Hi Jo
I wont be much help with giving info on potting up this plant but wanted to say I love the colors.
I was given a few cuttings this spring and I just laid them on top of the soil. I kept them misted and they rooted at many areas.Its growing very fast.
Good luck with your new plant.

Cindy

I have a few Ceropegia species that have thin stems like your Ceropegia woodii. I have luck rooting some by coiling the cutting and placing it on top of a pot of mix, partially bury some of the stem/nodes and then keep moist. Some thin stemmed species have been very hard for me to root and I have heard that using a dark bottle like a beer bottle and water rooting is another method. Water rooting has only really resulted in rot most of the times I have tried it.

Mike

Hey Jojo,

I'd leave it exactly as it is, that's how its supposed to grow. I don't think I'd thin it out at all; search for pix & you'll see others grow this way as well. I'm surprised yours is in bloom now, I know it to be a summer bloomer here in NYC.

BTW, some of yours IS the variegated version, the green w/ the white. Sometimes in strong light that white gets pink highlights, & is VERY pretty.

I've also grown the variegate, can be fussier to grow & propagate than the green.

If it were mine I'd leave it just how it is, & learn about the plant in the meantime. Then next Spring would be the time to re-assess & make possible changes.

Great looking basket, JoJo!

I'll be back later this afternoon with more comments.
Cheers!

Josh

Hi Everyone,
Thank you..

Pirate girl,
I think it was a post of yours that made me think this was variegated , Thank you.

I have seen many pics and do realize many grow it this way, but this just seems way too packed and in my opinion, should be repotted. I kid you not, the plant is several inches thick on top.

The nursery is several acres, several huge greenhouses, and I know they don't repot very often.

I would like it to be a little more open, and maybe trained on a small trellis so I can enjoy the plant all around and see it..

As far as the blooms, our weather is still very warm comapared to most parts of the country. low 70's in the day, 40's in the nights. All the stapeliads are blooming too. I had one bloom yesterday, and 3 more with buds. All are outside.
Arizona is very dry, maybe that has something to do with it? I don't know.

This was outside, in a warm bright greenhouse.

Josh!
Looking forward to seeing you!
Cheers!

JoJo

Seriously I wouldn't repot it. I really haven't seen this grown any other way, frankly.

When mine got too much (earlier this Spring), I just cut a hunk of foliage off the top & restarted 2 new pots of it, (just placing the hunk of foliage in a pot & burying at least half of it), ultimately discarding the bottom portion.

I'm concerned about you repotting this -- will you know how to proceed if you unpot it to fnd it's mostly big tubers now?

I'll look for some pix in the next couple of days.

Hey, JoJo!
I honestly don't know much about this species, but I don't mind speculating a bit....

Have you examined the root-ball yet? Let me know what you find.

Josh

There may not even BE a rootball Josh, just fat potato-like tubers. I don't have the guts to turn mine out to check.

Jojo,

the AZ heat would sure explain why these are blooming now for you, how extra nice!

Hi Josh,
That was a 3 man job, and just little ole me here. lol!
It was Hard to get out of the pot, and packed solid, didn't lose any soil, which is mostly sand.

I will get some photos posted in a bit.

Thanks,
JoJo

Here's some shots of the roots.

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{{gwi:993367}}

{{gwi:993368}}

Howdy!

Thanks for looking, JoJo! ;)
Well, if it's packed solid, then a re-pot is in order....
Perhaps part of the blooming and great color could be due to the stress of being under-potted?
(And Arizona weather, which goes without saying!)

I think it's going to be a big job to tease the tubers apart and then wrestle them into new mix.
I'd start by loosening the sides of the root-ball, and most likely removing the bottom roots.


Josh

Hey, JoJo, I didn't see those pics when I posted! The roots don't look bad to me!

When I re-potted my Ceropegia cuttings, the roots had completely overtaken the container.....


Josh

All of my Ceropegias are in small pots, that's both fiberous and tuberous rooted species. These plants don't need a big pot to do well and as long as they are in a fast draining mix issues with rot should not be a problem. The tubers of this species can become quite large but the ones you see on your plant are still mostly on the small side. I agree with PG, your plant does not need to be repotted as it is really just a bunch of well established cuttings. In time some of the tubers will grow to about walnut size and then you can seperate them to grow in their own pot. I think the best time to repot is in the spring when strong new top growth is starting. Some growers allow the plants to go dormant for part of the year but this is nt necessary.

Mike

Hi Everyone,
Thanks,
I got it sat. and the soil is still VERY wet! Is that good or bad? I have not watered it.

Which you can kinda tell by the soil.. and some roots have algea.

Our Arizona sun is nice. :)

JoJo

Those roots look great to me, I'd put it back in the same pot or just a size bigger, adding new mix underneath & around the rootball.

If you're nervous about the moisture, leave the whole thing out of the pot on newspapers & hopefully the newspaper will blot a bunch of the moisture out for you.

I'd put it right back in the pot in a sunny or bright spot & hope it resumes blooming (I think the blooms are pretty cool, tho' small).

Healthy plant Jojo, good for you, pretty too!

