.

    I've always read and heard that hoyas like to be potbound before they'll flower but it looks like yours don't know the rules! I'd just start fertilizing them more and see what happens. Which hoyas do you have? One pic looks like Krimson Queen, but I can't tell about the others.

  • 21 years ago

    Yes, the long vines are just the nature of the beast. Hoyas are epiphytes that climb trees in the wild, and that is how they do it.
    Most people take those vines and wind them up and around the hangers & then back around on themselves to keep the plant from roaming around. You can use the little orchid clips to attach them to the hanger, pot, or other vines.
    You can also put a sort of trellis or hoop in the pot with them & wind them around that. Some of us have made elaborate spirals for them to vine up. You must get creative with hoyas. They will forgive you and look better for it. You can also prune them back, but I always hate to cut the flowers or the little peduncles off, and it seems they are always out there on the long leafless vines.
    Marcy

  • 21 years ago

    Sharon,
    I only have a few hoya at the time. I have the compacta, obovata, caudata, and top mystery (to me anyway) plant I posted above. I also own one called a "splash" that I will post a photo of below. That's all :( I'm considering joining the hoya round robbin but am not sure people would want my common hoya cuttings. I've also been looking at one of the Hawaiian companies (Carol), and thinking about making a small order. I'd love to find some cuttings or plants for ones like Siariae, Imperialis, Inbricata, Archboldiana, Lobbii, Lacurosa etc... to get my collection going. My girlfriend already thinks I'm nuts for wanting to run into every nursery we pass to look for new hoyas :)

    Anyhow, here's the one I have that's only marked as "splash"
    {{gwi:978961}}

  • 21 years ago

    Hi Thirston, you are not too far away from me. If you are ever in Rockledge, you should stop by and I can give you some hoya cuts.

    Sylvia

  • 21 years ago

    Sylvia,
    Thank you so much for your offer :) I might just take you up on that sometime.

    What sort of collection do you have? I would love cuttings, but just as much like to see what some of these species look like in person (most I've only seen in photos).
    -Thirston

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