About H. imperialis, when grown indoors under lights...
Hi all! I used to hang out here a lot, but then somehow stopped reading and posting. Popping in here because Doug Chamberlain (Hi, Doug!) is not on facebook, where I just posted this primarily.
I've grown H. imperialis IML 0245 for more than 2 years now. It's grown A LOT, and it started budding non-stop many months ago - and every single time, those buds dropped when still very young - on at least 3 peduncles. This pic shows that that particular peduncle budded about 7 times:
Then, a year ago, I got another clone of H. imperialis (this one: http://vermonthoyas.com/2016/01/14/the-story-of-where-my-famous-hoya-imperialis-came-from/) from Doug. I got it solely because this was his best, easiest, most prolific blooming imperialis he had ever grown.
So, I got myself a small rooted plant from Doug a year ago. It has maybe doubled in size. (The other clone, IML 0245, multiplied MANY times over, I mean it's insane.)
Then about a week ago, I find buds on Doug's clone! They were already bigger and meatier at the time than IML 0245 buds ever got for me before, and now they've grown even more:
And they are nice green and juicy, with no sight of bud blast, totally unlike IML 0245.
Another thing is, Doug's clone has budded with a manageable number of buds - five this time. The other one would create these umbels packed with tiny buds, and then they would all blast, every time. Doug's plant seems way "smarter" this way - it seemingly only initiated the number of buds it has a chance of taking to maturity! (For those who are not familiar with the species - the individual flowers are HUGE, so it's not realistic at all to expect that a young plant would bloom with like a dozen flowers per umbel - WHY is the plant creating all those buds then???)
So, I am posting this even before it blooms (and of course they can still blast) - but already it is very obvious which is a better... if not bloomer then at least a budder. (Is that a word? I guess it is now lol.)
Comments (13)
Kim
7 years agogreentoe357
7 years agoRelated Discussions
winter watering reduction when under lights and on a heating mat
Comments (14)>> I wouldn't sentence any plant to spending winter in that stuff if I had something else. Alright, good points. I repotted both into the 511 mix I had. The Makoyana had these cool-looking tubers for parts of its roots. I felt like the one on the bottom left in the photo had to go in the pruning process because that root was just way too long and I would have had to wrap it around the diameter of the pot like twice, which I understand is not a good idea. The other Calathea also had its roots pruned. Now my understanding is the plants may shed some leaves to balance the newly-smaller root systems, and to help them both recover, I bagged them both. >> AFAIK, I've never had a plant die of low humidity, even in OH, running electric heat pump or gas furnace. I've had some good, albeit limited, experiences with bagging plants. Some hoyas seem to recover after a repot better when bagged. An alocasia poly roots started jumping out of the pot just 6 days after being bagged and under lights. Finally, rooting of a long and spindly maranta vine cut up into 7 or so segments was a smashing success this summer. Granted, you rarely get a "control" plant that was NOT bagged under otherwise similar circumstances in order to compare, but the circumstantial evidence is rather strong, I'd say. But you gotta watch for mold or stale odors out of anything bagged and air the plants out often. >> Green, are you planning on placing your Calatheas on the heating mat??? Don't think I would. Well, I mentioned the mat to ask how plants could know if it is winter. I do want to use the mat for some of my plants. Calatheas should not be among them, huh? I see online mentions of them tolerating lows of 60-65. What about helping them heal faster after a repot and root-pruning - does warmth generally help plants recover? For lights, I use four 4-foot 54W 6500K T5 high output bulbs, turned on for 16 hrs a day with a timer. They do not generate much heat, but even if they did a little more of that, that'd be fine because my apartment is generally too cold rather than too hot for most plants. Plants can be very close to the light bulbs, as long as they do not touch....See MoreQuestions: Jalapenos and Habaneros grown indoors, hydroponically.
