Shanna

Do you have your cutting sitting out with the rest of your plants or is it either in a bag or some other type of enclosed humid environment? Cuttings will loose more water through transpiration than they can take up so you need to keep them in a very humid environment or they will struggle and it will take much longer to root.

Here is my solution to rooting Hoya cuttings in a hurry. This is an old aquarium with a reptile heating pad attached to the bottom outer surface of the glass. There is an old ceramic tile inside to keep the pots up off of the bottom and the rest of the floor space has about 1/4" of water to keep the humidity up. After about a week the cuttings have begun to root and the stems are covered in roots as well. I usually leave the cuttings inside the tank for a few weeks and then slowly expose them to lower humidity by removing the plastic from the top for longer and longer periods until I can place the cuttings out with the rest of my plants. As for the yellowing leaf I would not worry about it as long as there is only one. I would make sure to keep your cutting as humid as possible though or you may risk stressing it and loosing more leaves.

Mike

Mike thanks for the info and the picture. Where do you keep your tank? What kind of lighting? Unfortuately I don't have a greenhouse or anything, I grow all my hoyas in my living room (and yes it looks like a jungle 3 tables full of plants)one reg. sized east window and a huge (maybe 6') southern window. Right now the cuttings are just with the other plants. I tried last night to find something big enough to put them in but they were too small.

shanna

I am in the same boat as you, an apartment full of plants. I use those adjustable stainless steel restaurant/baker style racks and I suspend fluorescent shop light fixtures to the bottom of each level using cable ties. I have windows with a sunny southern exposure and a shaded southern exposure. The lights come in handy during the gloomy winter months and they allow me to lengthen the the amount of time the plants get good light during the day. If you can't find an old aquarium to use just find a clear plastic bag or a big freezer bag and pop the cuttings in there until they root.

Mike

Mike, Freezer baggie it is!!! I will do that tonight. Also my h. palawanica is yellowing, it had a little yellow on one of the leaves when I got it. I didn't have this problem before all of a sudden and I'm getting nervous.

shanna

They still look good just make sure the entire cutting is sealed inside the bag not just the pot. The problem is that the leaves transpire more moisture than the cutting can replace so you have to make the entire environment around the cutting humid so that the cutting can work on roots without the stress of loosing valuable moisture. Some people will trim off half of the leaves with cuttings that have large leaves but it is not necessary if you can accommodate the humidity needs, that way your plant will look much nicer once it roots as well. Blow some air in the bag if you want but it's not necessary and then put the cutting in a bright place without being in the sun. You can mist the cutting so that there is condensation inside the bag but I only water the potting mix once unless it looks like it is drying out.

Mike

Ok, Thanks for the detailed instructions. How often do you mist the cuttings, once a day? I really appreciate it, I don't want to loose these cuttings.

shanna

You should not have to mist very often if the bag is closed tightly. If you can see condensation form on the inside of the bag you have the proper amount of humidity and can simply keep the bag closed and stop misting. I am sure your cuttings will be just fine, they should perk up pretty fast.

Mike

I have a lot of trouble when I keep cuttings in a sealed bag - they tend to get mold on them. I don't usually have trouble rooting cuttings out amongst my other plants (there are exceptions - tsangii is one that is a little tough for me...) But I've thought several times that if I could find some of those giant zip-locks I've seen advertised that I might try one of those. Maybe the smaller ones don't allow for enough air circulation around the plant itself... One thing, though - I would keep the rooting cuttings out of any direct light until they're rooted. Dappled light or bright shade are ok, but any direct sun is a little too much for cuttings.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much about a yellow leaf here and there after they've been in the mail. I've had that happen quite a few times. It stresses them to be in the mail for a few days and dropping leaves is sometimes the reaction to stress. Once they root, they'll put on new growth.

As for your mac, I know exactly how you feel! New leaves on mac are very easily damaged. I keep my plain green mac in a place where it doesn't get disturbed. But just yesterday, I couldn't resist taking it down to have a good look-see at all the new growth (it's gone mad this spring) and bumped a couple leaves so they "bled" the white sap. Don't even know how I did it because I was being so careful. I was cussing myself out for messing with it...Anyway, I'd leave what's left of your leaf on the plant and if it's ugly, remove it later. Don't worry - once it gets growing good, you won't even notice where that leaf was.

