Fourth Hoya Haul of 2023 – Carla’s Hoya Haven

A New Hoya from Land of Alice – Hoya Deykeae

My fourth Hoya haul of 2023 isn’t much of a haul at all but just a single plant. What a wonderful plant it is! This one is Hoya deykeae purchased from Land of Alice for the fantastic price of $55. All the other deykeaes I’ve seen listed were around $100. The box arrived in great condition. The plant was wrapped in brown paper with quilt batting around the plant. It was secured to the box with packing tape.

The gaps in the box filled with packing peanuts. This plant arrived in excellent condition. It’s a gorgeous plant endemic to the island of Sumatra which has lost more than 50% of its rainforest over the past 35 years. Hoya deykeae is named in honor of Deyke van Donkelaar, a Dutch woman. It has veiny, slighly heart-shaped leaves and I’m excited to add this to my collection though its reported to be a bit of a diva.

I turned to Vermont Hoyas for expert advice on this one. H. deykeae succumbs to overwatering easily. I’ll need to move it to a chunky mix. It arrived in a loose mix of potting soil with copious amounts of perlite. I prefer to leave it in this mix until it is more root bound.

The potting mix was completely dry upon arrival and some of the leaves were a bit thin so I gave it some water with Rapid Start and drained the tray so as not to kill my new plant. It wants bright indirect light and can tolerate morning or evening sun but no midday sun as the leaves will yellow and burn. H. deykeae prefers it warm and humid.

The weather turned cool and dry again here so I’m going to put this plant in my grow tent until its warmer and more humid in the house and I can move it to a shelf where it can get some late afternoon sun in the summer. This particular plant is harder to grow than H. callistophylla but easier than H. gunung gading. I’m going to cross my fingers and hope for the best. My H. callistophylla just grew three new leaves that lived long enough to harden off. If I can get H. deykeae to thrive then I’ll invest in one of my wish list plants – H. gunung gading.

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