Hi Tish, I love H. caudata and so will you! Like Mike said it is very slow to grow from a cutting. I received mine with three leaves, and one broke off in transit. It took almost six months before it put out a couple of leaves, only to fall off a short while later...finally after several more months later it started growing and mine is finally starting to look like a plant(although still a small plant), at least I have several leaves now,lol... I really like the leaves of this one. It is pretty easy to grow but Mike is so right...you need lots of patience till it gets established, unless you're lucky enough to find a mature plant somewhere. Like you...space is an issue for me as well...so I'm really liking the plants that don't get too large like the Pubicalyx. I also don't let this one get too dry and I give it bright light and some filtered sun if I can.

H caudata doesn't grow in a lot of true soil in its habitat. This may be one of the drawbacks of why this species seem to be such a poor grower in captivity. as seeing this plant in the wild, it grows like a weed. The actual amount of soil that it grows in is very small and the majority of the soil is mineralized, fine rainwashed-weathered media from limestone and calcium-phosphorus deposits. The organic base is small since it grows mostly along trees with little foliage and rocks exposed to full sun. Lichen and algaes tend to be the plants that is associated with caudata so the plants grow among a mass of short exposed plant life that this species must be accustomed to. High light, high heat and exposure to winds and the elements has made this species a tough guy and having very thin wirey stems allows this species to snake in between the small undergrowths of lichens and pop its leaves in between. The flowers also just hang out in between the undergrowths and provide an eye-catching sight for their pollinators, which I am to believe are the giant flies that congregate in the area. Having an environment rich in phosphorus and high calcium high pH also probably contributes to why this species may be slow in captivity since everyone tends to grow this one in peat moss (an acid media). Add higher amounts of calcium and phosphorus on a regular basis to get this species to behave and grow like it's wild counter parts.

Thanks guys! Dennisii's flowers are slightly fuzzy...the corolla is not...no smell and the size of a nickle.I bought this one from Thailand a few years back.i think microbes are the way to go if you use tap water and grow in a mostly inorganic medium like most hoya growers do.Most of the ingredients take years to break down and are not soil like...but that's what we want for more oxygen to the roots.without the microbes..over time,i believe the lime and calcium deposits will build up in the medium...leading to nutrient lockout because the whole medium just becomes to alkaline for the plant to take in nutrients.Soil acts as a pH buffer,but being most hoyas like to be root-bound in small pots with a minimum of soil...there is not much buffering effect.With the microbes and organic additives like fish,seaweed,molasses,humic acid...the medium becomes more active with the microbes bringing down the pH naturally,by eating the organics,lime,salts and giving the hoya instant food,I've noticed lots of new green growth and small peduncles since I've been adding the microbes twice a month instead of every other month.I bought one of those 15$ pH pens and have been testing my water and runoff water from the bottom of my containers and the water that comes out is lower then what i put in which is a good thing! My water right out of the tap is a whopping 8.6 pH it goes down to 7.5 in 24 hours...which is still quite high.With the molasses and great white...it's in the high sixes,which is ok.I now use a natural pH down(citric acid granules) when I use reg water between feedings.It literally only takes a pinch(1/16 of a teaspoon per gallon) to bring the water down to 6. I'm gonna be trying this pH down for a while to see of there is any improvement in the long run.I've been talking to Doug about pH issues and nutrient lockout,continual bud blast etc....he is doing his own comparison on some of his hoyas with microbes as well.

Thanks Popmama!! I'm fortunate enough to be able to grow them outdoors mostly year round here in Central Florida. The patella is in a small hanging basket hanging under a large oak tree, what happened over the years is the vines have grown up the branches of the oak tree Lol, NO way for me to cut off the vines without killing them so I just let nature take its course :o)...sometimes I have blooms up the Oak branches or among the leaves which is kind of cool...