I received this Hoya as a small plant from Julie Kennedy in May of 2024. None of the plants in that shipment arrived in great shape, because of postal delays. The plant was rooted in coconut husk, but the leaves became very chlorotic after 3 months of growing so I took cuttings and started two more plants. Both the original plant and the two re-starts developed half yellow leaves. I suspected some kind of nutrient deficiency, but the strange thing was that none of my other plants had anything approaching this kind of chlorosis.

I used the same coco husk substrate with all of my plants and nothing has ever looked as bad as the leaves on Hoya Species Unknown aff. solaniflora. By the way, this plant used to be called Hoya sp. aff. solaniflora, but apparently it was decided that it was not really close enough to the real H. solaniflora to deserve the Aff. designation so now the poor thing is Hoya species unknown.

The roots on the plant look healthy, and it puts out new growth that occasionally looks pretty good so I have hopes that it turns around and becomes healthier looking with age. The plant was at least able to put out a peduncle and buds in its less than stellar condition. I could not even wait for the buds to open before spraying the entire plant with sulfur. I began thinking that possible these half yellow leaves might be caused by flat mites, the invisible Hoya scourge. It is far to early to know if this will have any effect.

While my plant looks pretty horrible, I felt it was important to show that not every Hoya that comes into my collection turns out a success. Despite the pretty little flowers, I would have to rank Hoya Species Unknown sp. aff. solaniflora in my top 3 of the worst looking plants that I have ever produced. If I ever figure out how to grow it properly, I will bring it back here and tell the secret, but sadly for now I can’t really recommend it.