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sugi_c

Is this not the cutest plant ever!?!

Since you guys are the ones partial to Hoyas, I presume...

I ordered it, then was sort of regretful about it as I was actually wanting more of a spiller plant, but once it came out of the box so erect and "happy" despite having been shipped -- I completely fell in love with it.

Cutest plant ever. Well, at least in my house. :-) I'm excited to see how it grows, and hope it stays as "happy-looking"!

I'm intending to keep it next to a south-facing window and perhaps later in the spring, I'll let it outside.

Comments (28)

  • teisa
    11 years ago

    Hi! Welcome to the Hoya Forum. That is a very pretty H. Kerrii. It just looks darling. I grow this one also and I just love it's leaves. Good luck with your Kerrii. Sounds like you have researched your growing conditions, it should do well for you! Please post more pictures as it grows.

    -Teisa

    This post was edited by teisa on Sun, Mar 10, 13 at 9:14

  • Klea
    11 years ago

    A very good looking plant! :) I'm sure it will thrive in your care and eventually reward you with beautiful flowers!

  • Denise
    11 years ago

    Kerrii has been a long-time favorite of mine. Your's is a cute little start. Now, stand back and watch it go wild!! The very stiff vines are hard to train, but it's a plant I could not live without. In fact, I have several different clones. Be sure to let this one dry out pretty good between waterings. Where did you get it?

    Denise in Omaha

  • Sugi_C (Las Vegas, NV)
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks, Teisa, Klea and Denise!
    Here it is repotted into gritty mix, which I figured was going to be better for it than 5-1-1...
    I really liked the loose potting soil that the seller had used, though.

    Denise, I bought it on eBay from the seller linked below.
    As mentioned, I had bought it, originally, for the trailing effect, but clearly, this is no typical "vine".
    Now, actually, I'd like it to remain upright but since I have not seen this thing "grow" yet, so to speak, I'm wondering if that is possible? Do you have photos of yours?

    Thanks for the comments -- this really is my cutest plant!

    -Grace.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Seller of Hoya kerrii

  • greedygh0st
    11 years ago

    Haha. It is very cute indeed. My kerrii is not very large, but since no one else has responded with their pictures, I thought I'd give you an idea of how it will go. If you were to grow your kerrii without support, in a basket, it would end up growing something like this:


    Source:Plant Swap

    If you gave it some support to help it continue upward, as it likes, it would end up something like this:


    Source: Kakteen-Forum

    This post was edited by greedyghost on Thu, Mar 21, 13 at 16:05

  • Sugi_C (Las Vegas, NV)
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Goodness, these are so awesome, greedyghost! Thanks for showing me.
    How many years of growth do you think that is? The growth seems to be really slow on these....is that like 10 years of growth? lol

    I can't even imagine these stems being so trainable. I love the hanging basket -- and for this plant, I just might consider hanging a basket as I normally steer clear of hanging anything.

  • greedygh0st
    11 years ago

    Yeah it seems like a slow one, to me, too, but a lot of times Hoyas dawdle for the first year or two that they live in a new location, just acclimatizing, or filling out a new pot, and then they take off like a rocket.

    The second photo definitely doesn't look 10 years old to me... maybe 3-6 years old... grown indoors without supplemental light in Germany? And the plant from the first photo is grown outside in Texas, which gives it an advantage. It looks pretty mature to me, but you can bang out some big plants fast when you grow outdoors in a southern climate.

    They really aren't very trainable. I haven't figured out what I'm going to do with mine either, but I think I might grow it hanging, too. (Also unusual for me.) If you put it on a hoop, it just ends up refusing to cooperate once it reaches the top. The owner of that second plant is actually complaining about this issue in their post. She just gave it a bigger hoop and it's already banging its new growth against the window, she says.

  • Sugi_C (Las Vegas, NV)
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I should have called this "the slowest plant ever"! I guess everything being EXACTLY the same as it was a month ago is fair enough and no cause to worry.

    But I'm aging here waiting for this thing to do something -- anything lol. It's so cute that I wanted to grow it inside but perhaps it's telling me it wants to be outdoors....

    Grace

  • pirate_girl
    10 years ago

    Hi,

    Yeah Kerriis are cool but odd. Here's one of mine, which grows in a vase of water w/ Leca stones (hydro. or semi-hydro).

    showing some of its roots.

