Monday, November 26, 2007

Carnosa Cuttings in my Mosaic Pot

I am so impressed with an old Hoya Carnosa that I have. It was getting long and scraggly so I took some cuttings. I expected them to take a little longer than normal since we are heading into the thick of winter. I have a few pots of Hoya Carnosa around the house, from different sources, so I wanted to do something a little different with this plant. Most of my hoya's are in 4 inch pots, a few are in 6 inch, but the pot I wanted to use is quite large, maybe a 12 inch terracotta pot. But this pot, well it is a special pot. I made this pot with mirror tiles, and did it as a mosaic. Now I think it has the coolest look too it, so I thought a nice ol' hoya carnosa would look really pretty in it, whether or not it ever flowered. But the pot was so big.........so what I did was fill a little more than half with Styrofoam popcorn, then added some of my potting medium to the upper four or five inches. So I am positive there is awesome drainage, and there isn't so much of an over potting issue.

So I took these cuttings only a couple weeks ago, and already there are quite firmly rooted in their pot. I am impressed. So I put my bamboo hoop in the pot because I have intentions of making this more of a floor plant to display.

Well I think it is looking quite nice already. I figured I would record the event online, so that I can see what it looks like in a few months.

2 comments:

mr_subjunctive said...

It is a cool-looking pot. Personally, I might have been more inclined to move up an established plant, rather than to try to start a new one from cuttings in such a large pot, but so long as you remember the situation when you're watering, it could work.

I haven't personally found it to be the case that Hoya slow down a lot during winter; mine have been speeding up, if anything, and last winter, my Hoya (carnosa 'Krimson Queen') was one of only two or three plants that was growing at all for me.

Tracy said...

I had a more established plant in it, but I didnt really like the plant, and I love the pot.....lol. I knew it was a bit risky, but knowing that hoya carnosa is a pretty steady grower, I figured it was worth a try. It is my first decorative plant that I have really given thought to plant and pot. Most of my other plants are in plain Jane plastic pots, or terra cotta, so I wanted to mix it up. Thanks for the comment!!