Hoya danumensis ssp. amarii

Hoya danumensis ssp. amarii 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. 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.

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. It continued to grow exceptionally well and once again I was faced with a net pot that was tangled on the outside with roots. I felt that I needed to up pot once again, and I left the darned net pot on again and moved up to a six inch net pot with a cache pot.

The buds went to maturity, opened and were outstanding being a little larger and more open that Hoya campanulata, which I had previously kept. Hoya sp. Indonesia continued to grow and became a blooming machine to the point where it almost became annoying having to continue to pick up spent blossoms, but then one day it all changed. All of a sudden the plant started getting yellow leaves, which I absolutely despise. I immediately remove them, because they are a reminder of my own failure. It also usually indicates that there is some kind of problem. After a few weeks I could not ignore the problem any longer and removed the plant from its pot.

It did not take me long to discover that the roots of my wonderful plant were completely, and irreparably rotted. All I could do was take cuttings, which I did with abandon! I have now had a number of plants that had rotted roots when I buried a net pot in the soil of another pot, and can no longer recommend the practice.This is why learning how to propagate, and root your Hoyas is such an important skill. It allows you to save a plant that would otherwise be lost. The silver lining in all of this mess of root rot was that I ended up with a half dozen plants. The cuttings easily rooted in water and I transferred some to soil and others to Pon. They have all grown and are doing well and some have now been sold off.

I have now grown three campanulate flowered Hoyas and find Hoya sp. Indonesia to be the easiest of the three. I wish that this plant had a better name as there are dozens of Hoyas in Indonesia so this name is pretty generic. I can’t recommend this plant more highly if you are lucky enough to find one.

**Update** I just found out that this plant has a new name. I bought the plant under the name Hoya sp. Indonesia and it is now called Hoya danumensis ssp. amarii.