    {{gwi:99871}}

    It bloomed last Aug. for the first time & it was 2.5 yrs. from when I cut it & grew it in water.

    {{gwi:99868}}

    We do love our Kerriis!!

    Couple of pointers: when you train it, I use wire hangars that I open, reshape & close (not for the Hoyas shown but others), you need to do it while the vines are young & thinner, they'll thicken w/ age, becoming more difficult to bend w/out breaking or leaking this white sap, looks like Elmer's Glue but is harmless.

  • Sugi_C (Las Vegas, NV)
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Greedy, LMAO! Then I would have 300 sitting here doing nothing!

    Pirate - yours is also so cute, and obviously has done more growing than mine. Do you fertilize?

    I think i will nr 80 by the time i need a wite hanger for mine, given how this thing knows how to freeze time.

    Perhaps if I cut this and use it all over my face, it will freeze time and stop all aging or growing forever.

    Grace

  • alobo
    10 years ago

    Has anyone seen the variegated form of Kerri? pretty plant a hit at Valentines. But not seen it with flowers yet.

  • Sugi_C (Las Vegas, NV)
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I am now convinced they sent me a silk plant.
    That is all.

    LOL

    Grace

  • greedygh0st
    10 years ago

    LOL Grace. They could have at least sent one in bloom, then!

  • teengardener1888
    10 years ago

    There are variegated specimens

  • Sugi_C (Las Vegas, NV)
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I only have one thing to say.

    SERIOUSLY!?!

    I'll be receiving Social Security payments before this thing grows at all. I started this thread on MARCH 10, LOL. I'm gonna charge this thing rent soon....I mean, DO SOMETHING!

    I think the rocks have grown more than the plant.

    Grace

  • teengardener1888
    10 years ago

    Hehehehehehe. Hoyas are naturally slow growing. My babies are just starting to push out leaves. They push out leaves and then take a long break. The plant equivalent of a couch potato. In your climate this plant can grow outside year round

  • pirate_girl
    10 years ago

    Hey Sugi,

    If speed is what you want, ya got the wrong plant. Maybe if you stop watching it like a hawk, it'll actually do something, just to mess w/ your head!

    Seriously tho', folks HAVE told you they sometimes take a while to get going. A while can equal months, even many months.

    I've got a Hoya obovata which has sat w/ its TWO leaves for a year & did nothing. I've spoken to it, I've threatened it even & nothing.

    Suddenly last month I see new growth nubs, this month it turns out to be 3 new growth points, so please give it time & pls. be patient!!

    FYI: your vendor may seem good, but if that's also his/her ad for the single leaf they're selling that is an ABSOLUTE RIPOFF, 98% unlikely to grow into a plant & I would NEVER patronize someone who sells that. Set up for failure, not a plant friendly thing to do!

  • plantomaniac08
    10 years ago

    Sugi,
    Not to say whether you should put yours outdoors (I believe you considered it in a previous post), but one of my Hoyas exploded last year when I stuck it outdoors. Granted, it is a H. Carnosa cultivar and they tend to grow like weeds, but I believe it wouldn't be as large as it is had I left it inside. i believe it enjoys the humidity outside. I have to agree with PG though, some plants are like watching water boil, the more you keep looking at them... seems like they aren't doing a thing! Although... Yours doesn't seem to have done anything since March lol.

    Planto

  • Sugi_C (Las Vegas, NV)
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Haha. I can honestly say I have never had a plant do nothing for this long. They would at least be actively dying or something.

    I don't actually watch this. (I do obsess over my other plants, though.) Since you guys said it's slow, I barely water if, never mind watch it. Even in gritty mix, it must get watered once a week to once every ten days.

    I had intended to put her outside come "summer" except summer is not highs of 65. I am seriously wondering if SF will have a summer this year. So she remains inside....on the windowsill all of my other plants love, lol.

    Teen, plant couch potato? LOL! Got it.

    Pirate, can't speak to the seller and her other products. All I did was get a really cute silk plant from her, you know. LOL!

    Grace

  • laura1
    10 years ago

    My kerrii just finished its mass blooming. I have 3 plants that have been in the same small (root bound) pots for 8-9 years. I'm sure it would grow all over the place if given more love yet it blooms every year. The blooms drip with orange nectar and now I must clean up :-). I need to take it out and give it a good bath (maybe new pot too).
    Good luck with your baby Grace.

