/Hera - Thanks for the link. If this info is accurate then this site may be just what I need.

-David

I grow my Hoya multiflora in the shade and it blooms all the time. I don't have many others that I would recommend for the shade if you still want to see flowers. Hoya lambii might be ok in the shade as it does not like sun although I grow mine in bright indirect light.

Mike

Well, today I learned that putting a simple white paper background to the pots could help to increase light intensity up to 2-3 times. A guy who measured that with the equipment shared that info. Maybe such a cheap solution could be helpful for you to provide enough flux to your hoyas necessarily reside away from the windows.

About the accuracy of the informations given in the link, I can not say those are true or not - but it is a website with a good database. However, comments of people with experience like Mike mean much more to me. I will curiously follow that topic since I also need to rearrange my crovded shelves nowadays.

From seeing hoyas growing in the wild, I can't imagine any to be low light growers. Hoyas being what they are,...vines tend to be the highest growing plants in the canopy. Many will make the shade that so many gesneriads, orchids and everything else being at the mercy of the hoyas above. One exception is hoya lambii which have two portions of plants. One makes the leafless vining stems that protrude above the canopy of larger leafed shrubs and trees while the funnel leaves below gather detrius and bird droppings. Their flowers also bloom near these funnels where shrews and birds feed off the copious nectar and at one time is believed that the nectar produces a stool softening agent to allow these animals to add droppings to the leafy composty mixture with in the leaves. Yes, this hoya is also adaptive for scat as nutrients as many nepenthes and possibly other genera have evolved to. This is why the flowers all bloom just around these funnel shaped leaf groups.

Thanks for the info. I was hoping that a few would adapt or tolerate lower light during the winter. It doesn't seem like there is an obvious candidate so it looks like I will be giving hoyas all the prime spots and or supplemental lighting. I've heard of some mixing flourescent bulbs to provide a desirable spectrum of light. What type of bulbs do you recommend for my flourescent fixtures that I have available.

-David

"What type of bulbs do you recommend for my flourescent fixtures that I have available."

I use 6500K (daylight) bulbs because they are a good approximation of natural sunlight, and look pleasing to the eye. Cool white bulbs are reasonably close in spectrum, and easier to find. Many people recommend mixing bulbs, but this is based on the idea that mixing bulbs yields a more complete spectrum which, in most cases, it does not.

May I suggest using LED bulbs as they are cheaper to keep on (expensive to buy) yet are able to last like 10-20 years lifespan with daily use. Also use mylar sheets to reflect lighting back and forth between plants and walls and even from below. It's amazing what reflective light can do from a single bulb. I have a grower friend who uses a spare closet to grow all sorts of plants and he just uses the light above with that pull-string on-off switch. He has replaced the bulb with a LED bulbs during the summer and actually uses a incandescent bulb to aid in keeping them warm during the freeze outside.
The reflective qualities of light from a single bulb is amazing. You'd almost say that his closet is like opening the door to another world.
He grows orchids (yuck!) and says that it's worth the investment for the led bulb and cheap mylar sheets.

"He grows orchids (yuck!) "

RFG, you are such a rebel LOL.

Sorry I live in an area where orchids grow like weeds. If we could grow peonies here I'd grow that instead. But alas, orchids orchids everywhere. They are tissue cultured in mass and sold in mass, thousands of exact duplicates like part of the army in the clone wars of Star Wars. Ughh!
Imagine a table full of exact replicas of the exact same flower in the exact same form. Pass!
Even while hoyas are grown from cuttings, each one adapts differently to their surroundings and grows differently. I would bet that if every plant looked identical, we'd stop growing them and just look at pretty pictures instead.

LoL. Orchids have a very unexciting side and it's those mass produced hybrids that RFG talked about. Believe me the other side of orchids is as exotic as one can imagine and that is the orchid species. Orchid species in numbers make Hoyas look like a tiny gang vs a massive mob. Then again along the evolutionary road Hoyas are amongst the most highly adapted in the milkweed family along with the succulent Stapeliads, some have called them the orchids of the succulent/milkweed family.

I just had to stick up for orchids and yes that makes me an orchid snob because I just don't dig purple Dendrobium hybrids either. LoL
Give me a foul smelling Bulbophyllum, a Catasetum or a deciduous stick of a plant covered in blooms any day.

Mike

Maybe it's like wanting what you can't have RFG. Curlies want straight hair. Straight hair girls want curly hair. Hawaiians want anything but an orchid and us mainlanders love 'em.

Orchids are what started me growing well now a variety of things orchids, passion flowers, hoyas, anemones, veggies, succulents, .... I love the more rare versions too but my giant white phalaenopsis will always be a favorite!

Mike, thanks for sticking up for the orchids lol

And I agree with you, no way I would allow one of those mass produced (probably diseased) flowering pot plants into my collection.

Give me a Dendrobium species, Catasetum or Bulbophyllum any day.

Funny thing is though, last week when I went to bring in all my warm growers and get them under lights, it was the Hoyas that somehow tripled over the summer, not the orchids.

Renee

Hoyas just seem to sneak in where as orchids I usually buy in person at an event or society meetings. I am hopeless when it comes to orchids although I am very picky so I keep them under control that way. I even decided not to attend the Royal Botanical Gardens Orchid Show this weekend so that I would not be tempted.

I have to admit that Hoyas are far too easy to get in large numbers so I have resigned myself to buying only four or five cuttings at a time. Hoyas just grow so fast once they settle in and, faster then we like to admit that there are serious grow space issues.

Mike

RainForestGuy,

I have a very large peony that I absolutely have to break apart. DH doesn't want it on the corner of the house. (Draws ants) It's pale pink/white and smells heavenly. It was here when we moved in 4 yrs ago. If you like, I could chop off a hunk and mail it to you? =) Just pay for shipping it...

DH bought a lovely dwarf conifer in bribe to get me to dig up the peony. LoL So now I've got to move/remove the peony. I love the peony, but I promised I'd do it. So if you're serious, I'll dig it up and send you a bit of it.

~Tina

My piece is this... my first orchid 4 or so years ago and I was hooked... though I shamefully killed the first one by removing it from the pot... lesson learned... the other 4 are doing alright with some neglect on my part!....one phal and one den actually rebloomed for me .. so I love them!... I love all things green... well mostly... what I'd like to add here Tina, is that the house I just sold had 2 huge peonies, which I planted years ago from babies!... had to use a kind of chicken wire this past season to keep the top heavy flowers from falling over!... as for the ants, there wouldn't be any blooms if not for the ants... at least that was my understanding years ago... and the ants only stayed on the peonies... never strayed to other areas!... I think you have to dig up an "eye"...(hope that's right ) and pass that along to someone who wants to grow it... don't think a cutting will do it!... but what a lovely idea to mail it to someone who loves them!... I am particularly loving the lighting advice here... will need to step up my lighting as the season comes on... the whole month of November is very very dark!... Eileen