Love all your videos!!! Don’t worry about repeating anything!!! I forget & I appreciate you saying things again-reminding me & I’m sure others do too! Xxx
I am so glad for your outspoken talks about inorganic. Inorganic doesn’t work for me and I feel so much more justified to use organic mixes bc of your ongoing commentary about it! My plants are happier in mixes like what you use.
Abandon, you, never! I grow about half of my collection in Pon and have been very successful with it. I like trying different substrates to see how the plants like it. I don't understand why people get so upset or rude about what others decide to grow their plants in. Anyway, I'm looking forward to your next video, and please don't let the naysayers get you down 😊.
Watched three of your old videos today After Work. Now I am lying in bed, bored, can't sleep, searching for some random stuff to watch and discover YOU 😍🎉❤ sleep can wait - who needs it anyway? 🤷😂😅🌱
I have never used pon and have often wondered what the appeal is. I have enjoyed watching your videos regardless of the substrate you use so I don’t see why anyone would loose interest just because you switched. I’ve learned a lot from you, you’re adorable and you wouldn’t believe how much 💰 money you have helped me part with because of the impact you have had on my plant wish list. 😊 Keep up the good work, I always look 👀 forward to your videos from here in North Carolina, USA.
If it works for you do it, and your true supporters will always be around as they like you as well as your planty content.. theirs always more to learn. Keep doing you ❤
I wanted to get behind pon but I found it to be a bit heavy for some Hoyas with tiny roots..I don’t know. 🤷🏻♀️ I experienced root failure too so I had to repurchase a few Hoyas that tanked and grow in a fluffy/chunky organic mix. I do use lecca with a few Alocasias but I also use a thin layer of lecca with soil for Anthuriums since they prefer consistently moist soil. Also I don’t understand why people are compelled to comment about your soil preference or if you decide to cut off leaves etc. They are YOUR plants! Your advice will always be sought after! 💚 Oh and if you did have a 3 hour video…I would watch it! 😂 I’m being serious!
I bow to the trellis king! Every time I watch you trellis a plant, it turns out amazing. Goals. LOL. You asked what medium viewers are using and if any of us are using PON. You are my mentor! I am using your coir/pumis mix for self-watering pots and also an organic mix similar to what you are using now. Currently I have grown my collection of Hoya to around 140? You have taught me so much and I will always be greatful to you for sharing your knowledge with everyone. Forget the few that are rude. You do you!😂
I've never used selfwatering pots and Pon, for several reasons: I prefer to use bigger pots, because I don't want to repot every year. Pon weighs much more than coco chips and perlite and would break my back trying to lift these pots. I also can't be bothered to buy a specific Fertilizer, only for mineral substrates, I tend to buy different ones (brands), whatever I find at the moment and rotate them regularly (I do not use cactus fertilizer for orchids, obviously... but I do use orchid fertilizer for my hoyas😄) Also I can't wrap my mind around growing plants in stones ( but that's strictly my problem).Also, I'm an incorrigible overwaterer, no need for water reservoir for me. I do use leca on the bottom quarter of my pots (big pots are useful in that regard). And I do mix some lava, or zeolithe in the organic mix, especially if the plant is big or on a moss pole. All my plants are happy. In 4 years of growing I have lost one peperomia ( somebody drowned the poor thing😇) and a thanksgiving cactus to mealy bugs (may they rot in hell!!!). To cut it short, I do what works for me and you shoud do what works for you.
Miro I have never planted in pon or Leca or semi hydro for that matter. I use a DIY Similar to yours just add some cactus and succulent soil to the mix and charcoal. I have researched Hoya a lot and have a large collection as well and have never seen natural Hoya in standing water so I can’t comprehend how that would be good or natural for them. So thank you for supporting the theory!! Happy Hoya planting.
Some people think that the best way for them is the ONLY way. PERIOD. If you cast any doubt on it for any reason, they freak the freak out and take it as a personal affront. (This isn't just with plants, btw. It's with everything.) They need to calm the heck down. There is no one right answer. In plants or in life. Everyone's growing environment is unique as are the plants, the plants' root systems, the care routines, etc. When I learned more about pon and leca, I knew they weren't for me and my conditions, care, and what I'm willing to fuss with. (Rinsing and boiling substrates? No thanks.) I do what works best for me and my plants are happy. 'Nuff said. Personally, I think it's interesting to see how others grow their collections. I learn things that I may want to apply to my collection . . . or learn things that I want to avoid. I can respect a grower such as yourself without adopting all of your exact same growing practices. We're all just doing our best.
I find it refreshing that you’re leaving Pon. I have a few Hoya in Pon (my thin leafed ones) but most of my others are in a chunky mix. Keep us posted on their progress. 🪴🪴
Oh i personally am an old time gardener, my mix, that is soil, perlite, orchid bark At times during pandemic there was this lechuza, pon, mab, leca boom Everytime i got a plant from trade with those mix, i change them, and mix those fancy media with my soil, to add more structure 🤣 But TFF, i throw them sway, it is the culprit of root rotting in my experience 😆 *i also don't really know until now, what is lechuza, pon, and mab, i only know which one is leca, the balls 😅
Haha :D I honestly prefer the organic mix, mine is a bit different as you can see. I don't use soil, but instead moss. Seems to work well for most plants :) I do use it for Begonia though.
