I might not be the one to answer this one as I have yet to have a hoya bloom for me..... Like you I keep trying!

I don't believe there is a magic answer that will cover all Hoyas and their environments they/we live in. Feeding with a balanced fertilizer with a higher middle # during the growing season and good light are key. Some have blooms on them very young and some have to be root bound and older. What works for many won't for others....??

Waiting and searching often for buds is 1/2 the fun of growing these:-)
Diane

Hoya carnosa rarely blooms as a young plant. I have a few that took seven to ten years to bloom. The earliest I have ever had one grown from cuttings to bloom was 7 years. They must be mature plants, being potbound helps, and the vines should be about 3 feet long. There are always exceptions, but they are rare. Carnosa and pubicalyx are not early bloomers. My pubicalyx took almost 15 years to bloom. Taking into consideration that the plant was moved alot and not always in ideal enviroments depending on where I lived, that is about right. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, to tell you the truth, I never knew hoyas would bloom outside of a greenhouse. So imagine my surprise when watering one day and finding buds! I like the plants for the foliage too, so I never really cared about flowers but if you do, you may want to invest in some hoyas that bloom earlier.

PS - my moms old fashioned plain green carnosa bloomed for the first time this year, I gave it to her for mothers day the year my son was born. He's 24.

I have to mention that my hoya's early years were spent moving from place to place with me, and not always living in places with ideal lighting conditions. It is possible that if they had been in one well lit place for a long time, I would have gotten flowers sooner, so keep that in mind. But even so, as a rule, you will be waiting a while! The only time I ever heard of someone getting flowers very early was when they had grown the plant from a cutting that had a peduncle on it.

Oh yeah! Serious about that zone0. It's lousy! Had the furnace on today as the temp topped at 5C /42F. Cold I can provide! Brrrrrrr! (I otta have my orchid outside to cool off! It needs 4 to 6 weeks of above 0C/32F or slightly above that, but it won't stay that warm for that long:-)

Streps I have! I love mine as it's an ever bloomer. Deep deep purple! It deffinately likes it here:-)

Feeling sorry for myself again with winter aproaching so early,
Diane

ines - Well thanks for the small hope, but even 10 years... I will resign myself to growing these for just leaves. And maybe come across a type that blooms more quickly. I'll have to research that.

Diane, I am in TN, where the heck are you? It was a high of 85 here today. Low was 58. Don't you get that Seasonal Adjustment Disorder up there? Do you know what the name of your strep is? I've got about 20 kinds I think. My orchids are still out on the porch waiting for the cool nights to make them want to bloom. Do you put yours under lights in the winter? I would not think you have enough sun up there. What type of orchids?

Garden Grace, when your hoyas finally do bloom, you will really appreciate it. I love all the hoyas for their foliage first, since that is what we spend most of the time looking at. The flowers are a bonus, and give me a reason to always be inspecting my plants and give me something to look forward to.

Gargengrace,

Hi, sometimes it takes a few years to finally view H. Carnosa blossoms as you have been told by other members here. In my experience with them, the first time one vine bloomed at least two years went by and then we had 4 peduncles set buds followed by blossoms. The second time was two years later from that particular plant, It had so many vines and I just pruned them back as this plant is quite old now. My daughter who resides in Florida has the exact same plant and it blooms throughout the Spring and Summer profusely.

Mine are kept in a southern exposure, I feed them with Bloom Burst and infrequently with fish emulsion. Right now, I am looking at a small specimen of H. davidcummingii which blooms very often--it has rosy pink blossoms and is so cute. Another one which is a constant bloomer here in my home is H. Kentiana.

Good luck with your H. Carnosa plant.

Vicki

Streptocarpus 'Dilbeys Kim'

The picture makes her look more blue than the royal velvet purple that she really is:-) Love her lots *hugs* She's a non stop variety that just does't quit!

As to where I live... I'm in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. 4 1/2 hours north of Edmonton. This morning it looks like it could snow:-( 2C/35F, Grey and dull outside. The days here are getting shorter very quickly now and that does make me sad... but not S.A.D. We've gone from 18 or 19 hours of sunshine a day down to 13 hours..... but soon it will only be 7 or 8 hours of sun:-( My plants don't seem to mind the dull darkness of winter but I do use 1 grow light on my Hoyas in the dead of winter.

