Hoya – Page 3 – Garden Biology

Sometimes when you move into a new place, it doesn’t feel right. It may feel empty or barren or, in some cases, devoid of life. A great way to liven up your new house or apartment is with a plant. A bit of green can really make your new home feel alive and breathing. Adding a new plant to your house or apartment can indeed help it feel like a home. If you want to add a new plant to your house, you’ve come to the right place. Are you looking for a plant that can become a centerpiece of your home? One that with long, succulent vines? A plant that will gladly grow up any trellis you give it, becoming a perfect talking piece or a great bit of decoration. If that sounds like what you need, then look no further than the Hoya Pubiacalyx plant. Hoya Pubiacalyx, also known as a Porcelain Flower, a Wax Plant, or a Pink Silver Vine, is one of the fastest growing varieties of Hoya. Hoya Pubiacalyx can be found in the wild in several different Asia countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, New Guinea, and Indonesia. Hoya Pubiacalyx can also be found in Australia. Despite being endemic to Asia and Australia, Hoya Pubiacalyx have become extremely popular worldwide. This popularity is due to their long blooming period and unique flowering pattern. One of the most important things to note about Hoya Pubiacalyx is that they are mildly toxic to both pets and children. You won’t have to do much to maintain your Hoya Pubiacalyx. Hoya Pubiacalyx Care Before you decide to add a plant to your home, you need to make sure that you are prepared to care for them. Obviously, caring for some plants will be much easier than caring for others. Regardless of what type of plant you decide on, you must do your research beforehand. When you care for any plant, you must ensure that you can set up its habitat to its required parameters. A very important parameter is temperature. If you have your temperature set too high or too low, it can harshly impact the growth rate of your plant. Another important parameter that may be overlooked is soil. Each plant has very specific soil needs, as well as a particular soil pH requirement that you need to be aware of. If you don’t give your plant the correct type of soil, it will be negatively affected and could have stunted growth or be susceptible to infection or disease. One of the most important parameters you need to consider is lighting. Some inexperienced hobbyists will leave their plants by a window all day, which may result in the scorching of their leaves. Another constantly overlooked parameter for plant care is humidity. Some people resort to misting their plants’ leaves and hoping that is enough. But in some cases, a plant may need a more heavy-duty humidifier to achieve its humidity needs. Regardless of your plant’s needs, as long as you research beforehand, you shouldn’t have any issues with caring for them. Hoya Pubicalyx Is Hoya Pubiacalyx easy to care for? Hoya Pubiacalyx tends to be a somewhat low patience plant. Hoya Pubiacalyx requires semi-regular watering and an average temperature of around 62 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit. The biggest issue that some may have with caring for Hoya Pubiacalyx is the length to which they can grow. On average, the vines of the Hoya Pubiacalyx plant can grow to be around 10 feet in length. Those vines prefer to grow up something, so as long as you give them a trellis or something similar, they shouldn’t be an issue. Hoya Pubiacalyx requires a decent amount of sunlight, usually around six hours of indirect sunlight. You can even place them under a grow light if you wish. But if you put them under a grow light, they’ll require more sunlight than they would if placed in real sunlight. Light Requirment Lighting is an extremely important need for any plant. Some hobbyists believe they can just leave their plant on a window sill, and that’s good enough. The problem with doing something like that is that too much sunlight can also harm your plant. Direct sunlight can be very harsh on the leaves of some plants, even going so far as to scorch them. Hoya Pubiacalyx requires a minimum of 6 hours of indirect sunlight in order for its foliage to truly bloom. They can also survive with a couple hours of direct sunlight from the morning sun. A grow light is an acceptable option if you can’t give your Hoya Pubiacalyx plant the sunlight it needs. If you’re using a grow light, your Hoya Pubiacalyx will require 16 hours under it during the growing season and around 12 hours when it is not the growing season. It is easy to tell if your Hoya Pubiacalyx is not getting enough sunlight. A symptom of a lack of sunlight is disappointing and a less than full bloom. The ability to be grown under a grow light and its need for only a few hours of indirect sunlight makes the Hoya