All of your options sound pretty good. I wonder if it might be too hot in your greenhouse for cuttings?

I have only grown cuttings in a small aquarium. Bottom heat, 1/2in water infront of a southern window with my shades almost fully closed. (Small lines of light slip through and shine on the leaves.)

I have heard over and over that tricky cuttings should be rooted semi-hydro. I use hydrotone and rooting hormone in my aquarium. I've rooted right into a mix before but I always like to play it safe! Be sure to water every day//every other day if you're in semi hydro.

When your cuttings arrive, soak them in water for a few hours to re-hydrate them (some people add super thrive to the water). Make sure the water isnt hot or cold and leaving it out 24hr ahead will let the chemicals 'flash off.' I've read that any cuttings which look extremely dehydrated should be soaking longer (even over night!)

Btw if you're ordering from Joni, why not order full plants? The cost isn't much more, plus I try to limit myself to the sale plants C: I've also had nice plants from Gardino.

P.s. you don't talk too much! Don't be silly :)

Heh, thanks. :) I am a very curious person, which is why I do the job I do! (I counsel.)

I do love Joni's rooted plants. I'm just curious as to how to root my own cuttings. And she has cuttings bundles now that I wish to try. Is that weird? Haha.

Do you have photos of the setup? What's your success rate?

And oh no, I cannot afford a solid, metal frame greenhouse. I have a really cheap greenhouse you can get for $40, LOL. The bottom is sort of open, so air does get in there. Most of my plants loooove it. I mostly bought it because it wheels around.

:)

There are a number of ways of doing it, my preferred method is in ziplock bags. I just wash the plants and put them in wet. They're left in a bright area but not direct sun. Now and again they're taken out, washed and put back wet. You need to watch your water, tap water can contain a lot of things depending on where it comes from and what the water authorities put into it to "improve" it.

I think your mini greenhouse would be perfect as long as you keep it in the shade if outside. I have a similar greenhouse that I use occasionally and if you take clear plastic recycling/garbage bags and packing tape you can cover the bottom shelf to help keep in more humidity.
I always root right into the growing mix because then you don't have to disturb the cutting. I have very few problems with this method but rooting in semi-hydro is great as well. I am actually thinking of moving a few fussy Hoyas to a semi-hydro setup to see if they show better growth.

Mike

There are lots of great ways to root Hoyas that work like a charm. A couple years ago, I bought a bunch of gallon-size baggies with twist ties and I would put a small pot with a cutting in the bag, mist it, blow it up and seal it. I kept them in a warm shady spot either outside or in the GH. About once a week, I'd open up the bag and let out the old air, blow in some new and seal it back up. Some root VERY fast this way, and what I like about this method is you don't have a tangled web of vines inside an aquarium that you have to untangle when you want to check one out. But it still provides the humidity...

This year, I'm rooting a lot of mine in the hydroton stones. I like the roots produced, and I can leave them in hydroton (which I usually do) or move them to soil once they have nice roots.

And it works fine to root in my regular soil mix - when I do this, I keep them in a shady spot and mist them often.

Good luck with your new cuttings!

Denise in Omaha

Hi Goddess, I wanted to show you how I have been rooting lately in a product called water gems from Michaels craft store. I placed them in a clear glass with half full of a dilute mix of fish emulsion and placed them in a southern shaded area. From July 27 to August 15 and yesterday have potted them up in my soil mix. Good Luck! ~ Mary

Thank you so much, everyone! I love hearing how everyone deals with rooting. :)

So, lets say I go with Denise's process. I get the baggies, put the cutting in the soil and leave them outside. Do I water them in or just mist?

I ordered a cuttings bundle from Joni and I'm excited! Yes, I could have a rooted plant but I know the joy of making a cutting and successfully propogating other plants...I'm sure rooting a Hoya would be even better!

Lauren

Great ideas. This spring and summer, I just placed cuttings in soil with perlite into those clear solo cups from the grocery store and every one did very well.