My carnosa krimson princess bloomed for the first time and it is gorgeous and she is beautiful🙌 Gosh i would love to show you my hoyas!!! ..sending you love from Chicago!!! 🫶🏼♥️
Honestly I’ve given up with PON with every plant, I found it caused more problems than it was worth so now I use LECA if I want to grow semi hydroponically because I feel like it offers so much more space for air flow around the roots. All of my Hoya are back into organic mixes and doing so much better 😁 Ps; I can’t wait for my Ricardo to get that big 😍 stunningggg!
I still grow in pon (collection around 100 hoya species), BUT I am experiencing the same exact challenges. So I am starting to experiment a bit with adding coco coir / husk / chips to my pon and kind of making a hybrid organic mix haha. As they need repots or rehab I make the change, but ones that are perfectly happy I am leaving in pon for now :)
Whoever questions your knowledge is nuts. The End 🤭😋 Always appreciate your videos, love your company & everything ive learned from you too, so thank you!!! ..you know, leca & pon has always fascinated me, yes i like plants and i like rocks, but will always be team organic mix… 45:03 & come on people there are things in the world you could be giving all this energy to 46:52 ahhh i rewatch your summer camp videos all the time to take in that info!!! Like the hoyas that do better in “lower” light and how uncomfortably wet to keep your tengchongensis etc etc haha you get it Anywho i hope you are having a good day 53:21 okay last thing, ooooo those hoyers look so good😍
Lots of good ideas with the leca on the bottom and using tape on the bamboo. Gee people do get worked up on methods and really sometimes its better to be a bit humble and say maybe what was working for a while did not continue to be so perfect as the plant grew and plants will let us know when they are having trouble. I never really liked the cage trellis the arch is attractive. Not ready to repot in hot humid Florida but after this video my mature hoyas will be in organic mix with leca on the bottom for drainage. Thank you Mr Miro
I checked several Hoyas and found same root problems in Pon, some roots rotted away . I did three with the same leaving some Pon and placed into chunky mix. Thanks I checked them just in time after your video . THANK YOU
I will use pon in layering especially for my tiny hoyas from Yunnan which I keep inside too hot outside for them. And maybe pon on the top layer to keep the nutrition and hydration for outside plants. How about that?
I discovered that Hoyas with larger/succulent leaves do not do well for me at all in pon, but my smaller leaved Hoyas do really well in pon. I did some research on it, and I found out that since larger Hoyas with bigger & thicker leaves already store water in their leaves, and since the roots are more robust, pon actually creates a dense & suffocating environment where the roots can’t breathe enough to grow - and then with semi-hydro, the roots stay too wet all the time. Organic matter in airy mixes also provides more usable nutrients that larger Hoyas demand. So, after thinking about that, it made sense to me. It doesn’t mean I’m totally correct, but I trust my instincts on it and tend to agree.
I do not ever plan on going to PON. I am not interested in having to do all the nutrients. I am using Naked Root Pots in my own aroid mix and it’s awesome. Glad to have found this video. I just started buying Hoya and I am quite confused how they grow. 😅
Those Hoyas look so good on hoop trellises! How do you deal with thick stemmed Hoya? I have some literally hitting the ceiling and am afraid to bend them down (don’t want them little leafs to drop) but by the time the leaves have formed, the stems are so hard to bend! Apparently there have been many negative comments and you feel like you have to explain and defend your decision to steer away from pon……. I would like to thank you for this and all the previous videos that explain very clearly why you stopped using pon for your Hoyas. These started at a time when I was feeling being talked into using pon and I was almost ready to buy all the needed supplies for quite a few Hoyas at that point. Your experiences were very valuable to me and made me decide that I didn’t have to fix what wasn’t broken (organic mixes and tree fern fibre). So again thank you, thank you lots. Hoping your are well, wishing you well Hoping for people to accept that you do what works for you (and they are free to do what works for them)
It depens on the Hoya - some are really hard to bend (kerrii, obovata, imperialist). With these, the larger the trellis, the better because you don't have to bend them so much and it's more likely you will confine them to a trellis. You can also try doing it slowly, and wrapping some twine to help you out - I never tried this but that is how Ikea's australis is trellised and it's a well-known method in horticulture :) I am glad to hear my experience has been useful
@@BasiePlants Thanks for (repeating) the tips! (I now do remember that you mentioned this sort of shortly in the vid) It makes perfect sense and will try them for sure (when I feel confident to handle those plants and theres someone around to hold them for me so that they wont break 😅) I actually saw something similar tot he twine thing once with a ficus that the person bended with wire to make it branch out You are brave to go against popular opinion, but it is good that you do, it is nice to hear all sides(experiences) of a story and then make a well informed decision
I have always used organic. Those hoyas are very healthy looking. Very fun to watch you work. After your last video I trellised many of my hoyas. This is all because of you.
Love these videos! You have inspired me much with your knowledge about Hoya ❤️ About organic mixes - do you think the Hoyas grow more full or lush in organic mix? How do I know which Hoya to grow in Pon or in organic mix? Thank you 🥰 Have a great week! 🌿
I’ve had Streptocarpus plants do great in pon because they’re water divas, but when I tried to pot them up to a larger self watering container in pon, I had issues. Their roots are pretty fine so i didn’t mess with them in the repot, but I suspect the change in moisture levels might have something to do with it. They were drying quickly in the first pot of pon, but having more wet pon around them in the repot seemed to distress the roots. It almost acted like overpotting in organic medium. There’s a lady in my orchid club that keeps proselytizing about LECA. It’s like a religion
Love your videos- love the witty banter with your own self! I’m really new to growing Hoyas and want to know the following: if/ when I break a leaf off the plant is the leaf ok for propagation? I see the leaf is healthy and the break from the vine is clean/ complete. So, do I ditch the leaf or propagate? Stay funny 😂.
