Hi Brad...glad you enjoyed your visitor...it's always a treat to spend time with someone who can "understand" our love of plants. Wishing you the best in getting blooms on your fungii and carnosa. Fungii has gorgeous blooms and a pleasant scent...you'll love it!! This heat wave is simply awful...we hit 99 again today..and my sunroom is so hot that the temperature gauge doesn't even read the temperature...it only goes to 110..and it's much hotter out there....needless to say, my hoyas aren't enjoying this heat at all, and many are showing their discontent with lots of yellowing leaves. I moved many to my much cooler gardenroom...but, with 330+ hoyas, it's impossible to move them all. Despite the hazards of this incredible heat, I have several first-timers with peduncles, H. pentaphlebia, H. megalaster and H. lasiantha...hoping for the best...and for cooler weather...I don't have air conditioning (sigh). Take care, Brad, and "Hello" to all of the forum members. My best wishes to all, Patrick

Here in So. California, it's overcast in the mornings lately then it burns off. It's not too hot here, maybe in the 80's, we don't really feel the heat until August, although last summer it wasn't too bad. The year before last was a scorcher.

Keep cool and safe.

Eeek. "it only goes to 110..and it's much hotter out there..." I like how you say 'only'. Yikes. That's hot.

And you don't have air conditioning either? I feel for you. I wish I could send you some of mine from work. They set the AC to 60. 60! Only at work can it be 90-100 degrees out, and I'm wearing a sweater. Please keep hydrated, and take it easy.

Brad I bet the heat will really help to speed up growth as long as you watch the sun exposure.

It was 97F here today with humidity in the 70's and it was not at all pleasant. I have had the air conditioning on so it does not get excessively hot inside but the Hoyas that are outside are taking it in stride. It has been very hot and with no rain for the past two weeks and today set a 100 year record.

Patrick if you don't already have some fans I would highly recommend some strong air movement in your plant room. I hope your Hoyas that are upset pull through without too much damage.

Mike

Temps in the 90's here, several days with the heat index exceeding 100, no a/c, lacunosas are dropping yellowed leaves by the handful, chelsea sulking...not sure which is worse...this awful heat or the cold of January...Yikes!

Lisa

The weather here has been HOT and HUMID. Both of those are emphasized because they are both extreme(for me, anyway). The humidity has been so high that stepping out of the house is like stepping into the bathroom after someone's taken a really hot shower. You're instantly damp. The heat has only been 98 or 99, but it's like you're boiling alive! lol My plants are liking the humidity, because it inevitably gets inside, at least a little, and I've noticed new growth on some plants that hadn't previously had any.

Oh PLEASE send some of the heat my way.So far spring and summer in my area has been cool and damp.My hoyas are not happy at all.I am so sick of seeing gray clouds.Outside its only 57F but the weather people say it should be warmer this weekend and then back to clouds.

Cindy

Ouch, Patrick! It sounds like you're bearing the brunt of the downsides to our heat wave! I will stop whining about needing to shower after the walk home from work now. :O

The cool thing about weather like this is that there is a certain section of Hoyas that particularly love it and we may see results from them we'd otherwise miss out on. It really is interesting to see which ones are resilient in heat extreme conditions. Some of the toughest looking ones fail and some of the most fragile appearing ones rock out.

Too bad they don't all have the same preferences, but I guess then it wouldn't be a very interesting challenge.

I'd gladly send this heat your way, Cindy. 57F sounds like heaven to me.

Patrick, I hope you and your plants are keeping cool and hydrated. I'm with Mike for the fan idea.

Mike, I certainly do think that this heat really gets them growing. None of my plants are really faltering at all. They are scoffing at this heat and humidity lol.

Cindy, I wouldn't mind some cooler weather right now either. Rumbles of thunder and a cool, moist breeze are just what we're looking for!

GG, yeah it's really interesting to see which ones are tough. Shepherdii for instance, now I have it in shade but still with the humidity, it just charges ahead.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Yes, this heat and humidity is Brutal!! The only thing around her loving this are my plants! A few of the cooler varieties are not too happy with it either.

Patrick, I feel for you not having A/C during this heat wave. I can tell you I HATE my electric bill this time of year and I try to be conservative so I don't spend all my hoya money on the Electric company,lol...

