New Baby Photos!

Here are two new baby photos.  First photo shows H. pubicalyx “Red Buttons” seedlings at two months of age and second photo shows H. heuschkeliana “yellow” seedlings at one month.

Fun with Picasa!

Here is a fun way to kill a few minutes:  Go to Picasa (Google’s Free Photo Editing Software), and create a collage.  Here is an example with no real thought put into it.

 

Double Hoya elliptica Bloom

I have to say that Hoya elliptica is not the difficult Hoya that I expected when I purchased it.  If you can give it really warm (85° days and 80° nights) with high humidity, this plant is easy to keep.  It also almost never stops blooming and is extremely easy to propagate.  The plant is however very susceptible to foliage burn if you foliar feed – Don’t do it!

A Word About Saucers

In the interest of this blog not just becoming another “pretty picture” site, I will periodically post some helpful information that I wish I new when starting out.  Here is another slice of advice sent to a very nice lady who asked for my input.

Hi Rita,
 
Thank you so much for sending me the photos!  You have a very lovely setup and the greenhouse and sun room are just beautiful.  I can tell you are my kind of person – the kind that loves plants!  All of your plants look very healthy to me.  There is only one suggestion that I would make.  I would have an impossible time taking care of your plants for one big reason – all of the saucers.  I only have one plant in a saucer for my entire collection.  I grow everything on humidity trays.  When I water, I water very heavily, and all of the water flows through the pots and into the humidity trays.  The reason I have so few hanging plants is that every time I water, I have to take them into the shower and water so the excess water flows into the tub.  It is a really time consuming pain.
 
There are a few reasons for no saucers.  1. The plants have no chance of sitting in a saucer of water and rotting the roots if you forget to empty it. 2.  When the plant is on a humidity tray, it contains all of the mess, and the excess water adds needed humidity to the air. 3. The biggest reason of all is that when you water heavily and the water pours through, it washes away all of the accumulated fertilizer salts.  That is why I can get away with fertilizing every time that I water. 
 
I love your plants and setup, but if you want to grow huge healthy Hoyas like me, my one suggestion is to lose most of the saucers.
 
Take care,
 
Doug