😊gonna need a node, like with aroids!!! So if you, oops, break off a leaf youre just gonna have to sigh & in the words of Merkimer from Disenchantment exclaim… Sad ~end quote Good luck on your hoya journey!!!
I'm growing in PON, but I'm a rookie. I value your advice, but I'm waiting to see your results. I just ordered Tree Fern and am going to try that for a bit. I don't know if that will be a permanent thing. Too expensive. To me, gardening indoors or out is always an experiment. I love that aspect of this hobby. I will always watch your videos. I try to keep an open mind.
I already have great results with this mix but it is not at all new to me. I used it years ago with amazing results. If you ask me, not sure why I made the switch really... :)
@BasiePlants Good to know. I switch up to experiment, and I am always open to new substrates. I just started selling my props and there are people who freak out at the idea of PON, so I am leaning toward a mix like yours for future propagations. Thanks for sharing your mix. I used a similar recipe for a monstera and it showed instant appreciation.
I was always using organic mix so its really nice to see that you are transfering more and more to organic. There is big pressure from people using PON, that this is the only correct way to grow hoyas. Also had to repot all my hoyas today and discovered that most of the roots are not great. Now I wonder if it can be because Im using lava rocks in my mix. Maybe its same problem as with PON. And can I have a question about hoyas that prefer more alkaline substrate? Are you using some different mix for them?
I’ve been learning how to build terrariums and saw that they secure the hard scape with a tiny bit of tissue paper and gel super glue at the connection point. Could you use the same technique to se use the trellis? It was be more permanent, but it may be easier then securing with zip ties. Thoughts? I was thinking of trying it myself. I love your videos, thank you!
Allow me to help you understand the negative feedback you received concerning changing from PON to an organic mix: you are not allowed to let your experience dictate a change to your growing methods, ever. We, the anonymous masses, will revolt! Cheers from beautiful, interesting, corn-filled Iowa 😁
Haha :D Yes, I should stick to something that didn't end up working out for me, no matter what. 😅 And it MUST be my fault. :D haha :D Oh I know all about interesting Iowa. It's the same like my Vojvodina here xD Just more hills. :D
And! Where do you get your pots from? Does the inside-pot come with the outside-pot? I definitely think your tips will be useful still 😊 I grow both in Pon and Aroid mix. But I think I'll try your Hoya mix 🤔 I thought I was going to transfer all my plants to pon, but I've changed my mind gradually. I wish we could buy the fungusnat-drops I've seen many use, but it's not allowed to bring them in to Norway where I live 😏
Apparently Pon is a religion now? 😂 My guess is that people put so much money and time into it, that they can’t admit that maybe it isn’t the best thing ever. I appreciate your honest review of how it worked long-term for you.
Hi Miro! I'm repotting some of my very small plants that were cuttings. The substrate was way too dense and would never dry out. It wasnt helping that i had a fungus gnat infestation and had to water in product to kill eggs and creepy worms. Anyway when i removed from the pot half or most of the sil just fell off. No root rot is evident and there is new growth. Not much new roots at all. So i repotted in a chunky mix and put them in a prop box. How much do you water them where they were still wet? Or do you just spritz them? And let them settle for a couple of days?
No, tree fern fiber is not available here and it is super pricey in Europe, especially considering how many plants I have. The mix I make works excellent for me, no need to try something else, I doubt I would have any more success. :)
inorganic compared to organic growing is quite different. In inorganic one is gorwing hydroponically and organic is mainly technically seen as growing in soil. It's not as simple as just switching from one to the other. In hydroponic growing you have to provide all the plants needs in the water supply. In soil grown the soil provides a lot of micro nutrients making it easier for some people. If hydroponic doesn't work as well, switching back makes sense. Hydroponic is my preferred way but it requires far more knowledge and experience to get it to work well. Otherwise people are better off sticking to a soil grown way. You even have to use completely different ph levels for the different growing methods. Some don't like to mess with ph which is kind of a requirement for successful hydroponic growing. This is what you should be telling people on why hydroponic is not for everyone. as to why missorchidgirl switched, she will have mentioned some reason. But I believe the truth is many times peoples plants become weaker in hydroponic unless one fertilizes them perfectly which she certainly was not doing at that time. Her plants became infected with thrips which she did not realize for several years. One thing many don't realize about thrips apart from them being very hard to get rid of is that they chew on plant roots. This is why many times plants that get thrips eventually also lose their root system as a result. The thrips chew on them, they rot and you lose a lot of roots. For some reason thrips love lecca far more than moss. I believe they can move around much more freely in lecca. Anyway they just explode in numbers in lecca. This is what happened to missorchidgirl even if it took her a few more years to realize she had thrips. Her roots did much worse than she was used to. She blamed the lecca. She switched back to organic. She realized she still had a problem and eventually got herself substral sticks which have supposedly eliminated them for her now. But she had her bad run in with lecca and it was most likely not at all for the reasons she believed and concluded. But moss is better for thrip control so if it worked better for her, again it makes sense she switched. I just believe in figuring things out, like a detective, instead of just saying "lecca sucks" when hundreds of others love it and can use it with no problems.. Just thought I'd share that with you.
