The plant grew rapidly pushing tons of roots out of the net pot so I then moved it up to a 4 inch net pot, and left the 3 inch pot in place rather than risk damaging the roots. For most plants now in hindsight I don’t believe that this is a good idea. The plant surprised me and budded up very early.
I received the plant wrapped tightly in sphagnum from the vendor. If you buy a plant from Thailand, it will either be rooted in coir chips, or sphagnum. I really don’t like sphagnum for most Hoyas, but I left it on as it was too difficult to remove without damaging the meager roots. I potted it up into a 3 inch net pot and hoped for the best.
Hoya sp. Indonesia is a campanulate flowered Hoya that I received as a small plant in a brokered purchase from Surisa Somadee in Thailand in September of 2019. Below the foliage of the plant:
I really love Hoya amicabilis and I was very upset when I almost lost the plant mid-summer from root rot. I managed to save it by taking 3 really poor looking cuttings. They all eventually rooted, and I sold one, put one in leca using passive Hydro, and put the other in soil. The flowers below belong to the one in leca.
Hoya cutis-porcelana is one of the many Hoyas that I had to start over this year because of root rot. It seems to be more difficult for me to grow than I first thought and has just flowered for the first time since its restart. You have to love these very cute, albeit short-lived flowers!
Hoya merrillii used to be very easy to find and pretty inexpensive, but now like all Hoyas it has become much pricier. I do however highly recommend it as a worthwhile acquisition for the lovely foliage, fragrant and frequent blooms, and easy growth habits.
One of the big selling points of Hoya merrillii is the very beautiful red leaves that it gets in high light. My leaves get this color from the LED lighting that I use in most of my grow tents.
I’m no botanist, but scientists say that he big difference between the two plant are that the coronal scales of H. merrillii are sloped upward towards the outer tips such that the outer lobes are raised higher that the center of the flower. I have no idea what they are talking about, but here are flower photos of both plants as sold to me. Hoya merrillii came from Ted Green in Hawaii and Hoya quinquenervia came from Aleagarden in Thailand
This was a plant that presented no problems and budded up and flowered within the first year. The flowers were very sweetly scented and lasted 4 or 5 days.
I received a chopped up two leaf cutting from Ted Green in 2018 that was purchased for me by a Hoya friend. The cutting arrived with very little stem, but I managed to pin in down to a moist soil mixture and get it rooted. It was easy to root and easy to grow. Below the foliage of the plant:
