Most members of the hoya family have fragrant blooms. Some are nice chocolaty to floral but some stink like old socks. Or so I have been told. The problem is that I never got mine to bloom. But I like a challenge! So I got myself some hoya cuttings and hopefully some will bloom for me in the comming years.
I already have three mature plants, which I hope will bloom with some tweaks to their growing conditions:
Hoya carnosa
Hoya wayetii
Hoya carnosa tricolor
If you have any caretips to get the to bloom, they are most welcome, please leave a comment! I used to have them about a meter from my very large south facing window. They produced a lot of runners but no flowers. My two carnosa’s have pundlces so I think they have bloomed before, so they seem mature enough. I think they probably needed more light. So I moved them. Currently I have them in a south facing window, wich I shade from the direct sunlight in the afternoon in warmer months.
I know some people swear having their hoyas rootbound, but I repotted them. The nurserypots had very little growing medium in them left so the plants dried out to often. Now I grow them in slightly larger pots in a mixture (1:1:1) of orchid bark, houseplantpotting mix and perlite. I hope I got it right and will have some flowers in the comming year!
Update
Since repotting they have had a very decent growthspurt! The carnosa’s almost doubled in size, and the new leaves are twice as big. Even if they don’t flower they look stunning as is. I am a little worried that there was too much fertilizer in the premade houseplant pottingmix I used. That might be why they had such an impressive grothspurt. The packaging states the fertilizer should last about 3 months. So in a few weeks I will start fertilizing with organic orchid again. Maybe that will help develop some peduncles.
The other reason I might not have any blooms is that the variety of hoya’s I have don’t like my growing conditions. So I bought a bunch of cuttings from various sellers to better my odds. Here’s the list of what I am trying to root at the moment;
- Hoya lockii
- Hoya carnosa krincle 8
- Hoya sheperdii
- Hoya oblavata
- Hoya oblavata speckles
- Hoya multiflora speckles (The cutting did’t take)
- Hoya magnifica
- Hoya nicholsoniae x christine
- Hoya acuta / verticillata albomarginata
- Hoya aff. chewiorum H-72
- Hoya Juannguoiana
- Hoya Obscura MT24
- Hoya aff. wibergaie
- Hoya lacunosa cihidian java
- Hoya aff. burtoniae
I know it will take a while for the plats to mature. In some cases hoyas might even take 5 to 10 years to become mature enought to bloom. I wanted to experience that for myself. If you are a more experienced or succesfull hoya grower, I’d love to hear from you! I will keep you posted on the results!
Update
Apart from the Hoya Multiflora Speckels, everything took root really well. After a month or two I repotted them. They currently reside in the ‘Hoya resort’ And are enjoying extra humidity and a growlight. Hoya Lockii has already bloomed for me (My first Hoya bloom!!!) and is currently working on it’s second peduncle. I Bought mine at https://www.tropicaflora.nl/ they offer a lot of cool exotic plants. The flower had no noticable fragrance, so I hope the second one will.