Hoya javanica ‘Milky Way’

I received Hoya javanica ‘Milky Way’ as a starter plant from SRQ Hoyas in the summer on 2012.  It was a nice plant and grew rapidly, but was plagued by a Spider Mite infestation.  I finally got sick of trying to kill the mites; took a cutting and threw the plant out.  I then submerged the cutting under water for one week hoping to drown the little beggars.  It proved useless within a few weeks the mites were back as severe as before.  I have used a number of products like Dr. Doom, and Azamax, but they only offer short-term control.  There must be something about the thin tender leaves that Spider Mites go after in a big way.

All of that being said, it is quite a pleasant plant that grows easily.  It does not flower as readily as its very close cousin H. multiflora.  I have found on this one that you need to let it grow quite high to produce blooms.  It is also very adaptable to twisting around trellises.  I know nothing about the origins of this plant and whether or not its speckles are man made or natural.  If it were not for the spider mite problems, I could recommend this plant quite strongly, but because of it, I would ask you to consider a plain old green multiflora, which is far easier to care for with the blooms being almost identical.

I have also developed a video tour of the plant which can be seen below.

**UPDATE**  I have just recently had to throw the plant out, even though it had two peduncles full of open flowers, because of the worst Spider Mite infestation that I have ever been witness to.  The plant was literally crawling with hundreds of the little buggers.  I cannot in good conscience recommend this plant to anyone unless you want to use it as a trap plant for Spider Mites.  Stick with the plain green H. javanica – you will be much happier!

H. javanica 'Milky Way' May 2013

H. javanica ‘Milky Way’ May 2013