Denise I am sorry this has happened to you.I do know how upsetting and nerve wracking it can be waiting for those hoya plants/cutting.If you are like me, I am already dreaming about how they will look/how long they will take to bloom.And maybe these were ones you have been longing to get forever.
And then the worst thing happenens they become lost or you open the box full anticipation and you find DOA and you feel like you have been punched.
It did happen to me last year while I was out of work,ordered cuttings and they arrived yellow and mushy.
I do hope they show up Monday and you find them acceptable.

Cindy

Hi Denise,
sorry this is happening to you. I personally think that the U.S. postal service is going to hell in a hand basket and FAST!!!! Most people will blame delays this time of year on the holiday. That may very well be the case. But what's the excuse the rest of the year??? I won a plant on Ebay a month or so ago (no holidays to blame on that one) It came from Florida as well (not from Joni)and it took 10 days to get to me and I live in South Carolina. The package was shipped via priority mail and my opinion on that is that if you can't still guarantee the 2-3 day delivery ( WHICH THEY STILL ADVERTISE BY THE WAY) then remove those words from all the packaging material and the posters in the post offices. I could have walked to Florida and back in 10 days!!!!!

david

I had a similar, bad experience last December with an order from SRQ - it was 1 month late, lost in the USPS sytem. Somehow it ended up stuck in Florida for weeks and seemed to be untraceable. I called 1-800-ASKUSPS and got a representative (finally) who opened a case to research it and to call me with an update.
There was never a good phone# to call for the Tampa sorting facility to reach a live person. I was also told USPS is not trackable � in other words it could still be in transit even though it is not showing up on the Tracking system. When my box finally arrived on a cold snowy night, surprisingly most of the plants/cuttings survived. I hope yours fare better than mine did.
Kathy

Thanks, commiserators! You're right, David, seems like something is up with the P.O. Before this year, I really didn't have many complaints at all about them, but this year has been a nightmare. I've wasted enough money that I'm starting to think it might be worth paying for FedEx overnight service. Better to have expensive cuttings than dead cuttings, right?

A month, Kathy? Really?!! That's about the worst I've heard. I guess at this point, I'll probably just hope for the best and expect the worst. Has anyone tried insuring their cuttings/plants? I think I may give that a try in the future...

Denise in Omaha

UPDATE... My cuttings arrived today (12 days after mailing) and with the exception of one, they all look pretty darned good. Joni packed them well, with good insulation, and she was very generous with the cuttings. I took advantage of her cuttings that were on sale for $4 (mostly) and I'm very, very happy with the size and quality.

Yay! Merry Christmas to me!

Denise in Omaha

That's great news Denise. Did you get anything you are really excited about?

Mike

That is great news! ~ Mary

Mike,

I'm always excited about pretty much anything I don't already have! Here's what I got...

H. fitchii (to add to a litle cutting I got earlier this fall)
H. cv. Joy (this is the one that looks rough)
H. aff. acortechinii
H. siamica
H. pallilimba
H. panchoi
H. neoebudica
H. naumannii (one I've tried and lost)
H. heuschkeliana (yellow - has little flowers on it!)
H. hellwigiana (I'm trying it, AGAIN)
H. fuscomartinata (wow, a beauty)
H. flavida (to replace a cutting I lost)

Anyone have a particular affinity to any of these? Find them easy/hard? At $4 for all but 2, I figured I couldn't go wrong.

Denise in Omaha

My H. cv. Joy is one of the most vigorous Hoyas I have, so if there's any living vine left I'd say it has a good chance. If not, I have plenty to go around when the weather warms.

Good luck with them!

-Chris

Well, that's really good to know, Chris. I was afraid that maybe it was a delicate species, or maybe very cold sensitive. But I see you're in MN, so if you can grow it there, surely I shouldn't have any trouble. I hope it pulls through because it looks like a nice species.

Denise in Omaha

Denise congratulation on your new cuttings,may they grow big and strong.
I so want H. aff. acortechinii H. siamica and H. fuscomartinata.

I grow H.flavida and I grow it S/H after almost killing it while I tried to grow it in my coir base. Ater a few month in S/H it has really taken off.I love the light red leaves when they are new.

Cindy

Merry Christmas indeed, Denise. And here I had imagined just a few cuttings. Here's hoping they all do wonderfully for you.

Cindy I am glad you mentioned Hoya flavida in SH. My plant always seems to have little setbacks and mealies seem to be determined to suck the poor thing dry. I have actually been meaning to start a thread on SH growing. I got a bag of small expanded clay pellets from a friend and have used it for four different Hoyas so far with great results.
When I have some time I will start a new topic unless anyone else wants to start us off with their experiences of growing Hoyas in semi-hydroponics.

Mike

Wow, Denise. You sure did have bad luck this year. Maybe you can trick the USPS by having a friend order the plants for you. ;)

I agree that the cv Joy is very aggressive. I used to have mine growing in a north-facing window here at work, last winter, and it grew so fast I had to take it home in the spring. If yours does perish, I would be happy to give you a cutting.

I haven't found flavida too fussy, but it really took a long time to get growing at a steady pace. I have the two varieties that Joni sells and I kept them in her mix thus far.

I personally think your whole list is fantastic. I started listing which ones were favorites of mine and then realized I was going to list them all. My only advice is not to let the aff. scortechinii dry out. I've lost this one before.

What's the story with hellwigiana? I wouldn't have thought this one would cause problems. Of course, my cutting is from Iris and her cuttings are always like little supermen. Why? I... don't... know... Perhaps she puts meteorite dust in the medium. I got deykeae from her this fall (third attempt) and it's acting like it isn't a sneaky fussy little devil and I hallucinated all my past failures!