Comments (11)Walter; I am growing bell peppers in a small ebb n flo in my office window. during vegative growth, I generally keep the EC at around 2.0-2.4 which (according to the stick) is approximately 1500-1700, so your 1100 sounds a bit low to me. I started my plants approx august 20. I have one that is very leggy, the other is short and stout. the latter is about 8" tall and has 6 fruits. the largest fruit being about 1.5" between flower and stem. I am currently clipping flowers to limit quantity and focus on size. the leggy one only just recently started to flower, and I haven't seen any fruit set yet. I generally keep my EC as stated above w/ pH of 5.8-6.0. I use general hydronics per their label, except in flowering I'll increase the micro a bit and / or lessen the grow. My experience with these plants and the ones I've grown in the yard is they are not very large plants, so I would expect 8" to 1 foot to be about max height, especially since you're using artificial light. Greystoke; I'm working on just such a system now. I'm thinking two tanks. the one at the bottom catches system runoff, the system at the top is a gravity feed reservoir. you just have to dump the bottom tank into the top tank each day.(muscle versus electricity, has to be some kind of power input) this system will also require some kind of check valve to keep the ebb n flo starting and stopping throughout the day. I haven't got the valve part fully worked out yet, but when I do I'll let you know. I believe it will somehow incorporate the smartvalve walter mentioned in his post though. Here is a link that might be useful:...See MoreMicro Minis in Semi Hydroponics indoors under Lights
Comments (2)I'll put a link below to an article a rose-expert friend wrote about growing miniature roses, focusing on the problems one might expect to encounter. I do know some people who live back east take their potted miniature roses into their basements during the winter and have success getting them to bloom under special grow lights. Years ago I grew my own seedlings indoors under grow lights and had some success with that as well. Here is a link that might be useful: article on growing minis indoors...See MoreWatering when growing under lights
Comments (3)Your mix sounds good for plumies and should drain really well which will help your pots dry out much better than a heavy mix so good job on that! After you work with them for a while you should begin to get the feel for the weight of your containers to give you a very good indication as to whether the pots are still really wet. Inserting a chopstick down in the soil is also a great way to tell if they're wet deeper than a finger poke will go. Like Kms said, it's impossible to give an exact amount because it varies so you have to begin to use your intuition, by weight, by how the leaves look, etc. When I root cuttings I root them in a water bottle or Gatorade bottle with the top cut off so I can see when the roots develop - once it has roots I water it until water runs out of the bottom and all the soil is saturated & then I can also see when the soil looks pretty dry and it then basically gets watered like any other plumeria - water thoroughly and then let get fairly dry and repeat. Same with seedlings - I would usually mist them twice a day just so they didn't dry out completely and then when the bulk of the soil they're in is getting dry I water thoroughly. Once they are big enough to be potted up out of my seed starter I usually stop the misting. I water them pretty much just like the adult plumerias and the cuttings. I would at least sometimes water until the water runs out of the container to flush accumulated salts in the soil that remain from fertilizer. Keeping your warmth up indoors is key, and the lights will help too. If you have a fan going that would be even better to help dry the soil a bit and help deter spider mites a bit. I think you'll find that as long as they don't stay really wet and cold they are actually pretty resilient and easy to grow. Please keep us updated on your progress!...See MoreKim
7 years ago
aurorawa
7 years agoKim
7 years agogreentoe357
7 years agogreentoe357
7 years agoaurorawa
7 years agogreentoe357
7 years agoI will let the pictures tell most of the remainder of the story. 5 days after the original 5-bud photo was taken, most buds blasted, and only one viable bud remained.
4 more days later. The bud is growing well:
A week later:
5 days later. There is some color now in the back of the bud:
And then just today after I came home... TADA!!! (3.5 weeks from the time I noticed the 5 buds.)
The plant is only one stem, 16 inches / 40 cm long. It's been 1 year and 19 days from when I got it from Doug (I got it as a rooted plant in a 2" pot; never repotted).
Of course, it decides to bloom when I just came back from my "Indoor Gardening Society" meeting. 12 hours earlier, and I would have taken it there and bragged about it like there was no tomorrow. :-) Maybe a reason to look forward to another flowering then.
greentoe357
7 years ago
Teisa Clark
7 years ago
greentoe357Original Author