Pubiacalyx a great choice for an indoor plant. Soil Type & pH When picking the soil for any plant, most people will just get a bag of potting soil from a home improvement store. The problem with a bag of generic potting soil is that it usually won’t fulfill the needs of the plant you’re going to use it for. With a bit of research, you can find the perfect soil for the plant you want or even the instructions to make it. Hoya Pubiacalyx prefers an airy, well-draining soil; this is perfect because it provides a lot of air to the root system. Most experts recommend a soil mix designed for either cactus or succulents. But making your own soil mix for your Hoya Pubiacalyx isn’t too hard. To make your own soil mixture for your Hoya Pubiacalyx plant, you’ll need equal parts perlite, organic compost, and orchid mix. As for the pH level of your soil, you’ll want it to fall between 6.5 to 7.5, which is a medium pH level. Watering & Humdity Water is one of the most important needs for any living creature, not just plants. But when it comes to watering your plants, you need to ensure that you do not overwater them. Overwatering a plant can lead to root rot. Root rot is exactly what it sounds like, the rotting of your plant’s root system. In many cases, root rot can cause the death of your plant. During the growing season of the Hoya Pubiacalyx plant, you must ensure it is well watered. Make sure the soil is always moist but never soggy. On average, watering your Hoya Pubiacalyx 3 times a week during the growing season is recommended. When it is not the growing season of the Hoya Pubiacalyx, you can let the top couple of inches of soil dry out before watering it. You should water your Hoya Pubiacalyx around once a week during its winter rest period. Humidity is an important parameter for Hoya Pubiacalyx since they are endemic to tropical locations. Maintaining a humidity level of around 70% for Hoya Pubiacalyx is very important. The required humidity level can be achieved and maintained through the use of a humidifier, as well as a pebble tray and regular misting. A pebble or humidity tray is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to create humidity. To make a pebble tray, you just need a tray and some pebbles. Most people tend to use a cookie sheet and some generic garden stones. Once you have the vessel and some rocks, all you need to do is fill the tray with pebbles and then add water until it is right below the top of the pebbles. Another great option is misting. Giving your Hoya Pubiacalyx daily misting in conjunction with a pebble tray should be the perfect amount of humidity to keep your plant happy. Hoya Pubiacalyx Temperature Temperature is an oft-overlooked condition for taking care of plants. While some more experienced hobbyists may unintentionally overlook it. Beginning hobbyists may not even take it into account. Naively, people will believe that the inside of their home is the perfect condition for raising a plant, and in some cases, that may just be true. In most cases, your home might be the ideal temperature for the Hoya Pubiacalyx. During their growing season, Hoya Pubiacalyx prefers a temperature within the range of 60 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. However, during other seasons such as fall and winter, the temperature required isn’t as strict; your Hoya Pubiacalyx can survive in temperatures that fall all the way down to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Your Hoya Pubiacalyx plant must never be in temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Hardiness Zone Checking your area’s Hardiness Zone is a crucial step if you plan on growing your Hoya Pubiacalyx outside as opposed to indoors. Many beginners are confused about Hardiness Zones and what exactly they are. For those wondering, the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is “a standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location.” To put in easier-to-understand terms, a Hardiness Zone helps determine what plants can grow in which locations or climates. Hoya Pubiacalyx plants are best grown outdoors in Hardiness Zones 10b to 11b. Those locations tend to be more tropical and warm areas. A full map can be found online at the USDA Plant Hardiness website. Fertilization Requirement Fertilizing a plant is one of the most important things you can do to help it grow. Fertilization is especially important during the growing season of any plant. Some plants, Hoya Pubiacalyx, included, don’t require fertilization during the winter months as that isn’t their growing season. When picking a fertilizer for your Hoya Pubiacalyx, you must be sure to choose one high in potassium. You should also get a fertilizer that you can spray onto the leaves of your Hoya Pubiacalyx. Some experts even recommend using compost tea or fish emulsion monthly