Susan

Lauren,

When they're in the baggies, they don't really need any added water. Of course, if the soil becomes dry before they root, you would want to rewet the soil, but mine usually root before they need any water, and I just remist before I blow in fresh air and seal.

Denise in Omaha

Holy cow, I also just got my first bundle of six cuttings from Joni: H. memoria, H. aff. fischeriana, H. publicalyx Black Dragon (whoo hooo!), H. pottsii IML 0037, H. spitangensis, H. carnosa Chelsea. I unpacked them just hours ago and they're resting comfortably in a southeast window which will be out of direct sunlight.

As a newbie, I'm most concerned for the sipitangensis. Joni's site indicates that horizontal rooting might be best. So HELP! what medium should I root in - just sphagnum moss? perlite? Should I give it some cover, or can/should it be left uncovered?

I want all six of my new babies to survive and thrive!

OMB, just make sure they stay hydrated and you'll be fine. As described above - in baggies, in an aquarium, or just mist cuttings often. Hoyas are easy rooters, so relax and enjoy the process!

Denise in Omaha

I used to be a Hoya rooting failure until I got a ten gallon aquarium with bottom heat and a florescent hood. I make semi hydro pots out of clear plastic cups and fill them with hydroton. I even successfully rerooted a Hoya Mitrata in 2 weeks. Hoya Trigonolbus rooted in 3 days. I never even bother with rooting powder anymore. Good luck.

Michelle

Okay! So I just got some great cuttings from Joni:

H. leytensis
H. elliptica EPC-641
H. pubicalyx 'Red Buttons' (!!! I had been eyeing one on Ebay and had chosen not to bid on it)
H. mymrecopa
H. limoniaca (with a penduncle!!!!!)
H. lacunosa 'Thai Clone'
H. cv Mathilde

So I have them in water right now - is that okay? Do I need to add anything to the water? I'm going to pot them up tonight. :) Please help me not kill these babies!

Hiya goddess - I'm right where you are, having just received my first set of cuttings from Joni also. After way too much fussing (I hope they forgive me), I've rooted four of them directly in clear solo cups in Fafard cactus/succulent mix with rooting hormone in a bright window out of direct sun. They get misted and are in ziplocs. The other two (sipitangensis and publicalyx "Black Dragon") are in a mini-greenhouse outside on a covered porch (where an existing hoya has been extremely happy). Those two are rooting horizontally with the Fafard mix and I mist the soil once a day.

I did poke a hole in the bottom of the solo cups for drainage, and I watered the soil in those and let it drain before I put the cuttings in. I'm assuming I wouldn't want to actually water again unless the soil was really dry, especially as long as I'm misting (can the community confirm this?).

The reason I'm horizontally rooting two of them is that those came with little roots already sticking out all along the cuttings, and with several sets of leaves.

I'm going partly on instinct and partly on advice from this community (thank you!). I'll be curious to see how our new babies turn out!

OMB - good luck with your cuttings!

Okay, so here's my setup. PLEASE correct me if I can change anything! I am really nervous about losing them.

I took as-short-as-they-are-wide clear plastic cups, filled it up with a compost-based soil amended with perlite and a little vermiculite in a ratio of 1:2:1. I used a little rooting hormone (did not wet the cutting) and stuck it in the cup. Then I got worried about the leaves touching the plastic, so I bought 20 gallon trash bag. I laid it out so it had a wide bottom and placed the pots on the bottom of my mini-greenhouse. I watered them in a little, misted the inside of the bag, blew some of my used air in there, and sealed it.

Is this okay? I didn't know whether or not to water them in. I put a little in each, nothing looks soggy.

Now I'm second-guessing the closed plastic bags based on Ted Green's advice: http://rare-hoyas.com/CONDITIONS.htm

Could it depend on where you live, and/or the plant's immediate environment and how humid it is? Ted's in Hawaii - does that influence his experience?

I live in East Tennessee, which is pretty darn humid right now - even inside the house - so I took my cuttings out of their bags. If I rotted my babies, I'd be bereft. Then again, I've been handling them so much maybe I'll kill them off that way. Sigh.