Viewing post #1882220 by EscondidoCal

BrendanCS said:Hi Cal,

Glad to see everyone still chatting about the beautiful, strange plants.

I actually had to get rid of mine because they were attacked by pretty badly by mealy bugs and no matter what I tried treating them with, they just got covered in them. Much more than any other plant I had them on, especially it seemed, once they had flowers all over them. The bugs attacked the flowers and the plants just died after a while.

The one I have left, is a Medinilla myriantha type (possible hybrid). I was able to save it from the bugs because it was smaller and easier to wash multiple times by dunking. I last repotted it in a clay pot instead of plastic and put it in pure bark chips with very little to no soil.

It has grown a lot since this repot, and when it's warm it loves water. I have a catch tray underneath it and when it's sunny and warm at it's window (in the 80's Farren.) I'll soak it once a day till water runs out the bottom and watch it grow. Otherwise I wait until it's sunny here so that means it can go without water for 4-5 days and be fine. I only water with hot/warm water too.

My Magnificas were doing well before the bugs, and also loved water but a more airy mix. I feel like these want to grow like orchids and extreme epithytes where it's constantly damp, but not drowning, and only warm.

I kind of lost interest in them all after my mealy bug disaster. But then a week or two ago I was traveling and visited an east coast greenhouse that was super warm and tropical. They had these massive Magnificas, hanging baskets mostly but a couple in giant pots that were as large as some I saw at the botanical gardens in Montreal. They were all really amazing, but a bit pricey.

They were in moist, airy soils and a pretty humid greenhouse. They seemed to love it. They had tons of flower clusters and big healthy green leaves. I'm considering driving back to get a larger one for a corner in my sunroom, but have yet to decide...

Hey Brendan, go for it!

Thanks for all that great info & those pics.

What was the name of the greenhouse that had the large plants?
I found this video from 2012 about North End Gardens in Jordan Station, Ontario, Canada cultivating M.magnificas on a large scale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

An exotic houseplant with pink flowers is turning heads across North America and creating jobs in the Niagara region. The plant, named Medinilla Magnifica, is helping to expand operations and open up new markets for Ted Oorsprong's Northend Gardens.
Thanks to some support from Ontario Agri-Food Technologies, Oorsprong is selling the plant in chain stores and garden centres across Ontario, the Northeastern United States, British Columbia, Alberta, Washington and Texas.

I'm going to call later today & see if they are still growing & distributing them. I hope so.

re: Mealy bugs......did you see ants when there were mealy bugs? I think if you control the ants, the MBs will be much
easier to eradicate. I just use a little detergent or isopropyl alcohol on the MBs.
For ants I've used Greenlight Many Purpose Dust......just a little sprinkle on the trail is all it takes.

I'm very encouraged by your experience with them despite the mealy bugs, and am confident
we can grow it successfully here in spite of relatively dry conditions, which are close to those in
where Ron is in Israel.

Just surprised this plant, originally from the Philippines, is so hard to find in California, but is grown big time in Canada.

@sangel, I'm sure you could grow it in a heated greenhouse in Israel if they can in Canada.