Since discovering water rooting and achieving nearly 100% success with it, I now have little fear in losing a Hoya when I run into a problem like root rot. I managed to save 3 pretty nice cuttings of this one, so I am virtually certain that I will be able to save the plant. Below the gorgeous red leaves of Hoya cutis-porcelana in this photo showing the entire plant just before cutting it up:
The coconut coir chunk that this plant was received with helped propel Hoya cutis-porcelana into a death spiral. There was no way of removing it, and I feared it would catch up with me, and indeed it did. Coconut husk simply holds too much water for too long a period and that condition can spell death for the roots.
Hoya cutis-porcelana is flowering away on three different peduncles, but I fear that it is stress flowering. Stress flowering is when a plant flowers to desperately try to save itself by sexually reproducing before death. More tomorrow, in the mean time the flowers of this wonderfully cute plant.
I had a lot of fun growing this plant out and bringing it into flower! It is an easy grower that if not for the dripping nectar issues would be a definite keeper. It is also worth growing just for the incredible aerial roots, which I compare to golden tresses. Below a lasting reminder of the beautiful blooms of Hoya sp. AH-014:
I used to think that Hoya curtisii had to get some age on it before it would grace you with flowers. My first plant took 3-4 years and a lot of work chasing the sun before I got my first flower. This Hoya was purchased as a bunch of cuttings rooted in a pot from Lowes back in early May and has now flowered at the bottom of a 3 1/2 foot vine. It is a plant that grows in my warm humid grow tent under nothing but artificial light.
The flowers on this species last a very long time, and once it reaches blooming age will flower almost continually. Unfortunately because of the nectar mess, I finally got fed up and cut all of the peduncles off the the plant. I do however have some great photos to remember them by!
The only drawback to these beautiful flowers on Hoya sp. AH-014 is that they have the same issue as Hoya kerrii – they drip a dark amber-colored nectar that will make a tremendous mess unless hosed off every few days.
I had a viewer of my YouTube video of Hoya sp. AH-014 that told me the flowers on this plant look almost exactly like the flowers on Hoya sp. UT-036 West Timor, and after looking that plant up, it does greatly resemble it. The leaves are more spear shaped on UT-036, but other than that, it is almost a dead ringer for AH-014.
If Hoya kerrii and Hoya meliflua had a child, the flowers would look like the flowers on Hoya sp. AH-014.
This is a case where I believed that I had already discussed the flowers of Hoya sp. AH-014 here on this blog, but can find no record of it. I think what happened is that I made a YouTube video of the event and simply forgot to talk about it here. Anyway, I first brought you the plant showing the incredible long golden aerial roots that this Hoya produced and was waiting for the blooms. It has now flowered, but we will start with the buds:
