Thanks for answering Awanda, my goodness indeed, words practically fail me here, I can barely imagine! I will say that I haven't looked at yr. pix in some time, but when I did they showed absolutely beautiful plants, all (don't I recall you grow more than a few Sans. as well?) Everything looked so well grown & all examples to aspire to. I envy yr. circumstances, space, greenhouse and most importantly, yr. growing talent!!! I've got abt 35 (4 brand new), abt 5 duplicates. Most of mine are smallish as I'm in an apmt: I put up a 3-tiered shelf along the upper wall in my kitchen, perpendicular to my west windows to house the bulk of this collection. Gosh if I could grow outdoors, I'd probably go completely bananas w/ it. Mine too are mostly cuttings from friends, either here at GW or local Indoor Gardening Society friends. That's the only advantage of cuttings into smallish plants, one can grow LOTS of them ;>). I too echo the sentiment that friends here at GW & specifically when this Hoya Forum began, have been extraordinarily generous both w/ their cuttings & comraderie! I have had the ocassional bloom, mostly on new cuttings from friends here, once in a while while they're still cuttings rooting in water. I've got to get a magnifying glass to check & be sure, but think a small Kentiana cutting is putting on 2 spurs, too small to be sure yet -- crossing my fingers! I am experimenting w/ watering them less often as a collector I just bought from in FLA, suggests it's not their age that promotes blooming, but rather letting them go pretty dry btwn watering (more so than I'd been doing). So I've just swtiched from watering 1 x per wk, to once every 2 wks, w/ some misting for those I think might find that too dry -- too early to tell. We shall see what happens ... (PG) Karen

@kellyknits Thanks, I've noticed that chlorantha isn't too picky, but does like to abort its flowers if you let it get a little too dry while the buds are forming. Other than that, keeping it in bright light seems to guarantee lots of flowers. I'm glad to hear that yours is doing well too. @mitzicos Wow those look pretty rough, I'm not sure if they're still alive from those pictures, but if they are, keep them humid and warm and they should eventually start forming roots. Older stems are often yellowish grey and it can be difficult to tell if they're alive. DId you cut the lower end off? If you did, was the inside green, and did it bleed latex? If it did then they're in good condition. You can shove those leaves that have fallen off into the pots as well, they'll form roots, but might take a while to form a vine, if they do at all. The cuttings you received today look okay, not great but they look like they'll make it for the most part. Mine looked much worse and were mostly bare stems but they all pulled through. @Josh Thanks, I bought some adenium seed off ebay after I'd read all the stories about growing these over on the cacti forums. They're a lot easier to grow than I thought they'd be, even though I did have to invest in a light to provide enough light. As for the Jade, I've always liked Jades quite a bit, but it's hard to grow them here without supplemental light. They always turn out leggy and gross and not at all tree-like. There's small Hummel's sunset jade hiding to the right of the Gollum too, I started it from a couple cuttings I took from my other plant when I moved out. The lights seem bright enough to make the leaves flush red, so I'm hoping for a treat once it gets bigger. @Mike You can get mylar at dollar stores, but you won't find it under "mylar". Thye actually sell it as "Emergency heat blanket" for camping and for keeping in your car glove box. It's a lot thinner and reflects less light than the 1-2mm thick mylar sheeting you can buy from hydroponic stores, but at $1 a sheet, it's a bargain. The H. chlorantha was imported from Thailand, as were all of my hoyas. There's a web store called "Aleya garden" with an ever expanding selection of Hoyas. Now probably isn't the best season to order anything, but if you wait for a few more months you should be able to get lots of new Hoyas. I don't bring my plants outdoors anymore since I now grow under lights only, although I used to bring my Jades and succulents outdoors. For those plants, acclimatization was mostly just setting them out in the shade and then moving them to brighter and more direct sunlight every week or two. The shelving is just a standard wire shelf unit, you can find them at storage shops. I got mine at a store called "Storage solutions" but I think that's only in Canada. The dimensions of the shelf are 48x18", which is just enough to fit my grow light in.

it has a conventional (ancient school) halide element. I have been using Venture Pulse Start Metal Halide, they actually are full spectrum, but completely not needed, because HPS alone is GOOD and CHEAP!!! I donated my 775W PSMH to the Federal Canal Park greenhouse, although if you are into big time growing, that lamp is ferocious! - both by the results! and by my PAR meter. to grow large bushes, i have the 575W PSMH Venture, which is fabulous! for PAR, spectrum, and growth. currently, i'm actually into LED. I make my own LED panel, 2x4' panel, using 660 (4 x 11) 630 (4x10) 600 (2x10) and 440 (3x14) working with LED is tricky, you can buy them from ebay, look for the 3w ones that are labeled XP-E. I measure each one, for forward voltage vs current, and toss the outliers. the XP-E however, is very consistent, and you only toss about 2 or 3 out of 25. after that, be prepared to do a lot of wire stripping (i use 24 guage stranded). it is VERY time consuming, but that is my hobby, however, I have done the "mistakes" for you benefit, so you can learn from my mistakes. my first prototype was just using 630 and 440, but the results were NOT as good as fluoro - growth was very fast, but foliage was not the super dark green that i was getting with overdriven fluoro T8, so I scraped the LED's off, and started again. right now, i have a new board completed, as described above, and I'm testing it out with tomato seeds, one set of seeds with the old board (630 +440) vs added 600 and 660. my new board is also slightly higher powered. I learned do NOT use cheapo power supplies - you can get good used Meanwell supplies, on ebay, if you keep your eyes out. I use 48v supply for the 440, because they require more voltage, and i use 24v supply for the 660 630 and 600. each color needs its own supply, the supply voltage is adjustable, and you're looking for 0.7 amps for each string of LED. not for the faint of heart. if it was not a hobby for me, i'd stick with fluoro, HPS, and PSMH - cheaper, and much much easier, also the results are proven. -overdrive.

