No, I never rinse all the soil off the roots. If it is very potbound & the roots are wound around tightly, you can cut them loose and disturb them a bit around the outside. If not, just leave the soil ball alone and do not disturb it any more than necessary to get it out of the old pot. Then just pot it up one size & have an inch or so of new soil all the way around the plant.

Hi Tami,

No, I don't believe in rinsing roots, seems counterproductive to wet them when what one wants is for the roots to be dry. Don't know who started this idea, but it always works for me to just crumble the dirt off the roots w/ my fingers.

I don't think Hoya roots are half as sensitive as people think. One needs to remember to keep a grain of salt in mind when one reads things online.

Most serious (but still amateur) Hoya growers I know handle their plants as & when needed no matter the time of year.

Yes, I water mine in like houseplants when I've repotted (which I DO NOT do for succulents which i also grow).

I've concluded most Hoyas aren't succulents, epiphytic maybe but not so succulent.

Thanks for the information. Another question, how many plants do you put in a 4 inch pot? I have an 8 inch pot with at least 8 carnosa krimson queen plants in it. It's very full. It was suggested on the forum that I separate them into several smaller pots. I also found some 3 inch pots of carnosa rubra the other day that have 4 small plants in them. I really have got to stay out of the plant section of the big box stores! Anyway, I am planning ahead to when I re-pot them into hanging baskets.
Tami

I'm not sure about that suggestion to pot them into smaller pots. (That person came on board in July (I 'met' them at another Forum where they came & immediately starting making trouble, w/ controversial statements provided w/ no back up or source. That person got chastened by the powers that be pretty quickly for name calling as I recall, so beware.)

Not sure why that was suggested (I think the person said so they'd grow faster).

You're new to Hoyas, right? So, you might want to keep things on the simpler side.

I don't use 4" pots for Hoyas, that's too big unless it's a LARGE & established one.

A 3" pot of Carnosa w/ 4 plants as you say, is likely to have 4 unrooted cuttings in there, not actual plants (w/ established roots). An 8" pot is huge for Hoyas, I'd like to see pix of that pls.

Most of my Hoyas are in 3" pots or smaller. For me, only the large, heavy ones like Kerris or go into large clay pots for me anyway) so they don't fall over.

Yes, I am new to hoyas so am trying to glean as much info as possible. At the same time not jumping to conclusions. The internet is a great source of information, if used with caution and common sense. The advantage of this web site for me is the opportunity to have multiple sources with experience raising the plant I want help with. The down side is that people are anonymous; rudeness, sarcasm,and egotism is very easy to write. I have noticed some posts that were made with unnecessary sarcastic/rude comments directed at other people offering their opinion. Just like in my usual interaction with people face to face, I ignore those type of statements and people. I choose instead to take what I feel are the best suggestions and trying them.

OK, now to the important stuff, LOL, I lifted the plants out of the 3 inch pot to see what the roots looked like. There are small, fine roots all the way around the soil. Not what I would call root bound but there are roots. I was concerned that they would just be rootless cuttings also.

I am not sure how to link the post I made about the bigger pot so here is another picture. It is mid to late fall here, so any re-pot will be in the spring. That is IF I decide to make any changes. Thanks for the help.
Tami

If you're talking about putting a lot of small established plants together to make one larger, fuller plant, I do that and it looks very nice. Do understand that this will likely slow the process of blooming, as it will take it longer to become potbound and bloom, but I like the look. But an 8" pot IS big, as PG said. I might put 3 or 4 3" pots in a 6" pot. I do knock off any excess soil, and it's ok to wash it off, too, though just a good shake or a little teasing with your fingers will do the trick.

Hoyas are pretty tough. Don't fret too much about their care.

Denise in Omaha

Only remove the soil if the soil has broken down. if you use peatmoss and coco peat pure, this will break down and cause major root problems later. So yes if planted in these medias. Otherwise a mixed friable-brittle well draining mix will be fine taken into a larger pot and added new media around it.

Denise, if I interpret your method correctly; you have one well rooted plant in a 3" pot. You place 3-4 of these in a 6" pot. In pictures people post it is difficult to tell how many separate plants are in the pot and the size of the pot.

My thought prior to this post was to put the plants from my 3" pots into a 4" pot, but to move the plants apart a bit so there was some room between them. It seems my concern for the roots might have been groundless.

I appreciate everyone's thoughts.
Tami

RFG, What potting mix you use?

Before I start, please realize I've only really been growing Hoyas for 2 years, so I am definitely still a newbie.

But, I do repot all rooted cuttings I get within a week or two of receiving them. I hose off all media from the roots when I do this. I am not gentle at all. Reason is because I am using inorganic growing media, so I want all the bark/soil etc completely off the roots.

I haven't had any problems doing this, in fact, it's amazing the root growth I get when I move them into the new media.

Also, I do use 4 inch pots, but again I'm using inorganic media which dries much more quickly, so there is less chance of root rot. I use the bigger pots for stabilization, as they spend most of the year outside with a natural breeze, and the smaller pots tend to tip over a lot. When I was using an organic media, I did keep them in smaller pots though.

Renee

I, too, use a mostly inorganic media for my plants, and I make sure to remove all other soil
when transitioning plants and cuttings to my preferred gritty, porous mix. Once my plants are
in an acceptable mix, I can easily pot them up (into larger containers when the time is right)
and simply loosen the outer root-ball and add more of the same gritty soil mix.

Josh

Josh and Renee, are you talking about a mix similar to Al's gritty mix? I have transplanted part of my very small collection of succulents into gritty mix, the rest are in a commercial cactus mix that is quite fast draining. I actually bought 2 of the 3" pots of hoya to use as an experiment. I want to transplant one pot into gritty mix the other into regular, fast draining potting soil. I want to compare the growth of the same plants of similar size in the different mixes under the same conditions. This probably isn't the best time of year to try this. I paid $2 per pot so I won't be out much if they don't make it.

Could you please share your fertilizer/watering methods for your plants grown in the inorganic media?
Tami

Hey, Tami!
I'm definitely using mixes very similar to Al's...not the exact ingredients,
but following the same principles. For Hoyas, I actually prefer a mix that has a
slightly higher percentage of bark than the Gritty Mix proper.

I fertilize with Foliage Pro 9-3-6, and I water when the containers feel light.

Josh

Tami,

No I have three different potting types. I no longer mix things.

For those plants that like to dry out I use Hydroton in traditional pots.

For plants that like to dry out less often, but still dry, I use Turface in traditional pots.

For plants that like to remain moist I use Hydroton in Semi-hydro.

I will say that using inorganic only media, fertilizing weakly and regularly is much more important.

Watering is pretty much daily in summer, when the weather cools, it's maybe every three days or so. But it's not a big deal for me in the summer, I just hit them all with the hose on sunny days, and rain takes care of them also. Fertilizing is about once a week in summer and winter. I winter I just reduce my fertilizer strength by half.

Renee

Thanks! I am anxious to see how the hoyas and the succulents grow in my little experiment.

I have looked for Foliage Pro fertilizer but haven't been able to find it in my area. I'll keep looking for it or a similar product.