I never said that LECA sucks. :) I sad it is not for me. I stopped growing in LECA year and a half ago or more, before I switched to pon and then, now, I switched from PON back to my organic mix. And before both of those, I was growing in organic mix as well. I also very well undersand how to grow in LECA and PON. I made sure always to adjust the pH of my watering solution, always measured to make sure my ppm is in the right range and all of that is great. I would also find solutions for some inherent issues of growing in LECA, like salt deposits on top. I grew Hoyas, Orchids and Aroids this way. However, what I find to be true is that after couple of years, with many plants, always some issues start to arise in the root zone. Take a look at the article that Dustin wrote - here_butnot. I'd say that is pretty much the most honest review of hydroponics. Also, another thing - every single time you upsize a plant in LECA or PON, there is root die back and in many cases it is just the roll of the dice - sometimes it's not much, sometimes (especially with Hoyas) you can lose the entire root system. And this is a no for me. With 400+ plants, I cannot afford the space (nor time) to have to restart them repeteadly (especially large plants). From my experience, hydroponics certainly works betters for aroids & orchids that it does for Hoya. There are many other issues that I won't go into now (like reservoirs in winter) because I covered all of these in several of my older videos. In none of those I said "pon sucks" or "leca sucsk" or that someone should grow one way or another - I am always explaing why I made the switch & why I believe one method is better for me than the other and people are free to come to their own conclusion. However, what shows to be true time and time again is that hardcore fans of hydroponics always blame me for not doing something properly, not knowing, understanding or researching enough how to grow in hydroponics, when in fact I did that for years and with good success. But, after years of doing it and after trying to circumvent all the small issues, and problems that you have in inorganics + the dicey repot I simply can't not ask my self why I am even doing it when I grow them perfectly fine with far less effort in organics. So, to me, it doesn't make sense. And that is the only thing that I have ever tried to say. I am not going to go into the nutrinital stuff too much in this comment, but as you can see, my mix does not cointain any soil at all and I do rely on nutrition from watering in this case as well. As for pets, there are many misconceptions about LECA that are simply untrue (like that you can't get any pests - not sure where that myth came from). In any case, hopefuly I clarified things a bit. Have a nice day! :)
@@BasiePlants I never said you said that lecca sucks 😄 but seeing your comment about fertilizer salts makes me believe you went down the exact same rabbit hole as Missorchidgirl. I did experiments on this to observe salt deposits at different fertilizer levels for my orchids. I discovered the appearance of salt deposits was not related to fertilizer strength. It is however the number 1 reason people believe orchids are low feeders. Not because they are, but because fertilizer salts made people believe they were simply fertilizing too much which is a shame because it was most likely in fact the other way around. The sad truth about salt deposit on the surface of lecca over time is a sign of urea buildup in the root zone and this is caused by mites or thrips most of the time. Not fertilizer salt build-up. But if you did decide like many to flush your pots as a result of this "salt buildup" instead of fixing what was really wrong then I can completely understand you did not like the long term results even if you are adamant you never said that which I honestly don't really care about either way, just here to share my discoveries growing in lecca over the years. I really do not want to convince you of anything, just to hopefully enlighten you on what the salt deposit really was. I do dislike people observing the plants I grow and make the wrong conclusion about a symptom they see and then teach others the wrong things. I was also taught that orchids are weak feeders, salt buildups need to be flushed lots and it resulted in me underfertilizing and losing orchids as a result. Since I have discovered all of this and done the research, I've discovered that orchids aren't weak feeders at all. People just fertilize them far too weakly all the time. Weakly fertilized orchids will grow but won't grow as well as well fertlized orchids.
@@tomfurmby88 No, I did not fertilize less. I used the same method that Anabel uses (The Orchid Room - she is a good friend) and simply put a layer of non-wicking rocks on top that solved that issue. I also never really had any issues with orchid growth - they did really well for me. Their ultimate demise was transfer of a virus from a Phalaenopsis that I instantly suspected was infected but was gaslight by our local orchid community it was not because it was from a big seller here. In the end, I was right, and had 40 orchids in the trash to prove it :) as for salt buiildup, it happened with rainmix and that allegedly has no urea...
Do you think it's possible that they are actually paid keyboards warriors by lechuza pon to go after anyone who says anything bad about them?😂😂😂 (just kidding, don't come after me😂😂😂)
@@BasiePlants I’m not talking a lot maybe 3 or 4 handful’s in a tub your size. I don’t know what it does but I know my Hoya love it. I have a next door neighbor that shows her orchids and she always puts pebbles in her mix and told me to try the same for Hoya.
Love all your videos!!! Don’t worry about repeating anything!!! I forget & I appreciate you saying things again-reminding me & I’m sure others do too! Xxx
LOVE YOU Miro! I have learned so much from your experiences. Your candor and humor are so appreciated.
Thank you
I am so glad for your outspoken talks about inorganic. Inorganic doesn’t work for me and I feel so much more justified to use organic mixes bc of your ongoing commentary about it! My plants are happier in mixes like what you use.
Abandon, you, never! I grow about half of my collection in Pon and have been very successful with it. I like trying different substrates to see how the plants like it. I don't understand why people get so upset or rude about what others decide to grow their plants in. Anyway, I'm looking forward to your next video, and please don't let the naysayers get you down 😊.
Watched three of your old videos today After Work. Now I am lying in bed, bored, can't sleep, searching for some random stuff to watch and discover YOU 😍🎉❤ sleep can wait - who needs it anyway? 🤷😂😅🌱
😂 me too- always listen falling asleep 😴
Oh I am laughing 😆 your personality is the best. Hi from Australia 🇦🇺
I have never used pon and have often wondered what the appeal is. I have enjoyed watching your videos regardless of the substrate you use so I don’t see why anyone would loose interest just because you switched. I’ve learned a lot from you, you’re adorable and you wouldn’t believe how much 💰 money you have helped me part with because of the impact you have had on my plant wish list. 😊 Keep up the good work, I always look 👀 forward to your videos from here in North Carolina, USA.
