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gennykins

What's with 'Lisa'????

gennykins
13 years ago

I bought 'Lisa' last summer and it had two stems. One was all lovely and variegated and the second was almost all green. Four leaves on the lovely variegated stem promptly fell off and it did nothing else for the next several months. A few weeks ago, both stems started to grow. The growth on the variegated stem has been very slow while the other shoot has been growing more and bigger - and solid green leaves! It now has six solid green leaves. My question:

1. Is this reversion permanent or will the green shoot start to produce variegation?

2. Is the green shoot taking energy from the variegated shoot? (hmmm, a parasitic stem?) Would you cut it?

3. If I cut it and decide to root it, is it still 'Lisa'?

Right now, the green shoot is looking like 'tenuipes'.

Lisa

Comments (13)

  • pirate_girl
    13 years ago

    Sorry, but I have no idea what Lisa is. Can you show a pic please?

  • tigerdawn
    13 years ago

    My best guess is that it's a reversion. I would cut it off. And then I would root it and name it Reverted Lisa.

    But I might have a different answer if it wasn't the middle of the night and I wasn't suffering from insomnia. Ugh.

  • gennykins
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Karen,

    Sorry - 'Lisa' is australis 'Lisa' and at this point in time, my skills and patience with posting a picture are pretty limited.

    Anyone?

    Lisa

  • Denise
    13 years ago

    Lisa,

    Anytime a stems reverts back, it's been my experience it won't produce any variegated growth. I assume 'Lisa' is one of those unstable variegates like 'Krimson Princess'. I always cut off all-green growth from my 'KP' and root it, call it plain old carnosa.

    I'm having the same problem with variegated multiflora. The biggest and fastest growing part is all green. I'll probably just end up selling or trading it because I prefer to grow variegates that don't work so hard to revert back. I finally whacked several variegated stems off my 'KP' and rooted them and tossed the main plant because I was so tired of fighting the green. So far, no all green growth...

    Denise in Omaha

  • kellyknits
    13 years ago

    Lisa,
    I haven't heard of this happening with australis Lisa. Mine has been stable. Are you positive the ID is correct? Do you remember where you got it?

    Denise,
    I'm having the same problem with my variegated multiflora. Does more light make it more variegated? I can't remember...

    Kelly

  • puglvr1
    13 years ago

    Lisa, I'm reaching here...but you say there's "two stems"...is it possible one of the stems is australis tenuipes? Just a wild guess?

    My 'lisa' is also pretty stable...I only have one leaf that is all green the rest are all variegated in varying degrees, some much more than others.

  • greedygh0st
    13 years ago

    I have to agree with Denise that the reversion is an extremely irritating battle to fight. Give me suckers any day over this nonsense.

    It's encouraging that you haven't had any reversion since your drastic measures. Now, it's okay to leave green leaves on a partially variegated stem, right?

  • gennykins
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks, everyone!

    Denise - good to know about variegated multiflora. I've been thinking about getting it.

    Kelly - I had heard it was stable, which was one of the reasons I bought it. Although it hasn't bloomed, the leaf size and color gradations look like pictures I have viewed on-line.

    Nancy - Interesting idea. They arrived right next to each other and I assumed they were attached. Maybe I'll try giving it a tug out of curiosity before I slice it off.

    GG - I assume its OK to leave a green leaf on a partially variegated stem but not knowing why the reversion starts, I'm not sure.

    Lisa

  • puglvr1
    13 years ago

    GG, I left the one solid green leaf on the stem...that stem has at least 7 or 8 leaves and the others are (mostly) variegated. I'll keep an eye on it, I really don't want to have to remove it...so I'm hoping it will be okay to keep it.

    Lisa, keep us posted...

    Nancy

  • greedygh0st
    13 years ago

    I don't know much about pruning, but I vaguely recall the pruning of individual large leaves from when I was studying up on Bonsai, so I thought the same logic might apply here. The discussion here and here and here seems to support this. That said, there were plenty of 'experts' that only referred to removing branches. Time for a KP experiment?

    I've always left the reverted leaves on my KP as long as they weren't a full vine. It takes Hoyas so long to produce a leaf, let alone replace a leaf, that I think we're all less strict with them than with our other plants.

  • gennykins
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    OK. Using an iced tea spoon and a chopstick, I dug down to where the shoots were attached, knocking off one of the three mature leaves on the variegated shoot while doing so. And yes, they were not two separate shoots but rather, attached. Which means, 'Lisa' had 'reverted'. I put quotes around reverted only because it is so odd to me that a reverted shoot can look so different from the variegated. The leaves on the reversion are bigger and a bit more elongated and the new leaves have a slightly bronzy cast that 'Lisa' and tenuipes do not have. I sliced off the reverted shoot and grudgingly shoved in the pot with 'tenuipes', slightly resentful that 'it' was seemingly responsible for reducing 'Lisa' to less than half its size. OK, maybe I did dip it in rooting hormone first. And I watered it. So, if anyone is looking for a reversion-proof, variegated hoya, its not 'Lisa'.

    Lisa

  • puglvr1
    13 years ago

    Thanks for the update Lisa...I'm sorry to hear that your 'lisa' reverted...I'll have to keep an eye on mine. Good luck!

  • dalette
    13 years ago

    I have a Lisa that has no signs of bugs looking healthy place it hangs is greatand and has just decided to lose perfectly good leaves and has some new growth...I don't know how to fix the problem it has gone on for about 4 months...Dalette

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