Hoya Rotundiflora – Carla’s Hoya Haven

All I have is a little cutting to pot up. When this little plant starts growing it will be quite lovely with it’s little squared leaves. If you want to see a better example click the link A Visit with Hoya rotundiflora by Doug Chamberlain. This is but one of his many beautiful Hoyas featured on his website Vermont Hoyas. I can only hope mine will look half as good some day. For now I have to settle for my petite cutting which I purchased from PlantyManty in Sep ’22. It arrived in good shape with a few tiny roots. It was in a little pot of dirt and I’m not good at potting in soil. I usually over water and end up with root rot or stem rot. I took it out of the soil, gently rinsed the roots in the sink and put it in semi hydro in Fluval Stratum. There hasn’t been much growth up top so it’s time to take it out of the stratum and see what’s happening underneath.

After 4 months in the stratum I have a nice healthy set of roots. It’s time to pot this up. I’ve been experimenting with potting mix for my Hoyas. I’m trying to create a more natural environment. I started with ABG Terrarium Substrate from GlassBoxTropicals on Etsy. This is designed for wet humid environments. It holds moisture but drains nicely. Hoyas like to dry out between waterings. I was also looking for something to give the roots a little bark like material to cling to. Many of my Hoyas now arrive in coconut husk chips or some type of chunky bark. So, I added RediChip Premium Medium Sized Coconut Chips, also known as reptile bedding. This is a nice product and a 12-qt bag lasts quite a while. I also added a small amount of stratum to give the growing plants some nutrients. Below is some of the early mix I had remaining in my big mixing bowl. It has more coconut chips than ABG mix.

I’ve been potting my Hoyas up in clear orchid pots so I can see what the roots are doing and also give the substrate some air. I’m bottom watering once every 1-2 weeks and letting the substrate soak up the water. On the plus side this keeps the roots from becoming soggy and waterlogged. However, over time I found the medium coconut chips dried out rather quickly. Also, my Hoya latifolia produced a vine with three albino leaves. This could be due to the substrate being pH neutral or a little alkaline.

Rather than take the time to test the soil pH I just decided to amend my mix. Since I already had some mix left I added some pumice, fir bark fines and pine bark fines all from Bonsai Jack. I also added a handful of BabiChip. I switched to the smaller size coconut chip hoping it wouldn’t take as long to absorb a little water. Periodically, I’ve been soaking these pots in a bowl of water to get the mix to rehydrate. The bark fines should add some acidity and the pumice provides aeration. I ended up with the substrate mix below.

I added substrate to the orchid pot and soaked it into water with Rapid Start for about 20 minutes. I drained it and dumped it into my potting tub and potted it up. Now I have a nice little Hoya Rotundaflora in a much better substrate mix. Hopefully, I’ll get some good growth from it now.

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