If it works for you do it, and your true supporters will always be around as they like you as well as your planty content.. theirs always more to learn. Keep doing you ❤
“Most of them are weeds come on” 😂 love it!
Truth! :D
I wanted to get behind pon but I found it to be a bit heavy for some Hoyas with tiny roots..I don’t know. 🤷🏻♀️ I experienced root failure too so I had to repurchase a few Hoyas that tanked and grow in a fluffy/chunky organic mix. I do use lecca with a few Alocasias but I also use a thin layer of lecca with soil for Anthuriums since they prefer consistently moist soil. Also I don’t understand why people are compelled to comment about your soil preference or if you decide to cut off leaves etc. They are YOUR plants! Your advice will always be sought after! 💚 Oh and if you did have a 3 hour video…I would watch it! 😂 I’m being serious!
I bow to the trellis king! Every time I watch you trellis a plant, it turns out amazing. Goals. LOL. You asked what medium viewers are using and if any of us are using PON. You are my mentor! I am using your coir/pumis mix for self-watering pots and also an organic mix similar to what you are using now. Currently I have grown my collection of Hoya to around 140? You have taught me so much and I will always be greatful to you for sharing your knowledge with everyone. Forget the few that are rude. You do you!😂
As usual very funny! XD especially the tussle with Ricardo 🤣 I will still folllow you because you are simpatico :)
Stop distracting me with your beautiful mane! Loving your hair Miro. 💚
I've never used selfwatering pots and Pon, for several reasons: I prefer to use bigger pots, because I don't want to repot every year. Pon weighs much more than coco chips and perlite and would break my back trying to lift these pots. I also can't be bothered to buy a specific Fertilizer, only for mineral substrates, I tend to buy different ones (brands), whatever I find at the moment and rotate them regularly (I do not use cactus fertilizer for orchids, obviously... but I do use orchid fertilizer for my hoyas😄) Also I can't wrap my mind around growing plants in stones ( but that's strictly my problem).Also, I'm an incorrigible overwaterer, no need for water reservoir for me. I do use leca on the bottom quarter of my pots (big pots are useful in that regard). And I do mix some lava, or zeolithe in the organic mix, especially if the plant is big or on a moss pole. All my plants are happy. In 4 years of growing I have lost one peperomia ( somebody drowned the poor thing😇) and a thanksgiving cactus to mealy bugs (may they rot in hell!!!). To cut it short, I do what works for me and you shoud do what works for you.
Thank you very much,I love your videos ❤❤❤
Miro I have never planted in pon or Leca or semi hydro for that matter. I use a DIY Similar to yours just add some cactus and succulent soil to the mix and charcoal. I have researched Hoya a lot and have a large collection as well and have never seen natural Hoya in standing water so I can’t comprehend how that would be good or natural for them. So thank you for supporting the theory!! Happy Hoya planting.
And I have never had root rot! And have some massive Hoya that I want to keep massiver!!
Some people think that the best way for them is the ONLY way. PERIOD. If you cast any doubt on it for any reason, they freak the freak out and take it as a personal affront. (This isn't just with plants, btw. It's with everything.) They need to calm the heck down. There is no one right answer. In plants or in life. Everyone's growing environment is unique as are the plants, the plants' root systems, the care routines, etc. When I learned more about pon and leca, I knew they weren't for me and my conditions, care, and what I'm willing to fuss with. (Rinsing and boiling substrates? No thanks.) I do what works best for me and my plants are happy. 'Nuff said. Personally, I think it's interesting to see how others grow their collections. I learn things that I may want to apply to my collection . . . or learn things that I want to avoid. I can respect a grower such as yourself without adopting all of your exact same growing practices. We're all just doing our best.
Hoya Elephant is on my list! Beautiful plant!
Happy working day 😊
I find it refreshing that you’re leaving Pon. I have a few Hoya in Pon (my thin leafed ones) but most of my others are in a chunky mix. Keep us posted on their progress. 🪴🪴
Refreshed just in time to see you post this. Now I have something to watch while I take care of my own chaotic Hoya collection. 😅
Oh i personally am an old time gardener, my mix, that is soil, perlite, orchid bark
At times during pandemic there was this lechuza, pon, mab, leca boom
Everytime i got a plant from trade with those mix, i change them, and mix those fancy media with my soil, to add more structure 🤣
But TFF, i throw them sway, it is the culprit of root rotting in my experience 😆
*i also don't really know until now, what is lechuza, pon, and mab, i only know which one is leca, the balls 😅
Haha :D I honestly prefer the organic mix, mine is a bit different as you can see. I don't use soil, but instead moss. Seems to work well for most plants :) I do use it for Begonia though.
New to your channel! I used to have all my plants in LECA, but now I only have my snake plants in LECA.
My carnosa krimson princess bloomed for the first time and it is gorgeous and she is beautiful🙌
Gosh i would love to show you my hoyas!!!
..sending you love from Chicago!!! 🫶🏼♥️
Honestly I’ve given up with PON with every plant, I found it caused more problems than it was worth so now I use LECA if I want to grow semi hydroponically because I feel like it offers so much more space for air flow around the roots.
All of my Hoya are back into organic mixes and doing so much better 😁
Ps; I can’t wait for my Ricardo to get that big 😍 stunningggg!
