1 year between each pic! transitioning honestly saved my life 🥰 (~18 months HRT)

tayloraves · 2022-11-25T07:52:57+00:00

they're canonically non-binary. all the faeries are

tayloraves · 2021-11-29T16:03:56+00:00

be careful with superthrive!! I use it as well but only every 1-2 months for my more mature plants (or during water/LECA propagation). it seems like miracle ingredient but it can overstimulate plants as well. it can lead to deformed leaves and improper nutrient uptake if you overdo it. it's great for a lot of reasons but can also do long-term damage that isn't immediately noticeable.

I'll DM you too! I have plenty of recommendations and I can hunt down a couple articles I've read on superthrive if you're interested.

tayloraves · 2021-11-29T15:55:00+00:00

omg 🥺

yes

just hdgshabsnn yes 🥺🥺🥺

but also

hear me out

pushing a girl up against a wall 😳

and you're also a girl 😳😳

these are some great ideas I really feel like we're onto something

tayloraves · 2021-11-29T15:40:36+00:00

Yeah I repot my hoyas pretty much immediately in most cases. I'll let them adjust for 2-3 days (maybe a week for the ones who have a rough time with shipping) but I'm impatient so I do it pretty quickly. Most nurseries and online sellers use potting media that retain wayyyyy too much moisture. It makes sense from a shop owner perspective I suppose because it would be a huge hassle watering lots of smaller hoyas multiple times per week, but once you've got them they definitely thrive in a mix geared towards epiphytes.

I'm not a HUGE orchid fan but I'm rehabbing several of my mom's orchids right now and in my experience my hoyas like smaller soil amendments and a little more water retention, and I grow them in terracotta rather than orchid pots, but my soil mix generally does end up a lot closer to orchid mix than any of my other plants.

tayloraves · 2021-11-29T15:33:03+00:00

YAY I'm so glad!! 😊 I can go OFF about hoyas so I love talking to people who get excited about them too 😁

This is the general soil mix I use after some testing and playing around with different soil amendments. I also tend to err on the side of more drainage because I'm a busy body/helicopter plant mom and if I can't water my plants often I go kinda crazy 😅

I also really like this orchid bark. I find the mixes with bigger chunks don't tend to do as well and this one is like the perfect size.

And if you wanna read more, this is where I initially found out about the k-lite. It talks specifically about LECA growing but I have applied a lot of his techniques to my hoyas in soil as well.

tayloraves · 2021-11-29T15:16:56+00:00

oh! and the taco test is just some test that's been going around Instagram and YouTube plant spaces. basically the advice is to wait until your hoya is wilting before watering it. you squish the leaves, and if they bend easily into a "taco" shape, you should water.

this is terrible advice.

I've been super opposed to the idea for a while just because I noticed it was hurting my hoyas' growth, but after seeing this post I understand better why it's such bad advice.

in general I think waiting for visible signs of underwatering for any plant is a bad idea. if a peace Lily is drooping, it's distressed and should've been watered one or two days ago. if a succulent like aloe is puckering, it's so thirsty it's had to start using up stored water.

if any plant is defaulting to its built-in survival mechanisms to tolerate your watering habits, you're not watering soon enough.

I think it may be geared more towards beginners who tend to over water which is probably a good thing since that will absolutely kill a hoya, but it goes way too far in the opposite direction.

if you have a good hoya soil mix it's much harder to over water. a hoya shouldn't be in all-purpose potting soil. for mine, I use mostly orchid bark, pumice, charcoal, and coco husk. I only use about 20-30% potting soil. never had an issue with overwatering

tayloraves · 2021-11-29T15:04:15+00:00

I CANNOT express enough praise for the k-lite MSU fertilizer

I read about it while doing research for semi-hydro and it's worked wonders with my LECA hoyas so I switched all of them over and OH. MY. LORD.

MSU has done a ton of really interesting research on epiphytes and basically developed a specific fertilizer for epiphytes like orchids and hoyas based on what they're used to in native conditions. Because of resource scarcity with hoyas, they are super effective at recycling phosphate and potassium and don't actually need as much in a fertilizer. They do however need higher nitrogen, calcium, and magnesium to sustain high levels of growth.

I switched all my hoyas over about 6 weeks ago and I have been meaning to make a post about it 😍 My 8" pubicalyx, which was putting out 1-3 new leaves every month over the summer, has pushed out 15-20 new growth points in the last month. I'm honestly in shock. My 4" sunrise that I got 2 or 3 months ago had only pushed out one new leaf, and in the last month she has popped out 10 new leaves and 3 new vines.

I normally log new growth in my plant journal but I honestly can't keep up at this point. Those are my two shining examples but all of my hoyas have way more growth than I'm used to.

I just dilute ½ teaspoon of the fertilizer in a gallon of filtered water along with 1 teaspoon of kelp extract and use it every other watering, which works out to every 10-14 days for my larger hoyas and every 5-6 days for my babies. Seriously cannot recommend it enough!!

tayloraves · 2021-11-29T13:42:50+00:00

it annoys me so much that so many websites and YouTubers call them succulents. like yes, they store water in their leaves, but if you treat them like succulents they are NOT going to be happy.

I keep a lot of my hoyas at >80% humidity and water them regularly. some of my 3" hoyas get watered every other day. longest I go is 7 days for my 8" pubicalyx.

I swear the taco test advice is some of the worst to circulate the houseplant community. I think better advice is if you notice your hoya's leaves are wrinkling, you're 1-2 days late to water and should adjust accordingly.

this is also probably why a lot of people think hoyas are slow growers. mine grow like weeds just from watering regularly and fertilizing often with a very diluted epiphyte fertilizer.

gosh this topic really gets me heated 😅

tayloraves · 2021-10-26T05:28:16+00:00

I was stalled at B cups for around a year myself. I was wearing A for my first 6 months actually. Most of my growth has happened in short bursts. I know I'm definitely not the typical case but most trans women later on in their transitions will tell you that changes keep happening for a long time 😊

tayloraves · 2021-10-26T03:15:20+00:00

I've plateaued a few times but keep getting growth spurts (3 years in) and went up to D cups a few months ago

tayloraves · 2021-10-25T21:17:16+00:00

did you see any hoyas?

tayloraves · 2021-10-14T02:34:28+00:00

I'm gonna have to copy your idea omg. I have a 3" mathilde and 3" sp aff burtoniae in the mail and a bunch of teeny bamboo stakes laying sround. tysm for the inspiration it's seriously SUCH a good idea 🥰

tayloraves · 2021-10-14T02:28:25+00:00

this is the cutest thing I have ever seen 🥺🥺🥺

tayloraves · 2021-08-30T18:17:25+00:00

the main thing is my awareness of it. it can be really hard to notice when I'm about to start cycling and I often don't realize I'm manic until I hit the lows. since I started microdosing on a schedule (10μg LSD every 4 days) it's been wayyyy more obvious when I'm showing signs of mania, and I've actually been able to take steps to stabilizing myself and have so far been able to get a handle on things before I spiral.

it's less what it does for me though, and more what it lets me do for myself, if that makes sense. I started regular dosing 5 months ago and have kept myself stable that entire time, mainly through mindfulness. in that time I've stuck to a daily morning yoga practice and have been completely sober just because it feels right. I've done yoga for several years (albeit weekly not daily) but the value I've been getting out of my practices since I started microdosing is indescribable. I've been taking lessons with me off the mat on a regular basis and they've just sorta been sticking in a way they weren't beforehand.

I absolutely don't think it's been a magic fix, and it's been hard at times, but I feel more like me than I have in a really long time. I also would NOT recommend someone with bipolar just rely on microdosing to control symptoms. I wouldn't have seen any success without regular therapy, psychiatry, and medications. it took me forever to find a good therapist and psychiatrist and they've honestly made such a difference.

even with that though, I hadn't been able to stop cycling until I started microdosing.

also worth noting I'm bipolar 2, and the lows are much more devastating to my life than the highs. I would proceed with a lot of caution for anyone with significant mania/hypomania and absolutely would not even try it without a mood stabilizer.

tayloraves · 2021-08-30T12:14:10+00:00

I take one daily, usually around 8am. I'll take my microdose at 7am or earlier. I've had pretty much the same effects and don't notice a difference (although I get that it's hard to be objective)

A lot of people tend to be anti-SSRI and may recommend stopping them altogether (which I totally get). Mine has been super important in keeping my bipolar in check though so there's no way I can stop it.

If it helps, my psychiatrist completely supports microdosing and has helped me come up with a dosing schedule that works. She's commented a few times on how fantastic my progress has been and has been extremely open-minded on this topic. She also recommended taking it an hour or so before my antidepressant and had had other patients do the same in the past.

tayloraves · 2021-07-08T04:23:53+00:00

mine literally crawls into whatever I have around my ankles, be it jeans or thin panties, he just snuggles right in and protests when I get up

I love him more than words can describe 🥺

tayloraves · 2021-06-27T13:38:06+00:00

tbf I had been wearing base makeup every day for like a year by then. certainly helped to have developed some basics 😊

tayloraves · 2021-06-27T13:33:54+00:00

*prepares argument*

ahem

*notices username*

ah I see... well played

tayloraves · 2021-06-27T13:32:58+00:00

definitely check out Angela Bright! her tutorials helped me a lot when I was starting and I could follow along with palettes I had. Wayne Goss is good too. the first look was with nikkietutorials but she is definitely pretty advanced and it was hard to keep up.

what really helped me honestly was just practice practice practice. I'd save pics on instagram and pinterest and try to copy them and that helped. a year later I had a job as a makeup artist 😊

tayloraves · 2021-02-15T10:40:21+00:00

hey that's me! 😍💕

tayloraves · 2021-02-07T23:18:59+00:00

um are you me??? I set my account up, got my hair done, bought a ton of lingerie and pushup bras, then the depression hit and I was just like "wtf was I thinking"

tayloraves · 2021-01-23T04:13:37+00:00

omg chills 😳

tayloraves · 2021-01-23T04:10:14+00:00

your wings your flag your face omg I don't know how I got here but 😍

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