I've only rooted mine in plain water. My dad said thats all you do with Hoyas. They just sat there happily until they decided to root. It might be a better option. It works well with Oleanders too.

Thanks Denise. I guess I need to be patient. I got the two gallon ziploc bags today. I'm scared of fungus and rot, but I may try using them as rooting tents.

Adam, on top of finding many flowering hoyas, are you telling me you have a Hoya growing dad? That's it. I'm officially green with jealousy.

Not really lol. Ages ago we were out walking and there was a carnosa growing through a fence. So he broke it off and we got it started in a glass of water. Thats the way him mum did it.

I am having rooting issues, as well, Most of the ones I got back in late October are doing great, but some have bit the dust. Some are on a heated seed starter greenhouse (still plugged in). Those are all doing just great. Oh well, try and try again for the ones that didn't root.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Also keep in mind that some types are just super slow to root. SUBCALVA I'M LOOKING AT YOU. Brat.

P.S. I want to live somewhere where you can just randomly be out walking and run into a carnosa growing through a fence. My face if this ever happens IRL >>>

Ah, the dream of having Hoyas grow outdoors and twining up and over arbors, pergolas, along walls and fences, up trees, and up to balconies. I need a greenhouse and fast!

Brad AKA Moonwolf

I would have that big smile, plus "crazy eyes" if I ever saw Hoyas flowering outside!

I agree w/ Denise that it's partly the time of year.

This from a new friend locally, we think it's some kind of Carnosa, this shot doesn't show it, but there's a peduncle at its base.

A generous friend from other GW forums sent me a bunch of no ID Hoya cuttings from his magnificent collection of many kinds of plants. Sadly he'd lost his tags, so I've potted them up the best I could & hope to figure out what they are. Am trying various rooting setups for them, as my instincts dictate based on the leaf type, the arial roots, etc.

Note the old peduncle at the 12 o'clock position of the left plant. The right plant is standing up in an inch of water.

I make these supports sometimes to try & contain some of the Hoyas.

Some folks here use old aquariums, which I don't have. I sometimes use found domes or salad bowls like these.

This is something small-leafed like Bella or maybe a Lacunosa, see the roots?

Here's a tower of these I was playing w/ last wknd during the Blizzard.

Lena

Those are cute make-shift rooting domes, Lena. I think the combination of a rooting dome and bright indirect light gives rooting Hoyas the best chance this time of year.

Many of my Hoyas are already responding to the longer days with little spurts of new growth. When I start seeing this, it really puts me in the mood for spring. Today was awesome - temp near 50, sunny, felt like a heat wave!! But with a blizzard heading our way, it won't feel much like spring in a couple days!

Denise in Omaha

Those domes are awesome! What a clever idea. I especially like the Tower Of Domes, although I don't think that would ever fly in my house, what with my pet puma and hippopotamus and all.

Thanks, Lena, for the pictures of your set-up. I love the little support you made. It looks so functional and adaptable, with a funky abstract coolness. I see that you lift the pot off the bottom of the salad bowl. I think that's great for increasing air flow to the bottom of the pot. I have to try that.

I have used a large deep lettuce container with a lid for my curtisii cutting. I think the lid was too close to the cutting, may be two inches above, and the cutting rotted. I also tried putting a cutting in one of those big plastic container that had cheese ball puffs in. When I saw it at a grocery store, I was like "Oh, I HAVE TO buy the cheese balls. I need the container for rooting!". But that didn't work too well either. The shape was not too convenient or right, either right-side-up or up-side-down.

I'm wondering if I should use some kind of fungicide or cinnamon to sprinkle on the stems to prevent fungus. I heard that some rooting hormones have fungicidal property but I'm worried more about the above substrate portion of a cutting. Hmmm..

Now I want cheese puffs. :)

aurorawa, where is you! i use her method of wetting the substrate once and then only misting 17 times a day until roots develop. i'm sort of making that up, i think she said she waters once and then mists 2x a day, but so far the only ones i've lost to rot were very compromised during shipping.

Nowadays, when I grocery shop, I choose what to buy based on what kind of container the items are in. If they are in clear or semi-transparent plastic containers or any other things with potential use for Hoya propagation, I buy them.

You're welcome. We've all learned from each other here in improvising setups. My own late Hoya mentor here in NYC was growing Hoyas in his closets under lights before I even knew what they were (abt 15 yrs. ago).

The size of the container matters, proportinate to the size of the cutting, I can't really explain it but it does.

This isn't a Hoya, but Episcia (family of Gesneriad) to show the size relation of the cuttings to the container (custom fitted lid which I removed for the shot) .

Even pot size to cuttings, helps to keep things smallish for those newer to growing Hoyas.

This little charmer is the one readily recognizable cutting of the bunch, Obovata, always handsome & always welcome.

Further to Denise's comments of seeing new Hoyas' growth, I mostly see it now on the Pubicalyxes, throwing bare vines, the existing bare vine is now a branching vine & the days are getting darker a smidge later too, woo-hooo!!

Thx for the kind word on the domes, it's the battle of keeping in moisture, yet not inviting rot.

MockTurtle:

I suggest your worry of rot is misplaced, the risk of rot is in the roots, not stems above. Wanna know how I know that? Rooting hormone in this is really unnecessary. The fungicide sometimes found in it can be replaced by using Cinnamon on the roots, which I learned at the Orchid Forum yrs. ago, but on the roots, not the stems.

Today I saw a new shoot on a ZZ plant. Usually happens in Feb. which starts tomorrow, right on schedule! Anyway, gotta run.

See this on my lunchtime walk. Not through a fence, but close enough.

Lena, my issue with rot and fungus in a closed container/rooting dome happens before a cutting roots...

Adam, you do live in Hoyalandia!

MockT,

Then perhaps the setup is too wet to start. Do you open it every couple of days to introduce fresh air?

Yeah, I did. I sprayed every day too. Now that I think about it, if the rooting tent was set up right, I didn't need to spray that often. I think the problem was a combination of, the tent being too small, not enough warmth and light, species being prone to rot and harder to root (curtisii). Gosh, no wonder it died....

Then pls. stop spraying it, you are overwhelming it w/ water. A covered dome that closes well will hold its humidity. I'd suggest it's one or the other, not both.

Have you heard it said yet that a plant w/ no roots can't take up water? So that's my suggestion.

So, I repotted some of my Hoya plants to a new mix yesterday. And I thought I would continue rooting the two slowpokes in the new mix instead of Hydroton so I don't have to repot later. When I took the cuttings out of the rooting cups, I saw tiny roots growing! Finally, after almost two months!

I set up a humidity dome with a smallish clear storage box and a heat mat a few days ago. I put the cuttings in a new mix and put them back in the humidity dome. Hopefully, they will keep growing roots!