Cindy, I too wish I could swap weather with you...57 degrees does sound pretty good right about now...well maybe 70 degrees, 57 for a high is a little too chilly for my Florida bones,lol...

Oh yeah, I wanted to mention:

I had this dream last night that you (Brad) had somehow bought this gigantic apartment complex overlooking the ocean, on the East Coast. Everyone on the forum was moving in because you had ridiculously low rental prices ($440/mo). Quinn was the first person to complete her move, and she was all happy and self-satisfied because she just got to sit around on the beach in cutoffs and flip flops while everyone else struggled with boxes and plants.

Frustratingly, in the dream, I had coincidentally already taken an apartment up the street, and was trying to figure out how to get out of it. I also had just had a baby that I didn't know what to do with, but that's another story.

So yeah, my subconscious is weird.

Well folks,

I'm w/ ya in hot & humid hell! It broke 100 here today in NYC, I have no AC either. I won't give up my few windows (from the plants of course) for an AC.

I live in a large studio which would be tough to cool w/out inner walls (separating rooms, if you know what I mean). Also, I'd need a second job just to pay the electric company.

I too sometimes wear a sweater in the office; frankly today, I don't really want to go home. I live on the top of 6 floors, have all west facing, unobstructed windows. It gets pretty darn hot.

Remembering I grew up in Rio w/out AC, I used to know how to do this. Not handling it as well as when I was little (tho' our windows were better situated for cross-drafts). I remember sleeping w/ my entire body lined up against the wall, cause the wall stayed cool.

I remember being sent home from school once (I was about 7 or 8) when the temp hit the equivalent of 107. I remember walking home in a backless dress, eager to get home & go to the beach!

Patrick, a ceiling fan works wonders if you can get it, also bolstered by several freestanding floor type fans. I take lots of cold showers, sometimes take a plant mister to sleep w/ ice water & spray the air above myself. Sounds strange, but it does help.

My Hoyas are doing OK, the Pubicalyxes are fine, lots of new growth.

My new Chelsea is a story unto itself, I hope to post pix this weekend & get you all to suggest how to handle her & her spongy medium, as I discovered she's not able to drink well & that she's getting a bit rootbound.

The Diversifolia given me last year is finally taking off w/ several new growths.

My Kerriis all have new growth; I'll have to post more pix of the Hydro one in the west window, it's putting out odd growths which I can't tell if they'll be new stems or peduncles, 5 in a row so far.

OK, I gotta be brave, the worst part for me is going UNDERGROUND to the Subway (abt 10-20 degrees hotter than above ground)!

Happy Hoyas & stay hydrated. We'll wish some heat to the cool folks, pls. wish us a bit of rain for a day here & there.

Hey Denise,

Haven't heard from you, hear it's been 100s for a bit in Nebraska, hoping you & yours haven't melted away ;>)

GG, that sounds like an ideal place to live! Living in the same place where I could see everyone here would be a dream! By the ocean, I'm for that! For one thing I love seafood and two, I've never been to the ocean. Not a strange dream at all!

PG, I just heard on the news about the 100 degree heat. Your plans to stay cool sound good to me.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Ha! That's pretty funny, GG. But you know, if I knew everyone, I wouldn't be lolling around on the beach. I'd pitch in! Then we could all sit around on the beach together. Plus I'd get to sneak looks at all the hoyas in everyone else's collection.

Well, near the ceiling in my room... 89 degrees. Wow. That is with a window AC unit going. We have central air but it is useless on the 3rd floor because the vents are tiny and right above the floor. So it just sinks down the stairs, which, incidentally, is where the cats like to hang out these days. Oh well. I prefer to consider it training for Austin weather. They have been in the 100s for 40 straight days now, or so I've been told.

Brad! You've never been to the ocean? You are not very far away from the Atlantic. You must trek out there sometime. I won't scold you too much, because I know transporting oneself can sometimes be a giant pain :) But you're so close, compared to being in the landlocked Midwest, which is where I'm from.

Yeah pretty embarassing I know. It's on my bucket list though. The closest I've ever been to it was when I went to Inner Harbor down in Baltimore years ago. That was a fun trip! I saw the aquarium, the Constellation, and visited the Barnes and Noble store (the largest book store I was ever in).

Brad AKA Moonwolf