Living under glass

5 years ago

Hoya Mathilde did absolutely nothing for nearly a year. About a month ago, I took the bold move and chopped her up into four separate pieces. I have one in a sealed cookie jar. The other two are living in cloches. Ever since I cut her up and put her "under glass" in higher humidity, she has put on new growth on all four of the pieces. This is the Ikea cloche that sits perfectly on a plastic lid from a takeout container. These two pieces of mathilde are in leca.

In this other cloche which my aunt gave me a few years ago, I have one of the mathilde pieces in soil (on the right) and my serpens (on the left) which has always lived "under glass". Serpens is putting out new growth for the first time in almost a year as well.

I really like this second cloche and have tried to find another like it but have yet to find one. I know my aunt got it at a nursery where she used to work. It has its own ceramic plate that it sits on.

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Comments (5)

Tika Land
5 years ago
These look great!! The humidity really does help. Congrats on the new growth! YAY!!
popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
Original Author
5 years ago
Just a good thing that most of my other hoyas don't expect high humidity. Because I don't think there are cloches big enough for them! I live in a very dry climate here in Colorado.
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sunfleurpower
5 years ago
A cake dome comes to mind looking at that second cloche :-D it would also add some layering dimension to your plant-scape!

I'm only partly kidding, might be an interesting find at a thrift shop...
Bill M.
5 years ago
Popmama - let me ask an obvious question. What happens when the plants outgrow the cloche? Hoyas, given the right environment, do grow fairly quickly, so do you trim them back each time? If you do, does that preclude them flowering?

I tend to let my plants grow whichever way they want. Some of the vines are wrapped around whatever they can find. Bringing them outside will take some untangling, but once I hang them in a tree or put them in their summer vacation home, they tend to get really wild, but I don't like trimming them because I can't bring myself to chop them up. It's just my personal preference I guess (I'm sure a shrink would have a field day analyzing those feelings).

So, what say ye?

(BTW - I have to admit, those plants look very good under their covers. It is aesthetically pleasing as well as conducive to great growth). Best of luck with them.
popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
Original Author
5 years ago
I doubt these little hoyas, Mathilde and Serpens will outgrow these cloches for quite some time. But by the time they get big enough, I hope they will be able to live in normal room conditions. Because I dont think that a life under glass is a lifetime thing.