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Soil to re-pot new hoya

15 years ago

I am going today to look to see if i can find a lacunosa hoya . I heard they stay smaller and more manageable. But my question is when i bring it home and re-pot it should I add perlite to the potting mix like i do for my violets? I know not to pot it up very much if at all and that it likes to be a little pot bound.It does not like to stay wet and can dry out more than violets.Light requirement is about the same so unless i have gotten my basic all wrong I just need the correct type soil and I am off to a hopefully good start. Thank you as i embark into the world of HOYAS!!!!

Ann

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Comments (4)

Denise
15 years ago
Ann,

If you're looking for one of the EA lacunosas, it'll probably be large enough it will be difficult (at best) to try to repot it. If you CAN, I would always suggest changing as much of the EA soil as possible to something that's probably about like what you use for your violets (maybe a little more perlite...) But lacunosa's leaves pop off pretty easy and it's a hard one to repot without losing a lot. And, on top of that, I find that it's one that can go south when you disturb its roots. Awhile back, I found one of the silver-splashed varieties and after repotting it, the roots don't want to take up water and I'm still waiting to see if it's going to survive it. If you can regulate your watering to work with the EA soil, I'd probably suggest you just let it remain in the soil you get it in.

Denise in Omaha
shanna5
15 years ago
Hello Ann,

I have an EA hoya lacunosa that has grown quite a bit since I got it either in Oct or Nov of 2007. I started collecting hoyas about Aug. 2007 so I am still pretty new at it. But with my hoya lacunosa it is currently in a North window with no curtain or blind. It has probably 20 peduncles on it total, 3 currently blooming and the rest are in all various stages of buds. I currently have the bottom saucer it came with still attached and I have not attempted to repot it. I water about once a week or every 7-10 days. When I first got it I was advised to take the bottom saucer off, have had it in a southern window and and to keep it more on the most side but I do not and mine seems to be doing well.

Hope this helps you some and good luck finding one.

shanna
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I leave roots undisturbed unless a heavy soil was used by seller. In that case, I remove as much soil as possible by hand and then soak the plant dor 15 minutes in tepid water. After 15 minutes, I remove the plant and gently rinse it all in tepid water to remove any loosened dirt from leaves, roots and stems. After that rinse, I repot in my mix. If it is a small plant, I place it between my first and second fingers (like scissors), hang it between my fingers upside down, cupping its roots in my palm. I add 1/2 inch of mix to the pot, and turn my hand holding the plant over, placing it in the pot. I keep my hand on the plant as I am adding more mix, pushing the plant gently from side to side while adding the media. Once the plant is mostly "settled" in the new pot, I tap the bottom of the pot firmly, but not too hard, against the table and then shake it a little bit. I then add more mix if needed. It is important, if you use my method, to make sure each ingredient in your mix is roughly the same size (eg. 1/4 inch perlite should be mixed with 1/4 inch orchid bark). This way, smaller particles won't settle at the bottom and impede drainage. I really don't worry about spreading the roots. All you really need to do is loosen them from the old mix. If the mix was waterlogged or a very heavy soil was used, best bet would be just to take cuttings, as I have found roots grown in thick, poorly draining soil, are feathery, fine, and very susceptible to shredding, breakage, and rot. That is just my experience. For large plants, I just soak the plant, pot and all for 15-20 minutes in tepid water. It helps the plant come out of the pot. Then I repot into a different pot. I don't even loosen the mix (only because my larger hoyas have been in my mix only, so I know what the rootball is "hiding") UNLESS the roots appear sickly. Then I make cuttings.
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Thanks for the tips. I thought it was going to be a bigger chore, but it turned out not to be too bad. We had a warm week last week so I decided to try and tackle it early. At first it was tough to empty the bags until I realized the soil was still mostly frozen. Waited a few more days for the warm temps to do their thing and gave it another try, then it was pretty easy. Dumped 2-3 at a time into a trash can, broke it all up with a pitchfork, moistened with water, added some amendments, picked out the biggest chunks of stems/roots, and it looked like new. Still a lot of fine roots (they were tomato and pepper plants) but I assume those are OK. My mix was 4-4-1 peat-compost-perlite. Still reasonably fluffy once I got it all refreshed. The compost was good quality variety in bulk from a local landscape yard. Much cheaper that way. I don't have a truck, but I have an SUV that fits 32 gallon trash cans which is a great way to buy bulk if you don't have a truck. Fortunately no gophers around here. Rabbits though. But I do have the grow area fences off with rabbit fencing.
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User
15 years ago
I disagree w/ the idea that this is one of the ones that likes to dry out. In my experience, I've found the opposite to be true, it's one of the ones that doesn't like to dry out like Carnosas, but I guess you've have to wait & see.

If you're new to Hoyas, I wouldn't be so determined to repot it; you're likely to do more harm that good. I believe Denise's comments are quite well taken, commercially bought Lacunosas tend to be large.
Denise
15 years ago
I don't let mine dry out very much, either. With the EA soil (which retains more moisture than my mix), I water it about once a week, a little more often in summer. If you don't let it get too dry, it seems like the leaves look shinier - I've found when it gets a little dry, the leaves start to look dull...

Denise in Omaha

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