Hoya sp. RP-013

A really nice woman named Paige sent me a cutting of this plant in the summer of 2020. I googled it and found out almost nothing on it other than it can get really large leaves. I put the cutting in water where it quickly formed water roots. After water rooting, I moved the cutting into a deep 2 inch pot where it continued to grow well. The new leaves come in with a slightly tannish color and needs to get older to turn into the light green color of the mature leaves. It was not long before a peduncle formed and I moved it to a larger pot to make it easier to trellis, which turned out to be a mistake.

Hoya sp. RP-013 like most of these Finlaysonii type Hoyas, flower at a very young age. It was not very long after getting the peduncle that the plant budded up and flowered. After flowering, growth virtually stopped. There were no more new leaves, and the single vine ceased to grow. This pattern continued for many months, which is never a good thing, and usually points to the dreaded root rot. It did continue to periodically flower though, but this can also be a plants last gasp at reproducing because of other troubles.

After no growth in this Hoya for months, I decided to take it out of its pot, and found extensive root rot, but rather than start it over I decided to move it to a terracotta pot. This was a last gasp from me hoping that by removing as many rotted roots as I could, and moving it to a pot that dried out faster, I could avoid having to take cuttings.

As usual, there is no getting around it, for a plant with root rot, the fastest way forward is to take cuttings and restart the plant. Even after all these years, I try to kid myself into thinking that I can get away with a re-pot. Hoya sp. RP-013 languished, and did absolutely nothing in that terracotta pot for literally months until I relented, and chopped it up into one node cuttings. All of those cuttings now have new growth. So people, if you take nothing else away from here, keep in mind that root rot means start your plant over from cuttings if at all possible!

For anyone who has any information about this Hoya, if only what the RP stands for, please reach out. I can recommend the plant despite my difficulties with it. I look forward to bringing Hoya sp. RP-013 back after I have a nice specimen. Hopefully I can keep the root rot at bay this go around!

**Update** Thanks to Julie Kennedy from the UK I now know what the RP stands for in the accession number. RP = Ratchaburi Panmai Hoya Nursery in Thailand. Thank you Julie!!