Hoya Burtoniae: Care Plan Design for This Rare and Gorgeous Hoya

The Hoya burtoniae of the Apocynaceae family is a vining epiphyte whose rarity is to the extent that you might be the only one with it in your neighborhood and beyond.

The fuzzy, dark green leaves of the plant beautify each vine and they appear even more beautiful when you display them by hanging them in a basket.

To get the best out of this plant, you should know how to take good and proper care of it. But don’t worry; this complete guide will provide you with everything that you need to know about this gorgeous hoya genus vine.

What Is a Hoya Burtoniae?

The Hoya burtoniae is an evergreen vining plant with almond-shaped, velvety leaves that is native to the Philippines. This plant is known as the Hoya Sp Aff Burtoniae, which is an abbreviation for Hoya Species Affinity Burtoniae. The Hoya burtoniae flowers are dark pink and sometimes reddish, but the centers are always yellow.

Hoya Burtoniae Care

The Hoya burtoniae bloom is the one that gives the plant its gorgeous appearance. Enjoying such beauty is based on how you take care of your plant. In this section, we will outline how you can parent this plant.

Light Requirements

The Hoya burtoniae is happy as long as you provide it with good amounts of natural sun. Expose your plant to bright, indirect sunlight for an average of seven hours each day.

Therefore, you can change the spots where you place your plant depending on the time of the day so that you can maximize light absorption. In the mornings, it is best to put your plant close to an eastern-facing window.

Your Hoya burtoniae is equally happy to get the afternoon sun when you position it close to a western-facing window.

Please note that the afternoon sun is harsher, so a maximum of two hours of exposure is good enough.

Under such exposure, your plant will turn a bit reddish in color, which means that they are slightly sun-stressed. Interestingly, most gardeners prefer this state as the plant appears very gorgeous.

Take note that exceeding the light requirements that are recommended for your Hoya burtoniae will cause the plant leaves to lose their beautiful color, become waxy, and in extreme cases, they can get scorched.

For this reason, you should slightly shield your Hoya burtoniae from sun rays if it is close to a southern-facing window. If you have no option but to use the southern-facing window for accessing the sunlight, you can place the plant away from the window, making sure that you are not completely depriving it of light.

Water Requirements

The Hoya burtoniae has semi-succulent leaves, making the plant less vulnerable to conditions where it is slightly deprived of water. This plant does not require excessive watering; just a little water will do.

Consider watering this plant once every week during the summer, and then about once every three weeks during the winter. When you give your plant a drink, be sure to water directly onto the soil or from beneath the pot to avoid watering the foliage and causing leaf rot.

– Underwatering

Always let the soil of your plant dry out before you water it again. However, do not let it get bone dry for extended periods of time as this may eventually affect the growth of your plant and distort its appearance.

The leaves of your plant can show you whether you should water your plant or not. If they begin to shrink and wrinkle, that is a sure sign that your plant is thirsty. The same applies if you notice that your Hoya burtoniae appears droopy.

– Overwatering

The good thing is that the Hoya burtoniae can easily bounce back if you water it after depriving it of water for long periods of time. However, be sure not to give this plant too much water as it is very sensitive to overwatering.

Remember, the plant is epiphytic so its roots prefer regular exposure to air. If the plant sits in water for a long time, it becomes susceptible to root rot.

Soil Requirements

If you are growing your Hoya burtoniae in a pot, be sure to provide a well-draining potting mix. This is a potting mix that will allow water to drain through it so that your plant does not end up sitting in water. Please note that the potting mix should not be too fast-draining to the extent that your plant will be deprived of the moisture that it needs after watering.

While it is important for your potting mix to retain some water, stay away from heavy soils that hold too much of it as this is not conducive for the growth of your Hoya burtoniae. Such soils make it easy for your plant to be affected by root rot.

– Make Your Own

You can create a well-draining potting mix on your own in the comfort of your home and there are different methods for doing this. You can combine potting mix, orchid mix and perlite at ratios of 1:1:1 or potting soil, coco coir and perlite in the same ratios.

Another option is to mix the potting mix and orchid bark at a 1:1 ratio. You can also mix two parts of peat moss with one part perlite. In any of the methods that we described in this section, you can also add charcoal, pumice, vermiculite, pine bark and fir bark.

Fertilizing Requirements

The Hoya burtoniae requires nutrient supplementation through the addition of fertilizers, though this should be done sparingly. If you use a general-purpose fertilizer for boosting the growth of your plant, be sure to dilute it to half-strength.

You can also feed your plant with a weak fertilizer at a frequency of once a month. Houseplant fertilizers also work well for your Hoya burtoniae.

Please note that the Hoya burtoniae requires a break from feeding, so excessive addition of fertilizers is not a great idea. We recommend that you only feed your plant during the summer and spring seasons when your plant is actively growing.

Once it’s early or mid-fall, you can stop fertilizing your Hoya burtoniae. Completely refrain from feeding your plant during the winter as this is the plant’s rest period.

Temperature Requirements

The Hoya burtoniae is a tropical plant, so it finds moderate to warm weather more favorable. Temperatures between 60 F and 95 F are ideal for the healthy survival and growth of your dazzling Hoya.

If for any reason the temperatures around your plant fall below or rise above the recommended ideal range, your Hoya burtoniae will experience stunted growth. The more the temperature deviates from the 60 to 95 F range, the slower the growth rate of the plant will be.

