Saturday, January 24, 2009

My first hoya (compacta).......dead

This was the hoya that started it all........from this hoya grew an obsession. I saw my first hoya flowers on this hoya compacta, and I will never forget the chocolate scent.

I have been having a lot of trouble with many of my plants lately, the past six months has proved to be quite challenging. I have no way of being able to pinpoint the problem, since there are so many factors involved: humidity is different, windows & sunlight are different, the heating of my house has changed (baseboard heaters now.....below each window, plants don't like that too much either), the windows are draftier.....etc. Add on the fact that I have let some of them go pretty dry, possibly too dry.


It could be root rot for all i know, but I am pretty confident that it isn't over watering, since i am a chronic underwaterer. Most of the plants that are dying or have died already, die the same way. Starting from the bottom and working its way down the stems, the leaves die and fall off. The stems go soft until the plant is pretty much dead. BUT.....in the end, the woody part of the plant becomes hollow inside, it doesn't seem to be rotting away. Root rot happens kind of like this, but it's also possible that it went too dry, and the roots are unable to nourish itself.

Luckily I have another hoya compacta, although this one was much nicer.

If anyone knows what is happening to my plants, please let me know......if you have advice, please share it........it's very discouraging watching my plants die.

5 comments:

Jenn said...

No advice, just sympathy.

I moved from Michigan to Phoenix Arizona a bit shy of two years ago.

Moving is SO traumatic for a gardener. I'm still recovering. I too, lost a small boatload of the select plants I moved with me.

Hang in there. And I'm sorry about your losses.

Aiyana said...

What a shame. I do hope you find the cause--I know what it's like to lose favorite plants, especially if they've been around for years. I know nothing about the Hoya genus so I can't help, but I'm sure someone will come to the rescue!
Aiyana

Hanna-Riikka said...

Me too, I'm sorry for your loss.. I'll be quite happy to tell You that it's not only You who losts plants this time of year, I'll be writing about my winter bads next week end -when I go home and see my Hoya- babies die. :) I have been ignorant with the importance of soil mix. It all boils down to the most important thing: to maintain the balance between humidity-light-temperature-water-fertilizers :)

themanicgardener said...

Well, you posted this a while ago, so I hope things have gotten sorted out, and that the multiple crashes referred to earlier have begun un-crashing, if such is possible. I've left you a message over at Blotanical, too; stop by sometime.
--Kate

Susan Ogierman said...

Hi there,

I found you looking through the Hoya forum on EpiForums. I'd suggest that your problem is very possibly under-watering. It's been my experience that under-watering is just as bad as over-watering for Hoyas. The roots dry out and die so then when you water they rot. I actually lost the roots twice that way on a cutting of Hoya kerrii. I successfully re-rooted it both times and am now waiting for my first buds to open.

Best of Luck to You,
Susan, Rock Creek, B.C.