    Laura

  • greentoe357
    10 years ago

    Grace, how is your plant doing?

    I am not at all surprised it is/was just sitting there. Think of a cactus - those also often sit for very long and grow slowly, almost imperceptibly. But once a hoya starts growing, it often grows fast.

    H. carnosa was my first hoya, and it was sitting in peat pudding on a shady windowsill doing nothing for nearly two years! I kinda wished it would die - at least then I'd know something was happening. Then I put it into gritty mix and under artificial lights, and some weeks later (not right away, I guess it still needed to adjust to the new home) it started visibly growing a lot.

    I think the rocks have grown more than the plant.

    Speaking of ricks, what are those black ones in your gritty mix - charcoal? I grow mostly in gritty mix and do not recognize those. Why did you add them?

  • Sugi_C (Las Vegas, NV)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Greentoe,

    So behind on replying...like 6 months. Sorry!
    My Hoya has finally done something. It grew a little but it also burned a little. It's still chugging along, though, after almost a year and a half, so it's basically a much better plant to me than gardenias have historically been, heh.

    The black you see in the gritty mix was a sleek looking pea "gravel" I found at the landscaping store. When wet, it's shiny black...can't say it made any difference to the quality of the mix except aesthetically! :-)

    I'll get a photo of the now slightly taller Hoya tomorrow!

  • greentoe357
    9 years ago

    The mix looks good with that black gravel. I like these colorful bonsai-style mixes. Aesthetics is one of the big reasons I use gritty mix myself - although in mine bark is too light and granite chips are too heavy, so it never looks well-mixed on the surface, even though it functions well and is very long-lasting. I might try Orchiata instead of pine bark - I hear it's relatively heavy.

  • greedygh0st
    9 years ago

    Nice to hear from you Sugi. You always make me laugh. I'm glad your Hoya has demonstrated that it can in fact grow leaves and doesn't need to be taken to a plant psychic.

    It's true, "still being alive" is an awesome display of loyalty compared to some plants.

  • Sugi_C (Las Vegas, NV)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Hiya Greedy & Greentoe!

    Greentoe -- unable to find pine bark here in the SF Bay Area, I used fir bark. I don't know how much better, if any, pine bark would be but it seems to work just fine. :) 'Twas Al-approved.

    Greedy --- it's alive. But with scars. I'm guessing those white patches were sunburns, but who knows!?!

    I gave a lot of my plants away except the succulents as I was leaving town for 7-10 days at a time for much of this year. I kept this one since it's basically a silk plant, haha, but once summer rolled around, it did grow. The long stalk is pretty malleable right now so until I figure out what to do with it, I've "hooked" it into one of the branches for the time being.

  • greentoe357
    9 years ago

    > unable to find pine bark here in the SF Bay Area, I used fir bark. I don't know how much better, if any, pine bark would be but it seems to work just fine. :)

    Yeah, fir bark works, depending on the particle size. I think fir works even better than pine because pine bark is flatter, with less body to it. This may mean less aeration with pine bark compared to fir, faster decomposition and easier crumbling.

  • Sugi_C (Las Vegas, NV)
    Original Author
    8 years ago

    So, the good news is that my Hoya has grown. Must be a few feet long in total.

    The bad news is that I've just let it sit there. Once it got to the long and lanky stage, I just sort of lost interest and let it grow, fertilized occasionally and waited it out.

    Since I'm in the middle of repotting all of the things I want to take indoors or move to the front of the house, I figured I'd finally do something with this plant.

    But now that I have finally paid attention to it, I notice a couple of issues.

    1. I thought it had mealy bugs but now I am not so sure--maybe it does but there's also something else. I take a cotton swab with alcohol and wipe it off but this milky sap keeps coming out. Um, are they supposed to leak sap? It's like a ficus Hoya....

    2. The second issue is self evident in the first shot --what is with the brown spots on the underside of some of the leaves? When I un-potted it, I noticed long and very white, clean roots--but since this plant was always on the ground, I always looked at it from the top and didn't notice this spotting. What is indicative of? It can't be root rot with those roots....

    Closeup:

    Other than those two issues, it seemed okay. So I've now FINALLY tied it to a wire hanger and will pay more attention to it. Poor thing...it was so cute originally. I kept it in my "dunno what to do with this" corner for too long.

    There have been a couple of Hoyas I wanted but always scolded myself that I don't deserve another one until I grow this one properly.

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