Friday, December 14, 2007

Hoya KQ white leaves

A few months ago I took a couple cuttings from my Hoya Krimson queen. They soon put on some new growth, but the growth wall all white. Three leaves, one in the shape of an oven mitt, all pure white. Now there are theories out there that say you should remove the white leaves as it is draining on the plant's energy. Others disagree and leave them on. I think they are pretty and generally I leave them on.

But, this was a cutting with only a couple leaves and once it got those white leaves, it seemed to stop growing. So I took the white leaves off and again there was some new growth. Again, they were pure white leaves. Once more they stopped growing. **Off with those leaves!**.

This is when I asked around for an opinion as to what to do, everyone suggested seeing what it does with the white leaves left on. Well I have cheated a little and I have it under a 400W metal halide. I figure if the green has to sustain the plant, I better give it a whole of light. It is finally starting to grow now, again pure white leaves, they are still small, but it's growing. I think it would be really cool if this plant kept producing the white leaves......although I think I would have to forever leave it under the 400W MH to give it adequate light.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have a small, but older, Hoya that looks almost the same. At times the stems are quite pink, and all new growth is white-leaved, but it still grows fine in regular light.