HOW BIG CAN YOUR HOYA GROW

What plant is almost like a silent animal pet in your house?
A HOYA VINE:
AN ANCIENT HOYA!

-- RLJ --

HOW BIG CAN YOUR HOYA GROW

 

This example of one of the several over 30 year old Hoya Carnosa plants I own is growing in this platform I invented and built to grow the huge plant in the upright position. Instead of sprawling all over the place and not climbing like a vine wants to do, this platform supports the climbing nature of this Ancient Hoya.

This size platform is 16" wide at the top by 54" from the floor to the top of the cage. The plant is taller, still. So, this is a HUGE set-up and to transport this plant one needs to have a vehicle with a tall interior. 

 

This is my Hoya Pubicalyx that I purchased as a young teenager back in the 1970's. This Hoya is almost 50 years old. I can prove its age by the actual "foot" that has developed at the base of the soil because of its age.

When I purchased the plant in Killeen, Texas back in the mid '70's, it could have been 50 years old then, for all I know!

The Hoya Pubicalyx becomes a MONSTER of a plant as the decades roll by. It becomes a monster in size, not plant attitude. Treat this plant well decade after decade and you will become as attached to its awesomeness as if it were a person you loved.

And, of course, the payoff of grooming and loving this plant is its AWESOME flowers, when it decides to produce them!

And to be sure, the Hoya Pubicalyx is a rare plant. You can see a lot of pictures of it on the internet, but buying them, at times, can be difficult.

 

This is my son's Hoya Variegated. This plant has been in his room by this window for around 15 years! It gets filtered light through this window throughout the day, with a little more intense light in the afternoon. But, never any intense direct light. This plant flowers every few years... with these gorgeous white flowers that smell like rich chocolate!!! 

This is simply an AWESOME plant that demands a low light situation! And, unlike most plants, most Hoya vines do not lose ANY of their color in lower light... because they demand lower light exposure!

And, of course, this plant has NEVER been turned from this position. As you all know, Hoya vines HATE being moved around the house and they do not like being turned around.

 

These are the flower balls of the Hoya Carnosa types that I have. There is simply nothing more to say about what you are looking at... other than to ask you to imagine the chocolate aroma floating out of these flowers!

Here is a SMALL example of a Hoya Pubicalyx leaf. They can grow to almost 10 inches long, perhaps even longer. Observe the silver paint-like splashes on the leaf. Each leaf has its own pattern, which is outrageous. I can spend an hour dusting off my Ancient Hoya Pubicalyx and marveling over the leaves.

This is an example of the smaller Hoya vines I have. This is a Hoya Tricolor. It is in a 12" by 24" platform. This plant was Air Layered from the mother plant about 10 years ago. The HUGE mother plant is about 35 years old... which means that this smaller CLONE of it's mother is actually, in theory, 35 years old, too.

 

This is an example of the mid-size Hoyas I grow. This plant is in a 131/2" by 42" platform. This is an Air Layered Hoya Pubicalyx from the 47 year old Mother plant. This is a 20 year old plant!

Here is another Air Layered Hoya Pubicalyx in a small platform. This plant will outgrow this platform in a few years... and will HAVE to be placed in a larger platform.

And so, the question that launched this blog entry was: How Big Can Your Hoya Grow? The answer, in my opinion is... who knows? Since this plant lives on forever in your household, I suppose it will get as big as you let it. For sure, a Hoya Pubicalyx can, and will, take over a large sized room it you let it. And I am dead serious about that fact! It will literally take over a room as the decades roll by if you build supports to train it where you want it to go. And that would be a monstrously huge, beautiful, heavy plant.

Enjoy the adventure, if you have an Ancient Hoya! 

Ronald L. Jones