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poohbearlvr

Silver Streak??

PoohBearLvr
10 years ago

My oldest hoya is dying fast. It is labeled 'Purpurea Fusca', but its leaves have the silver streaks all over it, and the umbel is a big round ball of deep red VERY fragrant red flowers. I am told it is Hawaiian purple,or Red Buttons, etc...but I bought it like 15 years ago, when hoyas were wrongly named frequently. So....can this be red buttones, or another variety? I cant find a red flowered one, that grows very fast and blooms nearly all year,with a big round ball of red fuzzy flowers. That sounds like Red Buttons, except that it grows VERY fast. It is also almost dead now. I have a smaller one that is putting out a new umbel,and will open in a week or so,but I just cant sem to find this purpurea Fusca. Was it just a made up name? Or is it this 'Silver Treak' that I see on EBay...but the flowers are pink,not red. Any ideas???

Comment (1)

  • greentoe357
    10 years ago

    There is a "hoya purpureofusca", sometimes also spelled with a dash in there. Google it and see if it looks familiar. Three veins on each leaf, and it does grow fast, Interwebs confirm.
    Posting a picture would help somebody ID it. Also, take cuttings before it dies if you still can - that way you do not have to buy a new one.

    Use cuttings with 2 to 6 leaf nodes. Use more cuttings to fill out the pot sooner. Make each cutting so that there are at least a couple of leaves on each, as in absence of roots the plant can only take in water through leaves. If there is a peduncle, it will produce flowers sooner. Don't dead head that peduncle. Cuttings work much better if taken from mature, but non woody stems from the parent plant.

    You can remove the leaves from the lowest node, so that there is more stem underground to root from.

    Dust the stem part that will be underground with rooting hormone if you have it (easily available in garden stores).

    Insert the cutting into the mix deep enough that the lowest set of leaves is right above the soil line - this maximizes root production.

    Water to thoroughly wet the soil, but not so much as to wash away the hormone.

    Keeping as high a relative humidity as possible without keeping the leaves wet is key to the rooting process. Bag the cutting if humidity is not sufficient. Open the bag every day or two to blow carbon dioxide into it and to remove any fallen leaves or diseased pieces.
    Do not allow the soil to dry out or stand with excess water in a saucer.

    It can take 2 to 6 weeks for the roots to form. When you see your cutting growing, that usually means that roots have formed. Gently pull on the cutting and if you feel any resistance, then you'll know that they have rooted. At this time, open the plastic bag an inch and leave it open overnight. The next day, open the bag another inch. Continue to open the bag over the course of a week. When the bag is fully open, leave the plants in the bag for another 3 days.

    Water the soil sparingly until the plant shows more growth. After three months, transplant the hoya plants into a slightly bigger pot. Do not overpot because of rot danger.

    Good luck and keep us posted.

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