Today is my Thursday.

Because I work tomorrow.

3 days off in the last 21 days blows.

Anyway, here some photos from yesterday. I am still sore from sitting on my butt without support for 5 hours and lifting heavy bags/pots!

Most of my time was spent trying to make a mix I was happy with. I was running out of Organic Mechanics soil (compost-based), so I went and got some orchid mix and dumped it in there. I added lots of perlite and a little vermiculite. This is a huge 10" pot full of the mix. Looking at it now, I'm still not quite satisfied with it. ::sigh::

Here's my setup for the large Hoyas I got from Ebay. (Still not completely satisfied with the chunky mix.)

This is my cuttings batch from Joni. Believe it or not, there's 7 cuttings in here!

Just a fraction of my setup. All of my soil and pots, with clean tools. The pink tub is full of soapy water to swish my cuttings in (it helps take off any bugs on the vines, if applicable). Plastic lining the floors and cuttings in plastic until I can work on them.

Joni's cuttings went into smaller solo cups. From just a day or so in their plastic bags, the aerial roots existing got crazy! I have a large amount of confidence that they will root.

Now, these? I am not sure.

I got the above cuttings from a well-known Hoya enthusiast and researcher. The top cutting (H. obtusifolia) was infested with mealybugs, hence my crazy careful setup. She refunded my money, which was a nice gesture. I never use rubber gloves to handle cuttings...until now. I was also very careful about disinfecting and soaking. All of the cuttings soaked at least twice in a two day span. I found mealies on the smaller cuttings from Joni, but since I didn't see any mealies on them upon arrival, I'm pretty sure it had to do with it being near that damn cutting for about an hour/being near the greenhouse floor. Dangit.

Anyway, they were all careful soaked and put into their cups. Did I mention that the cuttings in the above picture were HUGE? Most are over 2 feet long...and she was really generous with the extra cuttings. She gave me Hoya cuttings that weren't in the listing as well as a bonus cutting. I bought 6 cuttings from Joni and she blessed me with 7. I guess I'm lucky! (Especially since the seller of the huge cuttings is known for being brutal.)

I don't know what will root and what won't. I'm going for the bagged jungle method - it saves space and allows for me to tend to them quickly. I have a feeling I will lose some of them, but the big cuttings give me opportunities to start over if I mess up because I'm dealing with more than two nodes.

I will follow up in a few weeks with results. A month and a half should be enough time to figure it out.

Speaking of, H. pottsii sp. 'Chiang Mai' and H. pubicalyx 'Bright One' are growing out of their ever-loving minds. I love it!

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Random, but a bird was in my greenhouse, panicking when I got into the backyard. A bird. I had to lift up the flap and let the poor, scared thing out. Once it was out, I thought it's your fault. You wanted to come in! 

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For reference, here's the list of Hoyas I have received in the past week or so (no judging):

From Joni (mystery bundle): 

H. elliptica EPC-641
H. leytensis
H. cv 'Mathilde'
H. lacunosa 'Thai Clone'
H. pubicalyx 'Red Buttons' (which is funny because I was about to buy this particular Hoya on Ebay)
H. limoniaca
H. myrmecopa

From Ebay:

H. lobbii (red flowers)
H. fischeriana (bonus)
H. macgillivrayi (bonus)
H. fungi typical form
H. fungi broad form
H. multiflora (2)
H. mindorensis
H. villosa (?)
H. obtusifolia (thrown away due to an advanced mealy infestation)

*separate orders from Ebay*

H. clandestina (!!!!!!!)
H. merrillii

I'm still planning on cataloging the plants...I just have been scattered. And busy. :(