Krista - I've added some of my thoughts below. It's kind of long and repeats much of what is said above, but hopefully it helps you at least a little. Even indoors, the concept of seasonality still applies. We typically change our thermostats to the seasons and there are daily fluctuations that correspond to the weather outside. Here are my average indoor growing temperatures from last July to this February: Right now I am purposely keeping my home cooler in order to get better growth from my plants. The graph above is compressed so unfortunately you don't see the day/night temperature differential (17C night, 20-30C day under lights currently). Throughout the seasons, I try to keep similar photoperiod as the actual seasons here but keep a minimum of about 10 hours. That's because I want to give my succulents as much light/energy for growing as possible. Probably could spend all night long posting different graphs of my growing data, haha. I do not find a need to restrict or provide water to my plants to regulate their dormancy/activity. They take care of this themselves and all I do is respond to their needs. If they are growing then I just keep watering. Of course I am mindful of my Lithops/Gibbaeum/Lapidaria to ensure they don't grow too many pairs of leaves. If they are going dormant/semi-dormant then I water minimally to sustain them. In my conditions, if I stop watering completely most will die or suffer so much they will be damaged/setting back many months worth of growth. Most people would disagree with this, but if I miss the 'right' day to water by just two days then I can see the difference. It's like losing a week or two of progress. If neglected, my plants will surely survive but losing just a couple leaves on valuable plants can be very disappointing. Somewhere along the way I decided that 'growing something hard' is not necessarily meaning you barely water it because that's only one part of the equation. The rest is light/temperature/soil mix which can be similarly applied 'harshly'. Every fall, nearly all of my Mesembs flower indoors: Aloinopsis, Faucaria, Fenestraria, Gibbaeum, Lapidaria, Lithops, Neohenricia, Pleiospilos, Stomatium, Titanopsis. There are some stragglers, which are budding and I hope will flower late winter: Rabiea, Ihlenfeldtia, maybe Cheiridopsis. Also flowering in the fall/winter are many other succulent genus that I grow: Haworthia, Crassula, Gasteria, Aloe, Schlumbergera, Echeveria, Euphorbia, Dorstenia, Adromischus, Anacampseros. The only main difference in watering for me is the frequency. When it's cooler or shorter days, then the plants use less water and don't dry out as quickly. You could say in summer I water every 4 days and in the winter I water every 6 or 7 days. Absolutely everything is fertilized the same throughout the year. Contrary to popular advice, my succulents and Mesembs in particular are not gangly, unhealthy, or have hordes of extra leaves. What I found is the vast majority of succulent genus and species are opportunistic growers. For many, summer is a bad time for growing and not much happens. Fall and spring are the best season where virtually everything is growing. A great deal of my collection are traditionally classified as 'winter growers' and I enjoy that they are because it's fun growing indoors. Of course my 'summer growers' are growing too, but just not as fast as they were in the shoulder seasons around summer. As mentioned above, summer isn't the best time for growing under my conditions. It's very hot and stressful on my rooftop, even in zone 6a. Things get very colourful, but also slow down greatly. In the loft it gets hot too, but not as bad as outside. Indoor growing does have the benefit of being a little less extreme than outside and I can better control the conditions, leading to better growth. For sure I would have better results growing everything indoors year long but my 6xT5HO bank of lights are expensive to run and generate a LOT of unwanted heat in the summer. Plus it's just so comfortable for me to relax on the roof with my plants and enjoy the outdoors. Watering is a breeze and it's fun out there. However, the vast majority of my expensive Haworthia do stay indoors for the summer so they grow better and there is no chance of damage from squirrels, storms, scorch, or whatever nature throws at me. It's less stressful and more productive. The 4xT5HO are spread out much more so the heat isn't as bad and electricity cost is a little less. As for pests, I think indoors the conditions are just better/worse for different types from outside. We don't get aphids and ants inside, but you can still get mealies. Hot dry conditions are perfect things like mites and thrips. Or if more humid you may get fungus gnats, springtails, or molds. Outside pests are spread by wind, rain, and even other pests. Inside pests are spread similarly by air fans, watering splashing, and direct contact due to close proximity. If you have a very 'closed' system then you can stay pest free if you are clean and attentive. But if you buy new plants from anywhere then there is a risk you will bring something in. The important part is knowing how to identify them quickly, accurately, and know which action to take. Some pests are harder than others and I am relieved to say I have figured out how to eradicate them all (so far). After all the long-winded text above, I suppose my approach is trying to grow the way I know works best. There are so many resources online, but I have a great deal of skepticism on the advice given. Maybe I'm picky or stubborn or maybe I'm just trying to do better? Still, there are many expert growers and I'm picking up little tips here and there from them that are so incredibly helpful. At the least I try and adapt those parts into my own growing method. My goal is to get every species I grow to flower as well as have them grow as compact and colourful as possible. So far it's working fairly well - we'll see how this year fares for me. =)