Hoya Caudata Sumatra is a wax plant with silver speckles and reddish leaves, happy as crawling on the trellis or a hanging plant. It can go to about 35cm long.
The young shoots of a reddish tone have dense pubescence. Its leaves are located on thick cuttings, dense structures, rigid, oval, or elongated. The young leaves are soft with a waxy surface, and from above, the leaf plate is covered with silvery specks underside is reddish.
In the budding phase, the plant forms several peduncles at the top of each small flower, collected in flat inflorescences. Likewise, there is a red crown in the middle with a white or burgundy center. The life span of flowers is 7-8 days. During the flowering phase, Hoya Caudata Sumatra smells like vanilla.
Purchase and adaptation
You can buy Hoya Caudata Sumatra in one of the flower shops. Choose grown and flowering plants that show no health problems.
Their leaves and stems should be juicy, without defects – holes, cracks, outgrowths, and blotches of unnatural color. After the purchase, the flower must be quarantined for 2-3 weeks.
During this time, it will get used to the home growing conditions. You will also be able to determine if it has any diseases. If the Hoya Caudata Sumatra is healthy, it is placed in a common room with other vegetation.
Cultivation rules
You will need a purchased substrate intended for planting ornamental flowering plants for cultivation. You can also take a mixture of turf, leafy soil, humus, and sand (2: 2: 1: 1).
The best habitat will be a windowsill with good lighting in the morning and evening hours. Hoya Caudata Sumatra can be placed on the southwest or east window.
Do not grow in the northern part of the house, as artificial lighting will be required. When kept on the southern windowsill, shade is provided at lunchtime.
Care features
All are caring for Hoya Caudata Sumatra at home comes down to several activities.
1. Temperature
In the warm season, they are kept at 22-28 °C. In the resting phase in winter, it is lowered to 15-16 °C. Poorly tolerates sudden temperature changes but loves fresh air. Therefore, the room must be regularly ventilated by first moving the flower to a draft-protected place.
2. Lighting
Hoya Caudata Sumatra loves a lot of light – it takes at least 10 hours a day. Protection from direct rays is essential; otherwise, the leaves will burn and dry out. They are kept in a well-lit place in spring and summer, and in winter, they are supplemented with a fluorescent lamp.
3. Watering
Watering Hoya Caudata Sumatra at home should be as the soil dries up. Even 2-3 cm of dried soil is acceptable. It is enough to water once a week in summer, and in winter, it is enough to water two times a month.
It is better to spray it more often without getting on the flowers. This plant loves high humidity. Try to use settled water at room temperature. The root system will not die when using cold water, but you cannot count on lush and abundant flowering.
It is helpful for the Hoya Caudata Sumatra to carry out bathing procedures. To do this, twice a year before the flowering period, the flower pot is wholly lowered into a bucket of water for 5-7 minutes.
The water should be warm, even slightly warmed. After such a bath, the plant will feel great. It will bloom profusely and tolerate changing weather conditions much better. Also, this procedure can be used to stimulate the flowering process.
4. Top dressing
Fertilization begins in early March, and the last feeding is carried out at the end of August. Use ready-made mineral preparations, which include phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium. First, top dressing is applied, then watered abundantly. Moisture helps the roots absorb nutrients faster.
5. Pruning
The intensive growth of shoots distinguishes hoya Caudata Sumatra; therefore, the growth of lashes must be periodically retrained. Each spring, they are pruned to 15-20 cm in length.
Additionally, twigs growing inside the crown or at the wrong angle are cut out. At the same time, a sanitary haircut is carried out where leaves and stalks are removed. After these manipulations, they irrigate with Epin’s solution, which helps bounce back faster.
5. Transfer
The purchased Hoya Caudata Sumatra is transplanted after quarantine since the store substrate is not suitable for further cultivation. They take a flowerpot a little larger than the old one and always have drainage holes.
A couple of handfuls of expanded clay are poured onto the bottom, then a small layer of fertile and loose soil. Along with an earthen lump, this plant is transferred into a new pot, filled with all the voids with earth, and watered.
Basic care includes regular replanting of home flowers:
- Young – after a year
- Adults – every fourth year
An unscheduled transplant is necessary for a Hoya Caudata Sumatra whose rotted roots. It is removed, washed from the soil, all rotten parts are cut out, dipped in a fungicide solution for 2 hours, and dried. After that, the flower is planted in a new pot with a sterile soil mixture.
Reproduction methods
There are three options for getting new Hoya Caudata Sumatra seedlings.
1. Cuttings
Shoots cut from the top of the stems with several leaves and buds are freed from the foliage in the lower part and dipped in Epin’s solution for 30 minutes. After soaking, they are planted in a sand-peat mixture to a 3-4 cm depth and moistened.
Successful rooting is placed in a warm place with diffused light. After 2-3 weeks, they will release new leaves. After two months, they are transplanted into pots.
2. By letter
Adult leaves with axillary buds are taken, dipped in Kornevin’s solution, then planted in a wet mixture of peat and sand, covered with transparent glass.
With regular airing and moistening, they will grow in two weeks. Then the shelter is removed, grown for another 1-2 years until the stems are released and seated separately.
3. Stem layering
They take the most robust and most flexible shoot to make an incision on it with a 1-1.5 cm length. Wrap this place with moistened moss and cover it with a transparent film on top.
Then wait for the roots to break through the moss. Remove the bandage, cut off the stem from the mother plant, and plant it in a pot with a mixture of turf, leafy earth, and sand (2: 2: 1).
Diseases that attack Hoya Caudata Sumatra
Too high humidity and cold can cause the development of powdery mildew and gray rot in Hoya Caudata Sumatra. In this case, specks of whitish or gray color are formed on the leaf plates.
To cure powdery mildew, you need to use fungicidal preparations. If the plant is struck by gray rot, it can die in just a few days.
Thickening and specks that appear on the leaf plates may signify that the flower is infected with a viral infection.
In this case, the Hoya Caudata Sumatra must be isolated from other flowers and watched for some time. The diseased specimen must be burned if the situation worsens because viral diseases are considered incurable.
If part of the stems and the trunk have become soft, and a sticky liquid with a not very pleasant aroma is released from them, this may mean that your plant is affected by a bacterial infection.
In this case, the flower is sprayed with a product containing copper. All diseased parts of the bush must be cut off. Such a plant can be affected by a non-infectious disease. As a rule, this is due to a violation of the rules for caring for a flower or unacceptable detention conditions.
Pests that attack Hoya Caudata Sumatra
Spider mites, aphids, mealybugs, and other sucking pests settle on such a vine less often. The affected bush fade away, the foliage turns yellow and flies around, growth becomes slower, and the buds do not open.
Also, the flowers become sticky due to pest secretions. For prevention, it is necessary to systematically examine Hoya Caudata Sumatra for the presence of uninvited guests.
It is imperative to do this at the beginning of the spring period during the beginning of the growth of young stems. If there are very few insects, it will be enough to rinse the bush under a warm shower.
All parts must be washed. The plant is treated with an insecticidal agent when the foliage dries up. Hoya Caudata Sumatra should be sprayed strictly following the instructions. Re-treatment can be carried out after seven days.
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Conclusion
Hoya Caudata Sumatra is a unique plant because it has hairy flowers that are pink and creamy in color, and it smells like vanilla. The shoots of the plant are very flexible and fleshy.
Silver speckles and reddish leaves characterize it. It requires less attention and frequent watering than most tropical indoor plants. Also, when it is a bright, warm, and medium-humidity environment, the plant will bloom very well.