I find that while Hoya sp. IM-08 is a vigorous and prolific grower, it is rather stingy with its flowerings. Since I bloomed the plant the first time, I have only had a couple more flowers. There is some kind of blooming trigger that I have not figured out as of yet. I believe the secret must lie with increasing or decreasing day length.
Hoya sp. IM-08 just like Hoya serpens got tons of peduncles, which refused to bud up. I began to wonder if I was ever going to flower this one, when finally after about a year I finally spotted a small bud, and it flowered soon afterward.
This Hoya grew so well right out of the gate that I was blown away. The leaves from a distance looked just like Hoya serpens, but it was just so much easier to grow. It quickly became one of my favorite small-leaved Hoyas. It underwent at least three up-pottings and was always potted in coconut husk. Below you can see it in a five inch orchid pot:
Hoya sp. IM-08 came to me in May of 2022 as part of an Indonesian import order. It was labeled as Hoya NOID PNG Small Leaf. The very name intrigued me, and I decided to give it a try. This was part of the order that brought me Hoya leucantha, which was labeled Hoya NOID PNG Large Leaf.
I know very little about this little Hoya other than it is endemic to Papua New Guinea and that the IM in the accession number stands for “Imran”, the name of the first discoverer of this (and the other “IM-number”) species, according to Thai grower Surisa Somadee Riampreeda.
Hoya sp. IM-08 is a plant that flowered for me several months ago, and one of those that I totally had forgotten to discuss here. I think what happened was that I put it on a YouTube video and totally forgot to post about it here; so tomorrow we will begin to talk about this great little Hoya.
What do you do when your Hoya stenophylla gets too big? The only thing you can do is to keep up-potting it, and make it even bigger. Here is my monster just after moving it up to a 9 inch clear pot. It is sitting in an even bigger cache pot. I struggled with this plant for so long, that now that I have a healthy specimen, I can’t bear to chop it up!
I still can’t believe that I ever managed to get this very difficult species to look this amazing especially after struggling to keep it alive for years. The secret my friends is to grow it in coconut husk and water once a week!
In the 15+ years I’ve grown this Hoya, I never once had considered growing it as a hanging plant, but I finally changed it up. Here is the result:
I really have to thank Paige who sent me a cutting of this plant a number of years ago. I have always struggled with it, but finally I have grown a beautiful specimen. Here it is just off a fresh up-potting:
