I have only gotten rid of a few, ones I wasn't super pleased with that I gave to a good friend... who I can always get cuttings from later. I think for a lot of people part of the fun is in raising them up from young specimens, and getting them to bloom. There are always 20 more waiting to jump onto your wishlist, and it makes sense to me that some folks may want to give up more common species that they have already gotten to thrive to make room for rarer or tougher to bloom specimens. There are only so many plants you can cram into one window.

I have not got rid of Hoya yet, I only have 4 plants and two are from cuttings, but I have got rid of plants from time to time. If I bring home a plant and find that I just don't have a spot it thrives in, if a plant just refuses to grow, merely existing, and I have become aware of a plant that will love it here, I have learned it is more rewarding to succeed with plants that are happy than to fret over ones who just are not. The happy plants are always the easier ones as well.

I have gotten rid of one. Nummularoides. Because I Seriously. Cannot. Breathe. when that beauty is blooming.

Edited to add that I have gotten rid of two. Lauterbachii is another one that I sold. It grew, and grew, and grew...although pretty, I could never bring it to bloom (who can...unless you live in the tropics?), and it became a 14 foot waste of space.

I get rid of plants because I would far rather look at half dozen healthy, happy blooming hoyas than 20 or 30 plants struggling to stay alive or in a slow decline...I have limited resources here--a climate that only allows the hoyas to be outside 3-4 months a year, an unobstructed east window, and some T-8 supplemental lighting....no greenhouse, and I'm unwilling to go to extreme measures like building grow tents, running humidifiers, or putting in big banks of lighting....

I started out by ordering every hoya that appealed to me on e-bay or at the vendors, then I watched to see how the plants adjusted to the conditions I had to offer---if they were happy (grew and flowered) they stayed, if they couldn't handle it, they went (usually through work with a "free to good home" sign on them)....Anyhow, it's worked for me and I now have a core group of dependable bloomers that are thriving in my conditions and make me very happy....

I sell, give away, trade extras because I enjoy propagating. There have been some, though, that I got rid of just because I wasn't that enthralled with them. One I despised was cummingiana - I grew it for a few years, it refused to flower for me, and I found the plant itself rather ugly and messy looking. And in the winter, it would get leggy. So out it went. You'll find that there will come a point when you have a house full that you'll start being a little more picky about what you keep. I'm going to have to do some real scrutinizing this fall because so many have grown so much. Decide what I can live without and what I can't live without!

Denise in Omaha

Anyone who has extras I would love to have them!!!

I will be able to buy some in the future, but my situation won't allow me to right now but if you have any to give, I would love it, to help get my collection started!

Email me and I will see what i can do:

john_huck at live dot com

I did. Let me know if you don't get it

Thank you so much! You guys are the best!

aurorawa ,the Gubler fine orchid mix has been discontinued where I live. Is there another one that compares? Can you post a photo so I can see the texture of the one that you have? I will show you what I have. Also what do you think about clay balls or chips? I just want to have the perfect mix. I don't want to mess this up lol

What you are using looks fine! If you cannot find Gubler and use amazon, I absolutely love Jim's orchid mix! Here:

Here is a pic of what I use:

None of the ones I sent you are hard to root or keep.

Densifolia, lacunosa, and khroniana like to stay evenly damp (not soggy). Growing them semi-hydro in clay balls would work fine. To grow semi-hydro, soak clay balls overnight and rinse the next morning. Get an old plastic soda bottle or water bottle (12 oz). Wash with soap and water. Then, sanitize (1 part bleach to 10 parts water) by soaking for 3-5 minutes. Rinse well. Cut the bottle in half. 1 and a half inches from the bottom of the bottle, drill or punch holes around the bottle. This will be the reservoir. See photo:

Fill bottle with clay balls. Place cuttings in. Water with 1/4 strength fertilizer mixed in (1/4 tsp MiracleGro water soluble or liquid tomato plant food to a gallon of water. Once a month, water for 5 minutes with straight water to flush out excess fertilizer salts.

In order for calycina to bloom, it needs natural light, preferably from a west-facing window. It sets blooms in response to cooler night time temps and the natural shift in reduced daylight hours in cooler months (Fall/Winter). Other than that, water weekly in Spring/Summer and every 10 days in Fall/Winter.