Denise in Omaha

Mike
I put the cuttings each in there own seperate ziplock gallon bag (cuttings are to big to fit together in one. The mix was damp from me watering the first time so I didn't water again. I did mist inside the bags before I sealed them. I set them on my coffee table in the living room not sure how much direct sunlight that spot gets but I can move them to my large oak bookcase that is in the corner of the room (indirect bright light I think) I will move them tonight. My other cutting I am trying to root is H. Purpureo Fusca. I put it on a bamboo trellis last week or this past weekend and it was already pretty stiff but I was really careful not to break it when I was trying to fit it into the gallon baggie. Here's a pic of it before I potted it up.

Denise
That's good that you can root your cuttings amoung your other plants. I guess I will just do trial by error and hope it doesn't kill the cuttings. I had 2 more yellow leaves (smaller ones) on my H. cinnamomifolia last night. I felt the soil and it was really damp like it's not drying out. The potting medium was what carol shipped it in, I didn't re-pot it. I did repot last night when I realized that's not drying out. Also repotted my Erythrina b/c it was having the same problem I believe. My other order I got from her, they are all doing fine and the soil seems to do better for some reason. My soil I had in the house had some perlite in it but I may need to add more plus some orchid bark, but they were out in the garden shed and it was 9:30 pm when I got home so I just went with what I had in the house.

Those big ziplock bags are wonderful. I use them when I go floating (canoing) they work perfect. I also thought of using them for my plants to root but I didn't have any on hand and haven't been to walmart.

That sucks about your mac, especially since you were trying to be so careful. I will leave the leaf on as you suggest and yes hopefully it will be hidden by other leaves eventually. I was cussing myself too for the leaf I broke. It reminded me of the last time I cut my pup gretchen's toenails.... I cut one too short and it bled, I felt so guilty and awful so now my husband cuts them for me and I can't watch, It makes me nervous.

I found a new peduncle on one of my "not sure" which variety of hoyas, there is also an old peduncle but no sign of buds (carnosa maybe-I know there are lots of clones) here's a pic of it.

I am also having problems with my EA kentiana, I never did repot it into my soil mix and I think the soil is staying to wet. It's not looking very good, I did take off the bottom saucer. I may be able to pot it down too. My curtsii needs to be repotted b/c it is so rootbound it's roots are popping out the bottom side with the EA saucer on it. I can see what I need to do this weekend. ...

Hey Shanna,

Pls. try not to be so nervous to make cuttings or abt a single yellow leaf, Hoyas CAN be pretty tough & rugged.

I don't do anything fancy like this, I tend to root in water, 'cause it works well w/ many Hoyas & I don't have the room or equipment to provide bottom heat. Except for Carnosas, they tend not to root in water for me.

Like Denise, I've tried the baggie method & have found mildew &/or rotting problems. Have heard other houseplant collectors suggest that for the baggie technique it helps to use a wooden stick in the pot IN the plastic bag to keep the bag from collapsing onto the leaves, 'cause that can produce rot quickly.

As example, a wk ago last Monday, I received some lovely gift cuttings from a kind & generous Hoya grower here. Am struggling a bit w/ some things & this lovely friend knew I couldn't buy any new Hoyas now. So she gave me cuttings of 6 other plants & 4 Hoyas, one of which I already had (Tsangii/DS 70).

Well I put the Hoya cuttings in water & of the 3 I put into water, 2 have rooted already: Australis ssp sana is starting its roots nicely, the Bhutanica which I've forgotten to check is covered w/ roots & the Limonaica is just abt to start (it's got white nubs on the bottom of the stem which are the beginning of roots).

I do recall that you've bought many of your Hoyas from numerous nurseries. Maybe you could try it on some of your cheaper ones, or more common ones like Tsangii/DS 70 or Nummularioides (both of which water root readily), OR, should you accidentally break a stem or 2. (Caution, a bare stem will not water root, needs at least one leaf node.)

Give it a shot, you'll do fine, I'm sure!

PG
I was nervous about cutting my dog's nails.

But about the yellowing leaves I knew there was a problem b/c the erythrina cutting 2 of the 4 leaves were starting to yellow. H. palawanica lost a leaf last night that was yellow now there's only two on the plant, H. cinnamomifolia lost 3 leaves. All of these hoyas are in the same potting mix and I didn't know exactly what the problem was over/under watering or just getting use to a different enviroment.

thanks shanna

PG,
Forgot to say a few things...

The reason I didn't try to water root is b/c I read somewhere on gw that some hoyas develope water roots then when potted up have to develope soil roots (or something of the nature-don't remember exactly) which is a longer process?? I just did the suggested method when I asked how rooting should be done, since I haven't done much rooting on my own to figure out what works best for my enviroment.

