It took me close to three years to flower Hoya naumannii the first time, and I now believe that it is just one of those Hoyas that have to get quite large in order to flower. I also should state that this is another plant that took off particularly strongly after it was sprayed with sulfur as a flat mite deterrent.
The cutting that I received in 2019 really never stopped growing and I successfully up-potted it many times. I grew this one in coconut husk (coir chips) right from the beginning. It was not at all difficult, but it seemed to take forever to finally grow a peduncle and begin to bud up.
The first time that I attempted growing this plant was way back, close to 15 years ago when Joni Kahn from SRQ Hoyas was still in business. I failed miserably with it, and never thought too much about it again until in 2019 when I was offered a cutting of it from a very nice grower right here in Vermont.
The late David Liddle thought that Hoya naumannii was a wild cross between Hoya australis and Hoya subcalva. This would be the same as the man-made cross that created Hoya ‘Pinkie’.
The German taxonomist Rudolf Schlechter decribed Hoya naumannii from the August 26, 1875 discovery of the plant by Friedrich Naumann. The plant was discovered at lower elevations of the costal forests of Bougainville Island.
Hoya naumannii was named for Friedrich Carl Naumann who first collected the species. I always find it interesting to learn a little bit about the etymology of a named Hoya. A big shout out to Mary Carroll for unearthing this information for me!
Naumann was born in 1841 in Ehrenbreitstein, Germany and Died in 1902 in Kloster Lausnitz, Germany. He studied natural sciences and medicine at Berlin and Heidelberg, taking his Dr’s degree in 1865. He was a fleet-surgeon on the voyage of the ‘Medusa’ to Eastern Asia and on the voyage of the ‘Gazelle’ from the latter voyage returning with broken health. In 1877 he settled as practitioner at Gera in Germany. Several plants were named after him.
Hoya naumannii is endemic to Bougainville Island (largest island in Solomon Island archipelago, part of Papua New Guinea until 2027).
We will take the next few days and discuss Hoya naumannii. Here is a preview of the flowers:
I finally feel like I have my Hoya imperialis, growing, groove back. I really believe that the flat mite issue that I had is what gave me all of the problems with a plant that I used to grow effortlessly. Spray your plants with sulfur folks if you are having any failure to thrive, or failure to grow issues.
First and foremost, don’t overwater this plant as it is very susceptible to root rot. Use coconut husk chips mixed with a little large perlite as a medium. Use a clear orchid pot to make it easier to tell when to water. After the medium becomes totally dry, soak the pot for 30 seconds to re-wet the husk; don’t water again until dry. Does not like strong lighting, or the leaves turn red, which is not good for this plant. Keep humidity high above 60% at all times and keep plant as warm as you are able. These are not easy conditions to meet unless one has a grow tent, or and greenhouse, but it is worth the effort.