Australis prefers to be kept a bit drier. I water mine when the top inch (stick a finger or wood skewer in the mix, an inch down) of potting mix is dry to the touch.

Pubicalyx, sp. UT-39 and diversifolia ssp. crassipes are "water weekly and ignore" plants. They are not fussy, and generally grow rather quickly.

Where do you get those little plant pots with the hoops!

I feel so "out of the loop"

Is it OK to spray roots with 3% peroxide?

The hoops are not attached to the pots:

Some pots:

As for peroxide, I would not use it. It does not discriminate on what it kills. It kills by oxidation, attracting (stealing) electrons from cells, causing cellular death . It does not discriminate between bacteria and healthy cells. It kills both. The best way to prevent bacterial or fungal issues is through proper plant care and prevention. Make sure your cutting tools are sanitized before and after each use. Don't leave plants in soggy conditions. If you have a sick plant, quarantine it from your others. Treat your hoyas with a systemic bug killer BEFORE they have bugs, to prevent them:

If they already show signs of insect activity, grab a bottle of baby shampoo, some rubbing alcohol, and a spray bottle. 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol, 2 tablespoons baby shampoo, the rest water. Spray the entire plant, covering backs and fronts of leaves, and all stems. Let dry in a DIM area, with no exposure to sunlight, which will burn the leaves. Once COMPLETELY dry, move the plant to your quarantine area. Water immediately with a systemic insect killer. You may need to repeat the alcohol treatment weekly for a few weeks, until the systemic kicks in.

Any sign of root rot should be treated immediately. Root rot usually presents with the lowest leaves on the plant, the ones right above the roots, yellowing, wrinkling, or turning black. If you catch it early enough, at the first sign of yellow lower leaves, you may not have to restart the plant. At the first sign of possible root rot, take the plant out of the pot and get rid of as much potting mix around the roots as possible. If the roots are firm, and evenly colored (hoya roots can be different colors, species dependent, ranging from white, green, to orange and yellow), they are fine, and you have another problem. If the roots are stringy...see pic of orchid root rot, see how some of the roots have fat portions, and then get all stringy?:

or if they are black, smell bad, or non existent, or if the stem where the roots are growing from is squishy, black or smelly, you have root rot.

If caught early (stem where roots are growing from is still firm, roots look stringy but don't smell bad and are not black or squishy), you may be able to reverse the rot by air drying the entire root system. To do this, you remove as much potting mix as you can off of the roots. You then cut any really bad roots with sterilized shears. Then, leave the plant out in an empty pot until the roots are completely dry. Pot up in new potting mix. If this does not work, you will need to restar the plant by taking cuttings off of healthy areas on the plant.

I also looked for the gubler mix at 3 lowe's yesterday and none of them had it.

Check online. They have it up on lowes.com, but I don't shop online through them, so no clue if it is available online.

Oh noooooo!!!! someone told me to use the peroxide to stop the rotting stems or roots.... So I did.. I'm going to cry. Did I just kill my plant!?!?! Should I take cuttings?!? I have a peat pod that came in a little garden set for my 5yr old.can I use that to root or just my orchid mix? I'm terrified. I hope I did not kill it. About gubler. In my state it has been discontinued for some time now but it still shows up online as not in stock. They have miracle grow coarse blend

You cannot stop the rot once it has began. Maybe you were keeping the plant too wet?

It was sent to me like that. The top half of the plant was rotting. The sender says just cut it back it will be OK.

I tried to contact Kim.if anyone talks to her can you let her know please

Do not use peat. Just root any cuttings you take in the orchid mix.

OK I'm back with more questions. I've been reading a lot today. One website says grey spite are botrytis blight. I hope I spelled that correctly. Lol.is that what this is? This is the same plant in the other photos when i ask if it was a disease.can it be saved?.i have lots of house plant but never heard of this diease.

I honestly don't see anything wrong with thr leaf in that photo.

Oh, and send me an email with your address again. The previous email was swallowed by a wormhole, or something.

I was only asking because I read that grey spots meant blight disease and since the leaves are not as firm and shiny as the used to be, I panicked.

That leaf does look fine.

Bridgett,

Please remember not to believe EVERYTHING you read. Some folks give bad advice & some folks simply don't know what they're talking about.

If you're new to Hoyas, perhaps only follow instructions from here or from folks you know to be reputable.