I actually did have the erythrina on a small 1 ft wooden stick and just stuck the whole thing in the baggie so that I did right and didn't even know it.

That was very nice of the unnamed hoya/plant person who gave you those cuttings and congrats on your rooting with them as well.

Yes, i have bought from numerous nurseries and I do need to try and experiment with some of them but I more just enjoy looking, watering, misting etc. more so than rooting and stuff like that. I had a numm bought from cbfm (ebay) and unfortuately it died within a week or less after receiving it so I will get that one again eventually. Compliments to Jan on how big and beautiful Numm is....

Thanks for the caution..

shanna

Shanna,

I do the same thing as Mike suggested (with ziplock bags) to root my hoyas, and I've had very good success. I only wet the soil initially, and then it stays moist throughout the whole rooting process....I mist inside the bag every other day or every 2 days.

**Just make sure you poke holes in the bags so that you avoid rot or mold.

I also use those huge ziplock bags (like for clothing) once in a while, and I'll put a bunch of hoyas in there to root. Seems to work the same as individual bags.

Oh, and you don't "need" bottom heat to root in soil medium (as opposed to water), so don't worry if you don't have it. I've done it both ways, and as long as it's not Fall or Winter weather, you should be fine.

Everyone has their own way to propagate, and you'll find a way that works well for you. I have tried water rooting over and over, and the only hoya that has ever formed roots without dying is H. multiflora. I probably had 1 or 2 others that have formed roots in water, but once they develop water roots it's tough to switch them over to soil medium. But there are many hoya growers who have lots of success water rooting, so you might want to give it a try.

Good luck :)
Gabi

ok thanks Gabi

I break the little baby leaves on hoya vines all the time, since I move them so much. Sometimes they continue to grow just fine, sometimes not - usually I just leave them alone, in fact, my cinnamomfolia has a few half-leaves. If they look that bad, don't fret about removing them, on some hoyas a new leaf will even grow in a removed ones place.

I have never used plastic bags so I have no opinion there, but usually when a cutting was starting to yellow and lose leaves, it was because I was underwatering. I used to mist cuttings all the time, but stopped because of fungus gnats, and found that they did just as well when I didn't mist (as long as I didn't let them get too dry)

Just an idea, but for cuttings and small plants, you could install a flourescent plant light or one cool and one warm tube bulb (cheap at hardware stores or Home Depot)
under a kitchen cabinet and keep plants under that - it works great, I have had plants get lots of growth and bloom under artificial lights.

shanna,

I absolutely LOVE that carnosa? that you have(big hanging pot), does the big leaves have silver flecks all over it? May I ask where you got that plant from? The dark green leaves are very pretty!! Thanks, shanna!

Hi Shanna,
I hope your cuttings make it. I used the bottom heat/baggie method using Jiffy pellets to root my plants in recently. All but the lacunosa (not a problem, as I have lots, just want more backup) rooted beautifully - I had roots within a week, and by 1 and a half weeks my new Imperialis's roots were escaping the pellets! I don't leave the plants in the pellets once they've rooted as I find they retain too much water, so I take them out and repot into normal mix. My method. Everyone has a different one!
Some people swear by the water rooting method, but I've tried it several times and the only plant I've found it to work on was my ex-Lacunosa Tove.
Just thought that perhaps your Carnosa clone is a Krinkle 8 - looks a bit like it? Have a look at this picture. Hope that helps, Hills

Ines thanks for your advice

puglvr1- I love that carnosa? too. I just recently discovered that I have a new peduncle on it and it's developing buds, Woo Hoo!! Yes the leaves have a lot of silver flecking and they are not really succulent (thick) but they are very hard which I love. I also really like the dark leaves. I got this hoya from a garden center called Green Horizon. Someone from my work had been to Green Horizon's and knew I collected hoyas and said it was there so I went out after work and it was on sale!!! I paid $15 dollars- what a bargin, huh? I have had it almost a year and it has put on quite a bit of new growth this spring but still a bargin at that. I would be happy to trade you a cutting if you would like. Just let me know.

Hills
Congrats on your rooting method, sounds like you have it down to a T. It's not Krinkle 8, I have a cutting of that and they don't look anything alike. If I can I will take a close up picture of a leaf. Plus as I said above, I have a new peduncle with buds and maybe I will get an ID sooner rather than later if they don't blast.

shanna

Thanks Shanna,

Wow! That was a deal!!Could you PLEASE send me an email, I would love to trade for a cutting of your carnosa? Assuming I have something you want? LOL. Just go to my webpage for my email address. Thanks...

Puglvr
I emailed you...

shanna