Also I’ve been retrellising here too, from bamboo arches to clear acrylic ones bc ~*aesthetics*~
I still grow in pon (collection around 100 hoya species), BUT I am experiencing the same exact challenges. So I am starting to experiment a bit with adding coco coir / husk / chips to my pon and kind of making a hybrid organic mix haha. As they need repots or rehab I make the change, but ones that are perfectly happy I am leaving in pon for now :)
Whoever questions your knowledge is nuts. The End
🤭😋
Always appreciate your videos, love your company & everything ive learned from you too, so thank you!!!
..you know, leca & pon has always fascinated me, yes i like plants and i like rocks, but will always be team organic mix…
45:03 & come on people there are things in the world you could be giving all this energy to
46:52 ahhh i rewatch your summer camp videos all the time to take in that info!!! Like the hoyas that do better in “lower” light and how uncomfortably wet to keep your tengchongensis etc etc haha you get it
Anywho i hope you are having a good day
53:21 okay last thing, ooooo those hoyers look so good😍
Lots of good ideas with the leca on the bottom and using tape on the bamboo. Gee people do get worked up on methods and really sometimes its better to be a bit humble and say maybe what was working for a while did not continue to be so perfect as the plant grew and plants will let us know when they are having trouble. I never really liked the cage trellis the arch is attractive. Not ready to repot in hot humid Florida but after this video my mature hoyas will be in organic mix with leca on the bottom for drainage. Thank you Mr Miro
I checked several Hoyas and found same root problems in Pon, some roots rotted away . I did three with the same leaving some Pon and placed into chunky mix. Thanks I checked them just in time after your video . THANK YOU
I will use pon in layering especially for my tiny hoyas from Yunnan which I keep inside too hot outside for them. And maybe pon on the top layer to keep the nutrition and hydration for outside plants. How about that?
I discovered that Hoyas with larger/succulent leaves do not do well for me at all in pon, but my smaller leaved Hoyas do really well in pon.
I did some research on it, and I found out that since larger Hoyas with bigger & thicker leaves already store water in their leaves, and since the roots are more robust, pon actually creates a dense & suffocating environment where the roots can’t breathe enough to grow - and then with semi-hydro, the roots stay too wet all the time.
Organic matter in airy mixes also provides more usable nutrients that larger Hoyas demand.
So, after thinking about that, it made sense to me. It doesn’t mean I’m totally correct, but I trust my instincts on it and tend to agree.
I do not ever plan on going to PON. I am not interested in having to do all the nutrients. I am using Naked Root Pots in my own aroid mix and it’s awesome. Glad to have found this video. I just started buying Hoya and I am quite confused how they grow. 😅
This is perfect timing! I have my first Hoya in PON that I need to transfer to soil and I'm scared. I appreciate any advice you can share. Thank you!
Those Hoyas look so good on hoop trellises!
How do you deal with thick stemmed Hoya? I have some literally hitting the ceiling and am afraid to bend them down (don’t want them little leafs to drop) but by the time the leaves have formed, the stems are so hard to bend!
Apparently there have been many negative comments and you feel like you have to explain and defend your decision to steer away from pon…….
I would like to thank you for this and all the previous videos that explain very clearly why you stopped using pon for your Hoyas. These started at a time when I was feeling being talked into using pon and I was almost ready to buy all the needed supplies for quite a few Hoyas at that point. Your experiences were very valuable to me and made me decide that I didn’t have to fix what wasn’t broken (organic mixes and tree fern fibre).
So again thank you, thank you lots.
Hoping your are well, wishing you well
Hoping for people to accept that you do what works for you (and they are free to do what works for them)
It depens on the Hoya - some are really hard to bend (kerrii, obovata, imperialist). With these, the larger the trellis, the better because you don't have to bend them so much and it's more likely you will confine them to a trellis. You can also try doing it slowly, and wrapping some twine to help you out - I never tried this but that is how Ikea's australis is trellised and it's a well-known method in horticulture :) I am glad to hear my experience has been useful
@@BasiePlants Thanks for (repeating) the tips! (I now do remember that you mentioned this sort of shortly in the vid) It makes perfect sense and will try them for sure (when I feel confident to handle those plants and theres someone around to hold them for me so that they wont break 😅)
I actually saw something similar tot he twine thing once with a ficus that the person bended with wire to make it branch out
You are brave to go against popular opinion, but it is good that you do, it is nice to hear all sides(experiences) of a story and then make a well informed decision
I have always used organic. Those hoyas are very healthy looking. Very fun to watch you work. After your last video I trellised many of my hoyas. This is all because of you.
I still grow in PON. I will not abandon you.
Love these videos! You have inspired me much with your knowledge about Hoya ❤️ About organic mixes - do you think the Hoyas grow more full or lush in organic mix? How do I know which Hoya to grow in Pon or in organic mix? Thank you 🥰 Have a great week! 🌿
I grow in pon and organic, Depends on the plant and my mood, Some love pon, some not really. Good that you are showing what works for you.
"Depens on my mood" is the most accurate thing ever xD
You could grow your hoyas in cat litter and I'd still love you! LOL. Lets hope YT lets this comment go through. Again, no pressure to heart it. 💗
I’ve had Streptocarpus plants do great in pon because they’re water divas, but when I tried to pot them up to a larger self watering container in pon, I had issues. Their roots are pretty fine so i didn’t mess with them in the repot, but I suspect the change in moisture levels might have something to do with it. They were drying quickly in the first pot of pon, but having more wet pon around them in the repot seemed to distress the roots. It almost acted like overpotting in organic medium. There’s a lady in my orchid club that keeps proselytizing about LECA. It’s like a religion
Love your videos- love the witty banter with your own self!
