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.

Update on my New Hoya's (Liddle Order)

I opened the baggies for the second time since arrival to check out the hoya's I got through the D. Liddle order. This is the first real update, and I am so excited to see good stuff happening in those baggies.

Purpureo Fusca

This is a cutting of purepureo fusca. I gave it a little tug, and it seemed firm. I wonder how long this one takes to bloom, the flowers on this one are purple on purple, and they are so pretty.

Hoya Caudata

This hoya caudata is already one of my favorites. Nevermind that the flowers are possibly the prettiest in the whole family, the foliage is just wicked. The leaves have a funky texture to them, they can be green and they can have a lot of red in them. They are spooky looking. They look like something swampish and creepy, and I just love them. I potted this one up in a clear 3 inch container, so I can see the roots developing down into the cup. They are just over an inch long, so I would have to say this hoya is doing very well.

Hoya Ciliata

This is the hoya ciliata that lost all it's leaves. I couldn't believe it when I saw roots growing all along the vine. This is the hoya that is nicknamed "the black hoya", as it has nearly black flowers. I see less black in this one as say compared to the two pubicalyx' (reb buttons & RHP), but I have not seen either flower yet, and I guess technically, the pubicalyx' have red in them as well.. The flowers of the ciliata are not as pretty as some of the other flowers, but "the black hoya" caught my attention. This will be an interesting one to grow since I came so close to losing it. It will be my "miracle black hoya".

Hoya Dischorensis

My new cutting of hoya dishchorensis is starting to root as well. The foliage is okay, but I did get this one for the goldish color flowers it should eventually produce. Me and gold flowers have a little thing on the go right now. I go ga-ga every time I see a gold flower.

Hoya Mindorensis

The hoya mindorensis cutting is also doing well. It passed the tug test. The foliage is okay. Nothing spectacular, but the flowers on this one are amazing as well.

Hoya Heutschkeliana

In light of the pending death of my other hoya heutschkeliana, this one is in flowering mode. The one that is dying is supposed to be pink, while this one should be yellow. These are a smaller leaved hoya and I really like the foliage. The flowers are small urn shaped flowers, unlike any other in the hoya family. The best past is that it has started to produce buds on two different peduncles. I am going to let it try and flower rather than disbud it. It is still in it's baggie, so I will just leave it in there until it is done flowering, then let it continue to form roots. I have seen hoya's last in baggie for weeks, so I have some confidence that it will be okay, even if I let it flower (assuming it will not blast the buds first).

All of the cuttings I received are doing fairly well. A few have lost a leaf or two, but nothing major. All have started to root, and most are already quite firm in their pot. I plan on keeping them in baggies for at least a couple more weeks before I ease them out of their humid little greenhouse into my house.....lol.

Participating in this order was such a positive experience I can not wait to do it again. My Thanks go out to everyone involved. I look forward to seeing pics of everyone's hoya's as they grow on various places across the net.

Episcia & Kohleria

So some of my Episcia is taking over in my humidity domes, rooting itself into other plants, rooting itself into the thin layer of water at the bottom, pretty much rooting itself into anything it can. So to make more space (it's always about space....lol) I decided to root some in a bit of sphagnum moss in a jar.


I also decided to try and take some out to live in my home environment, on a humidity tray.....but within 24 hours, that batch threw a fit, and started drying up, shriveling up......whatever it could do to show it was NOT happy. It got what it wanted and it had to be moved back into the humidity dome. I am going to have to figure out another way to keep it tame, possibly by putting more in covered jars. This is when I always think, I need a terrarium.



Now that I am over the Kohleria rhizome scare, I have been noticing that my Kohleria seems to be growing quite well since all 5 pots were moved into the humidity domes. These guys are pretty finicky when it comes to the humidity. Too little, and they get crispy, too much, they rot. They are growing nicely, most are over 6 inches tall. I pictured this plant to be bigger in leaf size, but maybe they will get bigger by the time they bloom. I have no idea how long it takes before they bloom, grown from a rhizome, I am going to have to look that up, because for such finicky plants, they had better start proving themselves, or they will lose their premium space.



Like many other flowering plants, Episcia and Kohleria like to be snug in their pots before they send out flowers. Well I am thinking they are quite snug.......what do you think?? LOL I refuse to repot them into something bigger until they grow a little more......or at least until I have tortured them into bloom for a little longer. Bigger pot means more space, and I am not going to give them more space until they give me a good reason too......like flowers.