Hoya Kerrii – Carla’s Hoya Haven

You can’t tell from the picture but I’m not particularly fond of H. kerrii. I know it’s an internet sensation. People love it in all it’s variegated forms. I’m just not that crazy about this one. Why? Because the leaves take so long to harden off and until then the slightest touch can knock them off. It takes even longer to start growing another.

The one on the right is the first one I purchased from Hirt’s Gardens back in the spring of 2021. It was just a leaf and as many Hoya lovers will tell you these are usually zombie leaves. Without a bit of node they will never grow a vine. However, after nearly two years mine grew a vine. I’ve been knocking off new leaves ever since. It even grew another bit of vine and I knocked a leaf off that one, too. All I have to do is look at it and the leaves fall off.

The remaining 3 plants arrived as one single plant from Pistil’s Nursery in March, 2022. It was rooted in sphagnum moss and the leaves looked a bit sallow. I tried to get most of the sphagnum off the roots but it’s nearly impossible. After a while I was plucking off more roots than sphagnum with the tweezers. It lived long enough to push out 3 new leaves but then took a turn for the worst. I lost the lowest leaves to yellowing and rot.

I snipped the remaining stem and leaves into 3 sections. I dipped all three in rooting hormone powder and stuck them in separate cups of Fluval Stratum which was soaked in 1 tsp of Rapid Start added to a gallon of water. I drained it off so there was just a bit in the bottom and then stuck the cuttings into the stratum.

I let the stratum dry out between waterings. I hung the cups in the grow tent close to the grow light to root. This worked really well. Once they started growing leaves and the leaves hardened off I figured they had roots. I dumped them out of the cups and potted them up in a combination of coconut husk chips and ABG mix. I hung them back in the tent at first and this was a mistake.

I would take them down to water but in the process of unhooking them from the gridwall panel I kept knocking the new leaves off. I moved them to shelves in hard to reach areas and just put some water in the trays once a week. As long as I don’t touch them they’re fine. They should do well over the summer when I can open the windows let the heat and humidity climb while they bake in the west facing windows.

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