I’m really new to growing Hoyas and want to know the following: if/ when I break a leaf off the plant is the leaf ok for propagation? I see the leaf is healthy and the break from the vine is clean/ complete. So, do I ditch the leaf or propagate?
Stay funny 😂.
😊gonna need a node, like with aroids!!!
So if you, oops, break off a leaf youre just gonna have to sigh & in the words of Merkimer from Disenchantment exclaim… Sad ~end quote
Good luck on your hoya journey!!!
I'm growing in PON, but I'm a rookie. I value your advice, but I'm waiting to see your results. I just ordered Tree Fern and am going to try that for a bit. I don't know if that will be a permanent thing. Too expensive. To me, gardening indoors or out is always an experiment. I love that aspect of this hobby. I will always watch your videos. I try to keep an open mind.
I already have great results with this mix but it is not at all new to me. I used it years ago with amazing results. If you ask me, not sure why I made the switch really... :)
@BasiePlants Good to know. I switch up to experiment, and I am always open to new substrates. I just started selling my props and there are people who freak out at the idea of PON, so I am leaning toward a mix like yours for future propagations. Thanks for sharing your mix. I used a similar recipe for a monstera and it showed instant appreciation.
I was always using organic mix so its really nice to see that you are transfering more and more to organic. There is big pressure from people using PON, that this is the only correct way to grow hoyas.
Also had to repot all my hoyas today and discovered that most of the roots are not great. Now I wonder if it can be because Im using lava rocks in my mix. Maybe its same problem as with PON.
And can I have a question about hoyas that prefer more alkaline substrate? Are you using some different mix for them?
Every time I get out of bed, I'm a little crocked
I’ve been learning how to build terrariums and saw that they secure the hard scape with a tiny bit of tissue paper and gel super glue at the connection point. Could you use the same technique to se use the trellis? It was be more permanent, but it may be easier then securing with zip ties. Thoughts? I was thinking of trying it myself. I love your videos, thank you!
By contrast, I am transferring more hoyas from organic mix to hydroculture because I tend to overwater,which leads to rotten roots.
In my experience, pon and lecca are both great soil amendments but not the best growing mediums by themselves .
Allow me to help you understand the negative feedback you received concerning changing from PON to an organic mix: you are not allowed to let your experience dictate a change to your growing methods, ever. We, the anonymous masses, will revolt! Cheers from beautiful, interesting, corn-filled Iowa 😁
Haha :D Yes, I should stick to something that didn't end up working out for me, no matter what. 😅 And it MUST be my fault. :D haha :D Oh I know all about interesting Iowa. It's the same like my Vojvodina here xD Just more hills. :D
Do you use self-watering function with organic medium? Do you leave water in the reservoir? Or do you "wash" all of your plants every week?
🌞
And! Where do you get your pots from? Does the inside-pot come with the outside-pot?
I definitely think your tips will be useful still 😊 I grow both in Pon and Aroid mix. But I think I'll try your Hoya mix 🤔 I thought I was going to transfer all my plants to pon, but I've changed my mind gradually. I wish we could buy the fungusnat-drops I've seen many use, but it's not allowed to bring them in to Norway where I live 😏
Apparently Pon is a religion now? 😂 My guess is that people put so much money and time into it, that they can’t admit that maybe it isn’t the best thing ever. I appreciate your honest review of how it worked long-term for you.
Hi Miro! I'm repotting some of my very small plants that were cuttings. The substrate was way too dense and would never dry out. It wasnt helping that i had a fungus gnat infestation and had to water in product to kill eggs and creepy worms. Anyway when i removed from the pot half or most of the sil just fell off. No root rot is evident and there is new growth. Not much new roots at all. So i repotted in a chunky mix and put them in a prop box. How much do you water them where they were still wet? Or do you just spritz them? And let them settle for a couple of days?
What do you do with your spent pon?
Idc if you use pon or not. I'M STILL WATCHING
You shouldn't have to defend your choice to switch. You need to follow your instincts. Have you tried tree fern fiber?
No, tree fern fiber is not available here and it is super pricey in Europe, especially considering how many plants I have. The mix I make works excellent for me, no need to try something else, I doubt I would have any more success. :)
🌹🌹❤️❤️🦘🐨
inorganic compared to organic growing is quite different. In inorganic one is gorwing hydroponically and organic is mainly technically seen as growing in soil. It's not as simple as just switching from one to the other. In hydroponic growing you have to provide all the plants needs in the water supply. In soil grown the soil provides a lot of micro nutrients making it easier for some people. If hydroponic doesn't work as well, switching back makes sense. Hydroponic is my preferred way but it requires far more knowledge and experience to get it to work well. Otherwise people are better off sticking to a soil grown way. You even have to use completely different ph levels for the different growing methods. Some don't like to mess with ph which is kind of a requirement for successful hydroponic growing. This is what you should be telling people on why hydroponic is not for everyone.
as to why missorchidgirl switched, she will have mentioned some reason. But I believe the truth is many times peoples plants become weaker in hydroponic unless one fertilizes them perfectly which she certainly was not doing at that time. Her plants became infected with thrips which she did not realize for several years. One thing many don't realize about thrips apart from them being very hard to get rid of is that they chew on plant roots. This is why many times plants that get thrips eventually also lose their root system as a result. The thrips chew on them, they rot and you lose a lot of roots. For some reason thrips love lecca far more than moss. I believe they can move around much more freely in lecca. Anyway they just explode in numbers in lecca. This is what happened to missorchidgirl even if it took her a few more years to realize she had thrips. Her roots did much worse than she was used to. She blamed the lecca. She switched back to organic. She realized she still had a problem and eventually got herself substral sticks which have supposedly eliminated them for her now. But she had her bad run in with lecca and it was most likely not at all for the reasons she believed and concluded. But moss is better for thrip control so if it worked better for her, again it makes sense she switched.