I have a Dendrobium 'kingianum' and it's a young plant from Australia that is pretty darned hardy. It has yet to bloom for me but as I said.... she's young. (and we DO have TONS of sun in the summer. It hardly gets dark!)

In case you can't see my photo please go to my blog.
Diane

Here is a link that might be useful: Diane's blog

ines, I will enjoy it IF I live that long! ;-) The space I have that receives high light limits the number of plants I can have that require it. So I want to get the best bang for my buck so to speak. Actually though, H. Carnosa Picta has creamy yellowish variegation that is as good as some flowers. That one is my favorite.

Vicki, thanks for the care tips and I will be looking for the 2 you mentioned. If you know of a mailorder source for either, will you let me know? I think the intensity of the sun in FL might make a big difference when it comes to flower production.

Diane, Kim is gorgeous. I don't have it, but I have Marna which is similar but with a very yellow throat. It's the rich royal purple that looks like velvet. I checked out your blog and loved all your plant pics. I have never seen a Satin Pothos. Pothos is possibly one of my most reliable plants. It's moved all over creation with me thru the years. Loved the stained glass too.

I have another hoya that I am not sure if it's a carnosa. I think it goes by the common name stringbean plant. Long narrow dark green leaves. I got it at the grocery store of all places and it was labeled "Hoya Bella". I never expect much from the labels when I get plants from that kind of place. Anyone got a guess on what I can expect from that one?

It's likely to be a Hoya sheperdii or there is another one that I can't remember the name of that grows the same way but has larger leaves and a dark green varigation on the edge.

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It's should be an easier bloomer(a year or 2) from what I know of it. Mine, of course, hasn't bloomed yet but it's very young and just started to grow this year.

Wish I could send you a leaf of Kim to start.... E-mail me, if you would like me to try.
Diane
This site is in Danish.... maybe there is a link to a translated page?

Here is a link that might be useful: Where I borrowed the picture from:-)

Diane, I read all thru your blog... loved seeing all your plants and your home. Mine is not a Sheperdii. The leaves are not as long and thin as that. I did look for kentiana though as Vicki suggested above. And I think this one is kentiana. I will get a pic of it and post it. I only know how to put the pic into the gallery and then put the URL here, not put the pic into this thread. I would be happy to do a trade on the streps and maybe some other cuttings too. Is it too cold up there for you to get them safely now?

It is probably kentiana, and it is probably an Exotic Angel brand plant that had the wrong tag on it. I have this one, and it is an earlier bloomer. Another early bloomer is lacunosa, which is easy to find at places like Lowes or Home Depot. Hoya nummularioides is also an early bloomer, though not easy to find in stores.

When I saw the plant picture above I had wished I had ordered a cutting of that...then I realized I did. I didn't know it would look so cool. I just wanted to see what stringbean leaves looked like. I also have a lot of streps. I have those growing on a table behing my computer under fluorescents. I even tried crossing some of them last year and now my crosses are just beginning to bloom. So far they all have been different shades of purple with yellow throats except for one that is a pretty pink with yellow throat and maroon stripes in the throat. The rest are not striking enough to do anything with. Oh welll, it was fun trying. Diane, I loved your page! That corkscrew looking plant is very unique. I've never seen that. I hope our Lowes or Home Depot gets that in someday. Janie

Thanks all, for all the nice comments on my blog:-)

It's fun blogging and easy to get my comments in there and to update.

As far as the 'corkscrew' plant goes, don't get too excited about getting one. It's not doing well and is on the way out the door here soon. It doesn't get enough light indoors and the humidity has dropped drasticly since the furnace has been coming on. Hasn't lasted long enough to survive quarentine..... Oh well.... still cheaper than cut flowers!

Diane

Would a fertilizer 15-30-15 for blooming work well for hoyas?

Hi Smith,

I'm guessing so, but usually it's used for that earlier in the year, say Spring/Summer.

That said, I was just in Ft. Launderdale, shopping at a Hoya vendor who had number of things blooming now, tho' he grows most of his outdoors. I see you're in FLA, maybe that will work for you too.

smithjim, Peters makes a 15-50-15