Succulent Ramblings

I like to ramble on about my plants... and other things! My hope is to log the progress of plants and talk about my frustrations with others. So, tune in, turn on, or drop out (if you find it boring!)

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Just some notes as I start my GH cleanup - I'll do some puttering, then some posting, to keep track of what I'm finding. 

Started on the northern-most shelves the last couple of days and found most of the Hoyas are looking fine (so far!), but some of the succulents are looking pretty rough.  Hmmm... you'd think they could take my neglect more than the Hoyas.  I guess it proves just how hardy the Hoyas are!

My Cissus cactiformis for some reason decided to die back.  Interestingly, though, it died back from the base of the plant and there were ends that were perfectly fine, so I've taken cuttings and will plant them in some soil in a few days, after they've had a chance to heal over.  I really like these succulent Cissus, the ones that have sausage-like segments.  Here's a photo of the cuttings:




I grow this species and another one - quadrangularis.  The difference between the two is quadrangularis has smaller segments, about 1/2" wide.  Cactiformis' segments are at least twice as big.  Notice the great arial roots - I hope they root quickly.  Here is my quadranularis, which has gotten quite large and heavy...
Last year, I grew it on the front porch and it really seemed to like being outside, so I plan to do the same this year, probably with both...  The cactiformis gets BIG, FAST, so we'll see how that goes!

I lost Hoya globulivera, a Liddle cutting.  Bummer.  I also finally lost thailandica, which I never even put on my list because it always looked so awful.  I also lost pusilla - another one that never did particularly well for me.  I know there's another Liddle order this year - wish I could afford to get in on it...

My only Cotyledon, long name... **deep breath** C. orbiculata var. orbiculata 'Decussata'... is blooming for the first time:

It's one of those flower spikes that goes straight up from the plant, then hangs pendulent, so I had to take a few photos to get a decent one.  I cut it off last fall and made two plants.  I'll probably try to sell one this summer.  I've never seen this particular species offered before or since, so it shouldn't be hard to sell...

Back to Hoyas - Hoya mitrata is doing very well.  She's a happy camper since I put her in the south-most east window in the sunroom.  Looks all fat and happy.  I believe I put it there last summer sometime and it put on some new growth.  I don't think it's put on much new growth since then, but it just looks very happy and healthy where it's at, so I think I'll leave it there this summer.

H. micrantha is the one I got from Tom over at the UNO greenhouse.  Then I got another from Awanda - I can't remember if I got it because I didn't know the one I got from Tom was micrantha (he has a lot of unidentified stuff) or because I wanted to confirm the ID, but this resulted in me having two nice-sized plants after a couple years.  It's a fast growing plant with leathery leaves - the original plant I got from Tom was kind of ugly because it was badly water spotted.  For the first year, every time I watered it I would "scrub" on the water-spotted leaves with vinegar trying to get the stains off.  It eventually worked and it has become a beautiful plant.  Ironically, the one I keep in my bedroom window, which faces west and gets no direct sun except a couple hours in the evenings in the summer, has a peduncle budding up.  The one in the GH, which gets a bit of sun in winter and much more in summer, is lush and large, but has few peduncles and I don't see any budding up yet.  At any rate, this will be my first flowers for this species.  Here's a photo of the plant:

The photo I had was old so took a new one that showed how lush and full it is.  This is the one in the GH.

To my dismay, I've discovered I already have APHIDS!!!!  I hate those suckers!  And I've never, ever had them this early.  I fought them in the GH last late summer and thought I'd whipped them, but I'm thinking they must have laid eggs and they're hatching now.  I really don't know what to do about them, short of watering everything with BATS.  Maybe I'll just water what seems to be yummy to them as I find them...  I found some on micrantha and a couple others with new growth.  I MUST get them under control FAST!!

Well, I have lots to do and will take notes as I inspect so I can post again in the next few days.  Need to get some stuff done before I go to work...

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