Don't know how to explain this (MikeD, a hand here pls.), this is not a plant whose roots one seprates, you can just repot the whole rootball as is.

Or if it were mine, I'd cut that rootball into several sections, straight thru the rootball (top to bottom) & pot them in small pots individually.

Hello again,
And thanks Pirate girl. :)

It seems I may not have explained myself well enough. Not surprised, have a headache right now..ugh!

Anyway,
I wasn't wanting to seperate so to say, and if this is best left as a whole, than that's fine. when I do repot, I will just knock out the worst of the soil to the outer edge, I know it's not good to mix soils, and I was planning on going with something along the lines of the girtty mix.

I don't have the heart to cut through it! lol! It's too beautiful. I know what your saying, i've divided plenty of mint over the yrs that way. :)

What I really wanted to do is thin out some of what's swirled around the top, and rim where it's so packed and pale from not enough light.

Was wondering the best way to do that without tearing up the majority of the plant.

I'll leave the rootball as is for now and leave it in this pot and see how it goes.

The biggest reason i was wondering about repotting, is it will be going from outside to inside and the soil it is in is obviously retaining quite a bit of water.

I think I will try and get a few cuttings where I can see tubers on top and a little from around the edge.

I was planning on it tonight, while I still have the house to myself and minimal interruptions. (have pets, lol)

Hi Jojo, I'm not going to be of any help to you as I don't know anything about this plant...except I love the pinks, very pretty colors and very cute blooms.

If you do decide to repot it , I do NOT envy you one bit. I repotted and changed the soil of an 8" EA Hoya Lacunosa once, and I swore I would never do it again...it was like a hundred single cuttings just stuck in the pot...there was NO root ball. What a mess,lol...the plant eventually died, I think there are a few plants that just aren't meant to change the soil on, my 100 different cutting Lacunosa is one of them! Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Very attractive plant either way. Enjoy!

Jojo, I also would just stuff it back in with a bit of additional material around the edges to pack it tight enough the water doesn't just right down the inside of the pot and out the bottom.

The reason I logged into comment involved your statement of moving it inside. Is this in response to possible cooler temps or the fact you want it inside to decorate your abode? What type of light will you be providing? The coloration that you have currently is due to Very Bright filtered light.

I think the bright green 'pale' growth you see is brand new and not colored that way because of not enough light. If that was the case, you would not have those lovely rosey tones over the majority of the plant.

If I was wanting to thin out a massively tangled plant, I would get out my scissors, do a 'hack job' (I'm famous for those... http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hoya/msg0819190831179.html )

This is not that common of plant to find, so take less agressive movements. I have lost more than a few of these!
When rooting, I like to use builders sand, coil on top of the sand, pin down the joints near leaves with paper clips cut in half (or bent into 'w' shapes) and spray mist regularly.

Ceropegia is an Amazing species, with something to captivate everyone!

Nice photos Cena! That Ceropegia fusca is a hard one to bloom for most growers, net expecting to see blooms on mine while I have it indoors.

Thanks for sharing your plants.

Mike

Love the Ceropegia pictures, Cena! I'd also not gotten to that old thread yet and found it hilarious. I feel you on showing a plant/pot who's boss. Although sometimes they show me who's boss. D:

Do you guys have any recommendations for Ceropegias that will happily bloom indoors?

GG Ceropegia ampilata, sandersonii, aristalochoides, haygarthii and the small flowered species like linearis and woodii are easy to grow and bloom indoors. Most of these climb shrubs so they don't need hot baking sun but Ceropegia fusca grows right out in the open in very hot and arid conditions, it's not hard to grow just not easy to bloom inside.
These are fun plants and most of them are easy to grow, some are like weeds and grow incredibly fast.

Mike

Thanks, Mike!! I've determined it is time to bite the bullet and embrace my need for some Stapelia and Ceropegia additions, come spring. I

I haven't had much luck growing Ceropegias indoors except for C. woodii & C. sandersonii. Had a single bloom on C. woodii last year, never on Sandersonii.

C. ampliata is very cool, funny looking bloom, I was not able to get it to root Indoors. Several years ago, I rode the Staten Island ferry w/ a big cutting of it w/ its quite phallic blooms, got some very strange looks!

For a real blast (sorry, don't know how to provide a link), check out "The Ceropegia Journal" by my friend Sage Reynolds. Tho' he no longer grows many of these, the site is VERY cool & all done by him, the site, the art, the growing, the photos, a real Ceropegia extravanganza!! They really do look like blooms from another planet.

Nice pix Cena, just showing off that C ampliata huh -- can't resist the tease!

Well I dug up some of my C. woodii pix:

The plain green one: this is the regular common leaf shape, sort of rounded heart shape:

{{gwi:104985}}

Jojo's has an irregular leaf shape, more lance-like, see the same in this shot:

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My friend Sage suggest that the C. woodii are really a complex of them, w/ varying leaf shapes. He got seed pod on his plants, which when he planted, resulted in all different kinds of leaf shapes.

The last remaining bits (to show scale) of the variegate before it died :{{gwi:491104}}