This Hoya is so common, and readily available at most of the big box stores in the summer time, we tend to take it for granted. It flowers almost continuously, and smells very strongly of butterscotch. Couple that with the beautiful copper colored leaves, and you really have a winner!
The flowers of Hoya paulshirleyi don’t last more than a couple of days, but since it usually has multiple peduncles in various stages of bud and flower, it does not matter that much. Here is a photo from this morning:
Some people get lucky with Hoya soidaoensis and flower it early and at a small size. I was not so fortunate in that it took 3 long years and much trial and error. It was however worth the effort. The plant is not for beginners, but with its beautiful flowers, I believe it to be a worthy addition to the collection, and as far as flowers go, it is superior to both Hoya caudata, and Hoya flagellata as you can enjoy the flowers throughout the day.
Hoya soidaoensis flowers are different from Hoya caudata and H. flagellata in one important way – They stay open all day and all night. Hoya caudata and Hoya flagellata flowers close up almost entirely during the most of the day light hours. The same is also true of another close relative – Hoya phuwuaensis; the flowers close during the day. So from a standpoint of flowers alone, Hoya soidaoensis is the superior plant!
The last thing I can tell you about flowering Hoya soidaoensis is to not let the soil mix ever dry out while the plant is in bud as I did that and promptly lost two complete sets of buds close to opening. When the plant reaches a mature size, keep the mix constantly moist, but never wet to achieve best results. The plant also does not need particularly intense light in order to grow well, and flower.
I had to do a little research on where Hoya soidaoensis came from in order to figure out why the buds were blasting. Hoya soidaoensis was found somewhere on the side of Khao Soi Dao Nua Mountain, which peaks at 1,550 meters. I hypothesized that maybe it preferred growing at cooler temperatures than I was giving it. My grow tent where the plant lived was getting very hot with temps getting up to 95°F during the day. When something doesn’t work, you change it. I moved the plant out of that tent, and put it into a much cooler tent. Almost immediately I saw an increase in vigor and many new peduncles produced.
Now that I figured out how to grow Hoya soidaoensis, I had one more hurdle – How to flower it. One at least three occasions I had peduncles that had begun to bud up, and the buds not only blasted, but the peduncles fell off. I knew that I was doing something wrong, but what was the problem?
The net pot made the difference with growing Hoya soidaoensis. Within a few months I was able to see good root growth and moved from a two inch to a 3 inch net pot. After the roots were growing all through the 3 inch net, I wanted to move it into a hanging pot, but I had a choice to make. Did I want to risk damaging the roots by trying to remove it from the net pot, or should I insert the entire pot into another pot. I chose the latter, and it kept growing with no set back.
I was very discouraged after failing with Hoya soidaoensis for the second time. Once again I had rotted the roots out on the plant from my too heavy handed watering. This time I took cuttings, used my regular mix, and put them into a two inch net pot. For the first time, I could see by looking at the sides of the pot when I needed to water. It was critical with this plant. Just before the plant became totally dry, I watered. I began to get much better results.
The orchid mix never seemed to hold enough water and I could not get my finger into it to judge the moisture so I over watered, and the plant began to shrivel. I pulled it out of the mix and found that the roots were rotted. I started it over in my regular mix, where it quickly rooted and formed a peduncle. I was very excited, but the excitement was short lived; the peduncle fell off and the plant went downhill rapidly.
