thats a nice imperialis you've got there! But its not gonna be anything like fine copper wire when it gets going. more like wrestling with a well..... a wrestler;) those get pretty big and unruly pretty fast if you dont train them. as far as watering water when almost dry but dont over water, i use a beer fertilizer and they seem to like that but everyone here has a favorite. i found this place about a year ago and i check the forum like i check my e-mail. i too highly recommend it. everyone is highly knowledgeable and you'll get nothing but top notch advice.
thanks everyone
sight:
welcome and congrats see you around the forum

so it is an imperialis then? i wasnt sure how to tell it was. glad to hear it is what i bought. lol, i can only hope this thing turns into a raging wrestler lol.

thanks for the warm welcome!

Hi Sight
Definitely an imperialis, congratulations. To be honest the pot you have it in looks quite large to me. Some people reccomend that you keep hoyas potbound to promote flowering (although I don't think imperialis is a speedy bloomer!) and lots of soil can retain lots of water, making your plant a bit waterlogged.
Imperialis definitely likes to be warm (I lost mine last winter when it was too cold) and I think bright, indirect sunlight. Yours looks like it's had perhaps a little too much feeding and not enough light/warmth, so I wouldn't feed it straight away, maybe give it a couple of weeks to settle.
I've heard (and I believe) imperialis is VERY hard to train, and the only way is to do it with new growth, so, for example, if you're going to try and train it round that bamboo hoop, you're going to have to gently coax it towards it (using garden wire I guess).
Anyway, hope that helps, and welcome.

Hi Sight, and welcome to Hoyas, what will probably become a compulsion if you're like the rest of us! What a Hoya to start with. I've been growing them over 30 years and JUST got my first imperialis a couple months ago. It's a tough one to come by...

I agree with Hills - your pot looks too big. When I looked at the first pic, I thought "Oh, those leaves are way too small to be imperialis" but then when I saw the close-up pic, I was sure it was, so I have a feeling the pot size is quite large to give that illusion. The pot should be just slightly larger than the rootball. Your mix should be light and fast-draining, a standard potting mix with perlite and/or orchid bark added works well. I water mine when it starts to dry out, but it does seem to be quite a water guzzler as it dries out pretty fast...

I use Eleanor's VF-11, which you almost have to get via mail order if you don't live in the west part of the states. You can get a starter bottle from Eleanor's website - I'll put a link at the bottom. I like VF-11 because it's not so much a fertilizer as a mineral boost, which means you don't risk the salts and burning of your plants.

Most Hoyas can be trained and pruned. But when training vines, make sure the last several inches of a vine are not pointed downward as I've found this makes some of them die at that tip. Just clip them about 10" above the end so the vine can curve up if it wants.

Congrats on your new Hoya!

Denise in Omaha

Here is a link that might be useful: Eleanor's

Ya, i had read that the imperialis enjoy to be pot bound. It came in a 4" and the roots filled it in nicely, when i removed it they where a tight clump. The pot you see there is what i had to work with lol. I knew that it needed to be drained well, so a 1/3 or so of the pot are some stones so the water can drain out. I'm not in any real rush for the plant to do much more then grow for me. So i figured a little over sized pot would not hurt, is that true? Also i just ventured out today and got the ingredients to make the "beer" fertilizer. Would you say this is good or vf-11 is a must?

As to how i found this plant i had been cursing my photography boards and saw a picture of the flowers and just HAD to get one. It took about a week to find it online at a nursery in MILTON DE. Got here in 2 days in great shape. So im really not the gardener so we will see how long i can keep it alive.

the store i purchased form them has 7 more if any1 wants links just let me know.

i use a combo of the two fertilizers on my hoyas. i use the beer fertilizer when they need a good drink. every fourth or fifth watering i use just water to leech the pots.vf-11 i use as a follier spray every morning or when i remember.

I have the following saved from a site called Evergreen Garden Works, which is a bonsai site, but it goes into some detail about the physics of soil, what goes on under the surface, the importance of pot size and of the type of soil we use - dense vs aerated.

I hope it is ok to paste this here, as long as I have stated where it came from.

Sight has provided drainage in her pot, and some people, like Sara, overpot successfully, but this is good info to be aware of. I also thought the info about shallow vs deeper pots was interesting, it is the opposite of what I originally thought.