I just believe in figuring things out, like a detective, instead of just saying "lecca sucks" when hundreds of others love it and can use it with no problems..
Just thought I'd share that with you.
I never said that LECA sucks. :) I sad it is not for me. I stopped growing in LECA year and a half ago or more, before I switched to pon and then, now, I switched from PON back to my organic mix. And before both of those, I was growing in organic mix as well.
I also very well undersand how to grow in LECA and PON. I made sure always to adjust the pH of my watering solution, always measured to make sure my ppm is in the right range and all of that is great. I would also find solutions for some inherent issues of growing in LECA, like salt deposits on top. I grew Hoyas, Orchids and Aroids this way. However, what I find to be true is that after couple of years, with many plants, always some issues start to arise in the root zone. Take a look at the article that Dustin wrote - here_butnot. I'd say that is pretty much the most honest review of hydroponics.
Also, another thing - every single time you upsize a plant in LECA or PON, there is root die back and in many cases it is just the roll of the dice - sometimes it's not much, sometimes (especially with Hoyas) you can lose the entire root system. And this is a no for me. With 400+ plants, I cannot afford the space (nor time) to have to restart them repeteadly (especially large plants).
From my experience, hydroponics certainly works betters for aroids & orchids that it does for Hoya. There are many other issues that I won't go into now (like reservoirs in winter) because I covered all of these in several of my older videos. In none of those I said "pon sucks" or "leca sucsk" or that someone should grow one way or another - I am always explaing why I made the switch & why I believe one method is better for me than the other and people are free to come to their own conclusion.
However, what shows to be true time and time again is that hardcore fans of hydroponics always blame me for not doing something properly, not knowing, understanding or researching enough how to grow in hydroponics, when in fact I did that for years and with good success. But, after years of doing it and after trying to circumvent all the small issues, and problems that you have in inorganics + the dicey repot I simply can't not ask my self why I am even doing it when I grow them perfectly fine with far less effort in organics. So, to me, it doesn't make sense. And that is the only thing that I have ever tried to say.
I am not going to go into the nutrinital stuff too much in this comment, but as you can see, my mix does not cointain any soil at all and I do rely on nutrition from watering in this case as well. As for pets, there are many misconceptions about LECA that are simply untrue (like that you can't get any pests - not sure where that myth came from). In any case, hopefuly I clarified things a bit. Have a nice day! :)
@@BasiePlants I never said you said that lecca sucks 😄
but seeing your comment about fertilizer salts makes me believe you went down the exact same rabbit hole as Missorchidgirl.
I did experiments on this to observe salt deposits at different fertilizer levels for my orchids. I discovered the appearance of salt deposits was not related to fertilizer strength. It is however the number 1 reason people believe orchids are low feeders. Not because they are, but because fertilizer salts made people believe they were simply fertilizing too much which is a shame because it was most likely in fact the other way around.
The sad truth about salt deposit on the surface of lecca over time is a sign of urea buildup in the root zone and this is caused by mites or thrips most of the time. Not fertilizer salt build-up. But if you did decide like many to flush your pots as a result of this "salt buildup" instead of fixing what was really wrong then I can completely understand you did not like the long term results even if you are adamant you never said that which I honestly don't really care about either way, just here to share my discoveries growing in lecca over the years.
I really do not want to convince you of anything, just to hopefully enlighten you on what the salt deposit really was.
I do dislike people observing the plants I grow and make the wrong conclusion about a symptom they see and then teach others the wrong things. I was also taught that orchids are weak feeders, salt buildups need to be flushed lots and it resulted in me underfertilizing and losing orchids as a result.
Since I have discovered all of this and done the research, I've discovered that orchids aren't weak feeders at all. People just fertilize them far too weakly all the time. Weakly fertilized orchids will grow but won't grow as well as well fertlized orchids.
@@tomfurmby88 No, I did not fertilize less. I used the same method that Anabel uses (The Orchid Room - she is a good friend) and simply put a layer of non-wicking rocks on top that solved that issue. I also never really had any issues with orchid growth - they did really well for me. Their ultimate demise was transfer of a virus from a Phalaenopsis that I instantly suspected was infected but was gaslight by our local orchid community it was not because it was from a big seller here. In the end, I was right, and had 40 orchids in the trash to prove it :) as for salt buiildup, it happened with rainmix and that allegedly has no urea...
Do you think it's possible that they are actually paid keyboards warriors by lechuza pon to go after anyone who says anything bad about them?😂😂😂 (just kidding, don't come after me😂😂😂)
If you wash your Pon and put some in your Hoya mix, your Hoya will thank you….
What benefit would that do? I already have an extremely light mix with pumice, bark, coco husk and moss with no soil/ peat/ coir.
@@BasiePlants I’m not talking a lot maybe 3 or 4 handful’s in a tub your size. I don’t know what it does but I know my Hoya love it. I have a next door neighbor that shows her orchids and she always puts pebbles in her mix and told me to try the same for Hoya.