Hoya sp. Sulawesi No. 1 was given to me as a tiny rooted cutting from Mandy Lin in 2020 during the heart of the pandemic. I expected it to be an easy to grow and flower Hoya, but that was not to be the case.

Here is the very little information that I know about this plant. It came to me as a NOID Hoya from Mandy; she received it from an Indonesian vendor that she frequently ordered from. She said that the only name she had for it was Hoya sulawesiana Short Leaf. I posted this plant as a YouTube video and a couple of growers there said they had the plant with the name Hoya sp. Sulawesi No. 1, and that is where I got it from. The flowers other than being a little lighter in color are identical to Hoya sulawesiana, so I can see where that name came from. The leaves however are completely different.

When I received the rooted cutting, I tried growing it in hydroton using semi-hydro, which I was using on many Hoyas at the time. It like most of the rest of my plants growing that way failed from root rot in a fairly short time. I next re-rooted what was left of the plant in my regular peat-based, chunky potting mix. It grew slowly for awhile and then I once again lost the plant to root rot, or who knows what. I was about ready to give up on it, and decided I would re-root it one more time and I used pure coconut husk this go around. After rooting in coconut husk, the plant grew a little better, but it was not until I sprayed my entire collection with sulfur to combat a flat mite infestation that the plant really started to put on new growth. Who knows most of my problems with this species could have been attributable to this invisible scourge! I was beyond thrilled when I spotted my first peduncle, and then it started to bud up!

Hoya sp. Sulawesi No. 1 is a really nice Hoya that is somewhat easier to grow and flower than Hoya sulawesiana. As it becomes more widely available, it is definitely a plant worthy enough to add to the collection. The only drawbacks that I have discovered is that the flowers are extremely heavy nectar drippers. This can create quite a sticky mess depending on where you keep the plant. Unlike many of the Hoyas in the Acanthostemma section, the blooms on this one did not have a strong scent of caramel or melted butter.