This is a birthday post!

I usually wouldn't do this (and plan on doing so for the other much unless I remember the exact days I got them), but these two are very special.

They're my first houseplants, and they came into my possession exactly one year ago.

SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RUSSELL AND DIVA!!!!

About one year ago.

Today! (Diva has been looking like this for about a month or two. She wasn't looking good after she bloomed out. She is putting out new growth.)

Russell has been such an easy plant. He could use more sun, but hasn't dropped leaves en masse or pouted (even during the winter).

Diva. What can I say about Diva? She had such a long run blooming that when she started pouting, I had to save her. She's usually a 'throw away' plant, but I refuse to chuck her. No no, Diva keeps on growing. :)

 Happy 1st birthday, you two. I can't believe it's been a year! Here's to many more.

Ah, fall.

I love fall. Not only is it the season I was born during, but we finally get relief from the heat. Cool, crisp mornings...apple cider...pumpkins. HALLOWEEN. I can't not love fall.

I've been learning to neglect my plants more. Overwatering at this time where they are slowing down is not good...so I didn't water anything this time out. I did, however...

find a scale insect on my new H. buotii. Yikes! It's the first scale I have ever dealt with. I promptly took a plant label and pried it off. Then I sprayed with my water/dilute rubbing alcohol/dilute neem concoction. It's slightly separate from the others...I didn't find anything on anything else. Ugh.

Everything is already starting to slow down. Soon, they will come in. That should be interesting! My first winter with these plants.

Reminders.

Just some odds and ends.

Nematanthus albus 'Santa Theresa' bloomed! It smelled a little funny (sort of citrusy but deeper) and lasted about 2 days. But yay!

I just love new leaves. This is H. merrillii.

 

New leaves:

• H. var macrophylla
• H. clandestina
• H. mindorensis
• H. sp 910307

How to root Hoyas on a budget!

What you need:

An aquarium. This is a 10-gallon tank and it cost about $16. I'm sure they're cheaper elsewhere. This will house plenty of starter plants and about 6 larger cuts.

One bright ass light: $15. This is a "special" compact fluorescent bulb that is self-ballasted and supposedly has the full spectrum for plants to use for growth. It's certainly bright! You can probably get a regular CFL for about $10. It beats buying the large T-5 fixtures, which can get costly.

Pots. The big pot is going to hold my mix and the plastic solo cups will be the pots. I like the clear cups because I can see what's going on immediately. They're $3 at any supermarket for about 16.

Bamboo skewers. $2.

Your choice of soil. I use a lot of components, so I lose money on this...but I'm still experimenting and improving my mix.

Hydroton, orchid mix (fir bark, charcoal, pine bark) and Organic Mechanics mix. Have I mentioned that if I can't find OM mix, I usually go elsewhere?

And of course, Hoya cuttings! Lots of people trade for them but I don't have much to offer yet...so I am buying these outright. I am considering selling cuts or actively trading out cuts if they get big enough next year. 

 I am missing the submersible aquarium heater. You can get one online (50W) for $9. You may also want to get some plastic with cutouts or just use plant saucers turned upside down to line the bottom of the aquarium. You need to make space so that the bottom of the pot doesn't touch the water. More on that later. So this will cost you about $50, but most of this is an investment. You won't need another aquarium, heater, or other materials for quite a while. The bulb will last over a year and most of them are energy efficient. We're trying to stay green here!

Hoya fungii, Hoya surigaoensis (H. sp EG00897), and Hoya latifolia (!!!!!!!!)

Hoya macgillivrayi and Hoya cv. Pinkie.

I've modified the mix by added larger grade orchid mix as well as hydroton. Use you favorite mix, of course.

An example of the mix. I've tried to pare down the big chunks - they're solid!

The cuts in the new aquarium.

I don't know if you see what I did here, but the pots are on top of the overturned saucers. The bottom is lined with about an inch of water. Until I get my submersible heater, they will have to thrive in the humidity.

Sprayed with a dilute Superthrive solution and ready to be bagged.

Not very elegant but it should work very well inside. :)

I'm looking for a different fixture to put the bulb in (with a reflector). I bought this batch because it had H. surigaoensis and H. latifolia in it - I need more big-leaved Hoyas in my life. Fungii and macgillivrayi are duplicates but there are several macgillivrayis so I may just have a different one anyway. Hoya Gods, let them grow!

For ~$50, you too can have a ghetto aquarium setup. But hey, it beats spending over $75 more on a T-5 fixture and aquarium hood.

Goodnight!

Un deux trois.

I just spent an hour and a half uncovering, watering, and taking pictures of the plants.

The happy family. I tend to keep the Hoyas up top and everything else falls in line.

Can you tell I love Coral? She's finally kind of trailing like she is supposed to.

This Echeveria has recovered nicely from being bitten up by a cat (presumably - we have a lot of strays).

H. var macrophylla is doing well after having stressed vines from shipping. I had to cut them back and they don't seem to mind.

This is by far the quickest growing Hoya I have. It's H. fitchii and though I know the vine gets kind of washed out at the end...it's at least a foot and a half long.

H. pubicalyx 'Bright One' is so cute. :) It's a happy grower, too.

H. mindorensis is FINALLY growing some more. It's one of the slowest growing Hoyas I have.

The next two photos are of newer Hoyas I forgot to document. This is H. merrillii.

And this is H. clandestina. It's starting to grow for me.

And now we start with the cuttings. This is H. limoniaca.

With its peduncle.

H. elliptica, which I am very surprised at the rate it rooted! This Hoya doesn't usually travel well, so it's finally perking back up.

H. cv Mathilde, which just lost two leaves. Oh well.

H. mymrecopa.

H. lacunosa 'Thai Clone'. So far, it seems to like me MUCH more than lacunosa 'Sno Caps'. We shall see.

H. leytensis. Such a cute little Hoya.

Here are the other huge cuttings from Ebay. Much larger than Joni's, but slower to root.

H. lobbii (red flowers). Part of it broke off during the initial soak so I just made it another cutting. The top leaves look rough, but it is finally rooting.

The other part of the H. lobbii cutting.

Cute leaves on it, too.

Oh thank the Hoya gods...this one (H. fungii broad form) is finally rooting! I was afraid it would just rot away. The roots are definitely nothing to write home about yet, but it's not dead!

I mean, look at these leaves.

The collector thinks this is H. villosa. She knows better than I, so until I can refute it, the name stays.

Whatever it is, the leaves are really pretty. I was looking at H. globulosa (mostly because it originates in China) and these two are supposedly very similar.

This was a bonus cutting! H. macgillivrayi. It's happily rooting along. Grow grow grow!

H. fischeriana, which looks the most beat up of them all. It is thin-stemmed after all.

H. fungii typical form. 

That's enough of a pic dump. :)