I have some updated pics to share with everyone. Back in august I bought a cutting of ruthie and ciliata from MJSPonies, and they are growing very well now! The only question I have regarding them is because they're such big growers and like more space, when should I re-pot them. I planted them in 3" plastic drinking cups. I have 4" pots I can move them up to. I was told they'd do best in large bulb pots that are shallow and wide but idk if I should gradually move them up to pots that are 1" bigger at a time or directly repot them in a large bulb pot now. They've been in the 3" cups for 6 months and have a good root system. Also I was told they require different soil than most Hoyas but was not told what they require. Right now what I'm using for them and all my Hoyas is a mix of:

1 part happy frog soil
1 part coconut coir
1 part Black Gold Orchid Mix 
3 parts Black Gold Orchid Bark 
1 part perlite 
1 part grow stones

They're doing well so far so I don't want to change it too much and shock them but if they'd prefer something different I'd like to provide that for them.
This is Hoya ciliata in oct with root growth and new stem growth






This is the same Hoya ciliata just the other day. You can see how long that new stem has grown. Poor quality pics though. Sorry about that.

And here is ruthie back in oct with root and new stem growth.






And here is the same Hoya ruthie the other day. The long stem sticking up is the new stem.

LizzieBeth, The potting mixture you are using sounds good and from the looks of your plants, you are doing great! They look happy and healthy!

I've never grown H. ciliata but I bought a Hoya 'Ruthie' from mjsponies last May and it grows fast, especially during the summer. I'm really bad about fertilizing my plants but I may just give this one a shot of fertilizer in the next few days now that the weather has warmed up.

May 10, 2016 and ..................................... Today

Can't remember if I mentioned this above but just recently fertilized with Schultz houseplant liquid fertilizer 10-15-10 and my Hoyas loved it!!! It made them put on lots of new foliage and vines. At the next watering I just watered with plain water to rinse the soil out. But I normally alternate between using superthrive or HB101 during waterings.

So does anyone have a suggestion for what size pot I should move my ruthie and ciliata up to. They're in the 3" right now. Not sure if I should move them to a 4" pot or move them straight to a large bulb pot.

My understanding with Hoyas they do not really like being overpotted. If it were mine, I will still keep it in same container.

I'm not sure about Hoya ciliata since I'm not familiar with that one but I'd say if the roots of your Hoya 'Ruthie' are filling that solo cup, it could definitely be moved up to a 4 or 6 inch pot. I don't know if @mjsponies is around or not but she can offer good advice on repotting!

If you are on Facebook, she has a FB page called Little Garden in the Country: https://www.facebook.com/Littl... and she also has an ebay store: http://www.ebay.com/usr/little... where she also sells plants.

So does anyone have a suggestion for what size pot I should move my ruthie and ciliata up to. They're in the 3" right now. Not sure if I should move them to a 4" pot or move them straight to a large bulb pot.

I'm not sure why my post posted twice. I'll definitely check her out on Facebook. I bought both my Hoya ruthie and Hoya ciliata from her which are both eriostemmas and prefer more room and don't like being root bound. I've been told to use a large bulb pot for them when they get bigger and that they require different soil than Hoyas. That's all I know. So idk if it'll shock them to pot them directly in a bulb pot or increase pot size 1" and risk them getting root bound. I've been trying to find info on eriostemmas with no luck. There's really not much info about them.

I've never heard that some Hoyas need a different soil type than others; most potted plants I think (except maybe bog type or aquatic plants) need a soil that drains well and doesn't retain a lot of water.

I think I remember someone (maybe mj) telling me that Ruthie is a fast grower and prefers a larger pot so maybe that's why I put mine in a bigger pot fairly soon after I got it last year. I love the shallow bulb type pots for small plants and years ago I used them for Hoya cuttings and for growing African Violets.

My Ruthie is in a fairly large pot, in the mix I use for all plants, which is regular potting soil with lots of orchid bark mixed in; light, airy and well draining. I might un-pot her in the next week or so to see what the roots look like and if necessary move her over to a new container. I've never gone by the idea that plants "prefer" to be root bound but there may be many types of plants that indeed do prefer tight roots to perform at their optimum.

Hopefully, if you are able to get into contact with mjsponies she will be able to advise you on a correct pot size for both of your Hoyas. With a much larger pot I'd be watchful with watering; if the container is too large, the ratio of plant roots to the amount of soil could be too great for the roots to absorb all of the moisture, leading to water sitting at the bottom of the pot causing the roots to rot.

If it were mine, I would just keep it in the same container just one more year, and then contemplate about it again next year. I feel they are like epis in some sense, they like the tight feeling at the root section as long as there is good drainage and airflow at root zone.

My three hoyas has been in the same container since I got them, and they are okay, one for 3 years, the other 2 for 4 years. What I do have to provide is a good way to stake them since they are vining, so they like to latch on to something, and a stable container so they will not topple over.

@Lizziebeth

Move the Ruthie and ciliata to a 4 in. pot, then you can go to 5-6 in. Make the move just as they are getting to the point of being pot bound. They also don't like to dry out quite as much as some Hoya's. My very largest ones are in 8 in. but these are old plants. The eriostemmas do not like to be pot bound as most other Hoya's do. Regarding the soil for eriostemmas I've heard they like a little lime in the soil but I have never added it to mine and they grow like weeds. The mix that @plantladylin described above will work fine and her explanation for not moving into too large a pot too soon is spot on.


Lin I don't remember for sure but I think you got a larger plant last year so that would be why you could move into a larger pot sooner.

Anytime anyone has a question I am more than willing to help but sometimes it might be faster to contact me on the Facebook page Little Garden in the Country. For some reason I am not getting notifications sent to my email like I used to from here.

mj, yes the 'Ruthie' I bought from you last year was a larger plant. I posted pictures of it up-thread in this post showing it then and now:
https://garden.org/thread/view...

Lin it looks great. True to 'Ruthie' form ! Give it a dose of bloom booster, and remember it likes 6-7 hours of full sun. Mine get full sun with only a little dappled shade till after 2-2:30 in the afternoon. They do like a lot of water in summer too.

Thanks mj! I hope to see blooms this year; I plan on giving it a shot of bloom booster next week when I feed the orchids!

Ah you are both lucky to have the warmth and humidity hoyas love!

I brought back in my Hoya kerrii variegata, our temps turned cooler again..got to wait for next week, hopefully things will be less cold and windy.

Our weather just showed temp's for next week at 90ºF and I'm sure the humidity will be up there too.

That's way too hot for me! 😵😵😵 is be dead lol. And thank you for the reply.

The thing about Florida especially this time of year is you can go from cold to hot in a day. 83º today a little humid. Next week we'll supposed to have low's down into the low 50's. UGH....Anything below 60º is cold to me. I like it around 85 day, 75 night. I don't even turn on my air conditioning till it starts getting humid. Open windows and ceiling fans.

Hoya dolichosparte blooms multiple times off old umbels, as many others do. That's why you never want to remove them.