A Pot Isn't Like the Earth
The major difference between a pot and the earth is that a pot has impermeable sides and bottom. This reduces air exchange in two ways. First is the obvious, air cannot pass through the plastic, thus we have a contained volume of soil encased 75% with air tight plastic (or high fired ceramic (low fire ceramic will breathe). This is why I design my soil mixes and other environmental factors to 'dry out' the pot once a day during the growing season. Each time the plant is thoroughly watered, it pulls a new charge of air in behind it as the water drains.
Secondly, we have to visit our old pot size argument again. When a downward moving table of water reaches an impermeable layer (in this case the plastic pot bottom) it will not drain until the layer just above the impermeable layer (pot bottom) is saturated. Once this lower layer of soil is saturated, excess water will drain out, but a column of saturated soil will remain since the moving table of water has stopped at the impermeable layer. This means that the soil in the bottom of the pot remains saturated at this lowest level after watering, and stays saturated until something happens to change that condition. That 'something' is primarily absorption from the roots in the bottom of the pot, the secondary factor is (or should be) evaporation. You will probably want to read this paragraph again, and perhaps a third time, it is not obvious.

Overpotting
Most of the water in the pot is removed from the pot by absorption by the roots and not by evaporation. If you overpot, it will take a long time for roots to colonize the bottom of the container and consequently it will take much longer for the saturated layer to become fully aerated (the only factor at work is evaporation). Overpotting will generally lead to too wet conditions and eventually root rot.

What About that Saturated Column Thing?
Ok, just how high a column of saturated soil do you get in a container? The height of the column of water retained in the soil by an impermeable layer is related to size of the particles. Sound familiar? The denser the soil, the higher the column will be and the more water will be retained. Large particle, highly aerated soils will not support a large saturated volume. This is what we mean by 'well drained'. You can test this for yourself. Take a regular sponge, soak it with water. Rest it in your hand horizontally until the water stops running out. Then tilt the spronge upright. You are now increasing the saturated column. The sponge density won't support a column that high and water will drain out.
This experiment also shows that pot shape is related to water retention. A broad shallow pot will retain more water than a tall narrow pot of equal volume. Although it is counterintuitive, a shallow pot will retain more water and 'dry out' more slowly than a tall narrow one (of equal volume).

Hi Sight (and welcome),

I'm wondering about the size of the leaves. Looking at the plant, it looks really really tiny (not only is that pot fooling my eye, but that bamboo hoop must be pretty huge to make the hoya look that small!). Imperialis leaves are somewhat big. Your leaves look like imperialis and I can't think of anything else it could possibly be....but can you measure the biggest leaf? It almost looks like a seedling or something.

You said that you put stones on the bottom for drainage. Does that mean that there isn't a drainage hole in the bottom for water to come out of? If that's the case, I would definitely switch the hoya to a pot with drainage. What others meant by "fast-draining" is that the soil should be really loose and chunky.

Good luck,
Gabi

I see. Thanks for all the help!

After reading what everyone had to say i have re potted it into a 4" clay pot. With the loosest potting soil i had. It has a drainage hole in the bottom. Here it is:

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And here is a close up of the largest of the leaf. I call it a plant, but it could be a seedling.

{{gwi:971012}}

You were right to repot to a smaller pot. Just be prepared for other opinions. Say "I was right" three times, click your heels a few times, fertilize occasionally, water less than you think you should and put her in the right window. No pressure. LOL. Have fun in college!

I absolutely think you did the right thing! Not only by repotting into a smaller pot, but a drainage hole is a necessity with hoyas. Good going!!

I have to say though, I personally think that imperialis likes to be watered more than other hoyas (in comparison to carnosa and pubicalyx and the like). I keep my imperialis slightly moist at all times...and since your's is in a clay pot, I would definitely be weary of underwatering. You'll get the hang of watering...just water when it's close to dry - I wouldn't let it completely dry out.

Gabi

Dear Gabi,

You are 100% correct about clay pots. They can be tricky. Sometimes I feel like clay pots suck the life out of my plants.

Sight, are you changing zones when you take off to college?

As for the earlier question about beer fertilizer, I haven't tried it so I can't say. David has many unvelievably awesome plants, but I'm to scared to try anythin that radical on something I've nurtured and loved. If I ever get a hoya I don't like, I'll give it a whirl.

My house sits perfectly north south east west. And my hoya sits in a east window for direct early morning light and then bright indirect light the rest of the day.

When i head up to college i will be traveling straight north from Pitts Pa. to Erie. It is a little colder in the winters but over all going to be about the same. Im not sure how it is going to do, i heard that 50deg was the min temp, and becuase of a hand injury,(lost 2 finger) i have to keep my rooms warm so figured they would do fine. I also keep a humidifier running in my room 24/7 so, hopefully the controlled environment change isnt going to be that big of a shock for the plant. The major thing is just going to be the difference in light.

~Jake~