Hoya Sunrise – Carla’s Hoya Haven

Hoya sunrise is not looking it’s sunniest best right now even though it’s been in the grow tent for months. This plant was closer to the grow light but I moved it down the grid. It has grown 14 new vines and quite a few new leaves. Many new leaves were yellowing and dropping off. Periodically, I give the plant a good soak to rehydrate the potting mix. I put it back in the tent. I forget about it for a couple weeks. The humidity in the tent was over 80%. I needed to vent it a little better and turn down the little humidifier. It didn’t need to be set at 75%. This plant does just fine in 27% humidity in my living room.

Check out this root growth. This is one of the first plants to be repotted in the ABG Mix/coconut husk chips. I like these clear pots. I can see what the roots are doing without brutalizing the plant by ripping it out of the pot and getting rid of the dirt. Just because a plant isn’t doing what you want up top doesn’t mean there is anything wrong down below. Maybe it’s taking time to grow a fabulous root structure.

When I first purchased this plant from Land of Alice it had 8 vines. Upon taking it out of the box it looked really healthy. But, two of those vines failed to thrive. The leaves were increasingly floppy and super thin. There were very few roots when I repotted the plant so I took those two vines and potted them separately in a grow pot. I hung them under the larger plant in the grow tent and left them there to die. Oh sure, I watered once in a while but not very often. Much to my surprise these vines are now thriving. One of the vines grew two offshoots. The leaves are thick and lush. They just needed a little TLC.

Look at these roots! I love a good set of roots! I potted this one up in the amended mix: ABG and coconut husk chips with smaller coconut husk chips, fir and pine bark fines and pumice. This is the second small plant potted in this mix and I notice it dries out quicker. I’ll have to work on the proportions.

Each pot was soaked in lightly fertilized water for 20 minutes. That seems good enough to rehydrate the potting mix. Right now I’m using Miracle Gro Water Soluble Tomato Plant Food. I use 1/4 tsp. per gallon of water. I’ve been using the Flora series by General Hydroponics, 1/4 tsp each of Flora Gro, Flora Micro and Flora Bloom per gallon of water. I use fertilized water each time I water.

I’ve been happy with the Flora Series especially since it doesn’t stink up my home. I’ve tried other products that stink to high heaven and there is no way I’m using those a second time in my house. I don’t even want to use them outside. The wind blows in from the West so anything with a scent I put on my HOA approved bushes will blow back through an open window.

Here are my pair of Hoya sunrise up on a shelf basking in the glow of the midday sun in February and a Sansi grow light with a little heat coming off the fireplace to make it feel like summer.

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