during the growing season. Be sure that the soil is wet before fertilizing to prevent burning the roots of your Hoya Pubiacalyx. Hoya Pubiacalyx Propagation In many cases, a person may like a single plant so much that they wish to add more of them to their home. Normally the easiest way to do that is by going out and just buying a new plant of the same variety. Sometimes, however, purchasing a new plant isn’t feasible. In that case, people turn to propagation. Propagation is the process of growing a new plant from parts of an older one. One of the easiest ways to do that is with seeds. However, they are the slowest method and not always the most effective. Two options for propagating Hoya Pubiacalyx are stem cuttings and leaf cuttings. Stem cutting is simple. You’ll want to use a clean knife, preferably dipped in alcohol. Then you’ll want to pick a roughly 6 or 7-inch stem and make it at the end of the stem near a node. After you cut it off, you’ll need to prune any leaves still on it. Place the stem in the sun for a few hours. Once the stem is ready, place it in a pot with the same soil type as the parent plant. You need to bury the stem, so the node is a few inches deep. It is important to keep the soil moist until your new Hoya Pubiacalyx begins to grow. Water it roughly 3 times a week and keep a plastic bag over it to keep the moisture in. Leaf-cuttings are similarly as simple to propagate and grow. All you have to do is remove a leaf from your Hoya Pubiacalyx plant. You’ll then plant the stem a couple of inches deep into the same type of soil as the parent Hoya Pubiacalyx. At around 4 to 6 weeks, the leaf-cutting will begin to sprout. It needs to be kept watered during this time, and warmth is similarly as important, which is why placing a plastic bag over it is recommended. Can you propagate Hoya Pubiacalyx by seeds? Growing a new Hoya Pubiacalyx from seeds is actually quite easy. All you have to do is plant the Hoya Pubiacalyx seeds in a peat moss soil mixture. It may take up to 5 weeks for your Hoya Pubiacalyx seeds to begin to sprout; during that time, be sure the soil stays moist. It is also important to give them a lot of light and humidity and keep their temperature at least 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Humidity and moisture can easily be achieved by placing a plastic bag over them. You can also help your Hoya Pubiacalyx grow by giving it fertilizer once a month. Size & Growth Rate Hoya Pubiacalyx is known for its fast growth rate and massive size when fully grown. In its natural habitat, Hoya Pubiacalyx can grow to be an astounding 20 feet in length. Thankfully, however, the Hoya Pubiacalyx will not grow as large outside its tropical home. When kept in a normal house, Hoya Pubiacalyx can grow to be around 10 feet in length. That massive size is why giving it a tresllis to grow up is important, as this plant loves to grow around something. If you don’t supply your Hoya Pubiacalyx with a trellis, they tend to grow wildly, looking for anything to grow around. Hoya Pubiacalyx grows long, winding, and rambling vines that tend to be unruly if they do not have something to grow around. Common Problems, Diseases, and Pests While the Hoya Pubiacalyx tends to be an easy-to-grow plant, all plants can be susceptible to pests, diseases, and other problems. If your Hoya Pubiacalyx has red or dry leaves, that is usually caused by too much sun. Leaves that are yellow and wilted tend to be caused either by a lack of water and humidity or by pests such as mealybugs or aphids. If your Hoya Pubiacalyx looks unhealthy or depressed, that can be caused by dead roots. If you find any dead roots, it is imperative to remove the dead ones and replant your Hoya Pubiacalyx. Hoya Pubiacalyx Flower Under the right conditions, your Hoya Pubiacalyx will create clusters of star-shaped red flowers with pink centers. They are truly gorgeous and smell as good as they look. Hoya Pubiacalyx may not bloom the first year you have them, but that’s okay. It may take some time, usually a few years, for your Hoya Pubiacalyx to feel comfortable and mature enough to begin blooming. They will also only bloom if they are given a proper dormant season during the winter. Is Hoya Pubiacalyx pet safe? Hoya Pubiacalyx is not safe for pets or children. Unfortunately, Hoya Pubiacalyx has a sticky white sap that is toxic to both dogs and cats, as well as children. The sap can even irritate the skin, so gloves are recommended when handling your Hoya Pubiacalyx. Where to Find Hoya Pubiacalyx for Sale Hoya Pubiacalyx is very popular, meaning it can be purchased in multiple different locations online and in person. Most big-name stores that carry plants are likely to have them in stock. Hoya Pubiacalyx is also available to purchase on Amazon. A single Hoya Pubiacalyx plant tends to start at around $15.