– Natural Environment

While the Hoya burtoniae plant is affected by temperatures that are too high, cold and freezing ones have more devastating results on this plant. In the Philippines where this plant grows naturally, the conditions are warm and it never experiences frosty temperatures, not even during the winters.

In fact, winters in the Philippines are warm as they range around 55 F. Having said this, atmospheric temperatures that are below 50 F are not good for your Hoya plant.

When outdoor temperatures are low, bring your plant indoors where the conditions are relatively warmer. You can bring it back outside during the summer once the temperatures rise just above 50 F.

Humidity Requirements

The native growth conditions of the Hoya burtoniae are associated with high humidity levels. For this reason, the summers there are scorching hot. This further explains why the Hoya burtoniae thrives best when the humidity levels are between 50 and 70 percent.

The Hoya burtoniae will even do better if you increase the humidity levels beyond this stipulated range. However, there is a need for you to be very careful with extremely high humidity conditions because they attract more pests in addition to making your plant vulnerable to fungal, bacterial and some viral infections.

Take note that your hoya plant also tolerates low levels of humidity because of its succulent leaves. This means that the plant can also grow well in normal household humidity conditions, but always try to keep the levels above 40 percent.

In the event that humidity levels fall below 30 percent, regularly check your plant for browning leaves or crispy tips. The presence of these signs reflects that your plant is being deprived of the atmospheric moisture that it needs. Otherwise, your Hoya burtoniae is happy with the humidity around it.

Pruning

When you grow your Hoya burtoniae as a houseplant, it can grow up to six feet tall. This plant can exceed that height when it grows in the wild, where its growing conditions are more natural and ideal.

Although your Hoya burtoniae may have a slow growth rate, it eventually gets long and dense with time. It looks very beautiful this way, especially if you put it in a hanging basket.

At some point, you will need to trim your plant to maintain a good shape and desirable size. Simply put, the Hoya burtoniae does not require regular pruning. Whenever you prune your plant, be careful not to cut off the peduncles. The moment you trim them off, your plant will not be able to produce new growth or flowers from that stalk.

 

Propagation

Propagation of the Hoya burtoniae is best done through cuttings. There are various reasons for this and these include the ease at which the process is completed as well as the fact that there is no need for complicated equipment and extra resources.

Moreover, you can plant stem cuttings directly in water, oil or sphagnum moss so your options are not limited.

– Propagation Through Stem Cuttings

You will need a healthy stem that has at least three leaves on it and is about five inches long on average. Be sure to expose the lower nodes by taking off the lowest-positioned leaves. The roots of your new plant will develop from these nodes.

If you are using water to propagate your cutting, dip it into the water such that the nodes are covered. No leaves should go underwater as they will eventually rot. Place the container with the plant in a warm, humid space that can receive bright, indirect light. By the time a week elapses, you should be able to notice the appearance of small, white roots.

After approximately four weeks, the density and length of the roots should have significantly increased. Once they grow to about two inches, you can repot the cuttings into a pot with well-draining potting soil.

If you feel that you don’t want to go through the transferring process from the water to the soil mix, you can propagate your stem cuttings in a potting mix from the get go.

Problems

As beautiful as it is, would you imagine that the Hoya burtoniae can also be attacked by pests and diseases? Let’s explore some of the major problems that you should anticipate as you enjoy caring for your plant.

– Pests

Most gardeners who have the Hoya burtoniae complain of mealybugs, thrips, scale and spider mites, so these are the pests that you should be on the lookout for. All these pests are sap-suckers that can greatly distort the appearance of your plant, especially when they exist in large infestations.

Prevention is the first strategy that you should employ as far as these sucking pests are concerned. This is best done by following all the stipulated care requirements for your Hoya burtoniae, especially watering routines, as well regularly checking your plant for these pests.

– What To Do

Treat pests immediately after you notice their presence as lower infestations are easier to deal with in most cases. You can wash the bugs off using a strong stream of water or dab them using cotton balls that are saturated with 70 percent isopropyl alcohol. Larger infestations require more drastic measures such as Neem oil and insecticidal soaps.

In some cases, the infestation might be extreme and beyond control, so the best option would be to discard the whole plant so that you can protect the other plants within your garden collection.

Thoroughly disinfect the spot where the infected plant was positioned — you can spray the area with 70 percent alcohol. You can use the uninfected parts to propagate your plant so that you won’t have to completely lose it altogether.

– Diseases

Diseases that mainly affect the Hoya burtoniae are usually a result of excessive moisture. This is because moisture is conducive for the proliferation of microorganisms, particularly bacteria and fungi.

These include root rot, which is a fungal infection that affected the roots of your plant if it is trapped in waterlogged conditions. The leaves of your plant can be affected by mold, leaf rot and/or blight.

– What To Do

The best way to deal with fungal infections is through prevention. Once they have affected your Hoya burtoniae, it is quite difficult to control them. However, you can try using commercially available fungicides such as mancozeb and iprodione.

It is possible to create your own fungicide using ingredients that you have in your home. For instance, you can mix four tablespoons of apple cider vinegar with a gallon of water. Spray this mixture on your Hoya burtoniae in the morning.

If you do so in the afternoons, the combination of the sun and the acid in the vinegar can burn your gorgeous plant.

FAQ

How can I make my Hoya Burtoniae grow faster?

To make your Hoya Burtoniae grow faster, provide it with bright but indirect light, well-draining soil, and regular watering with a balanced fertilizer.

What is the common name for Hoya Burtoniae?

The common name for Hoya Burtoniae is Wax Plant.

Is Hoya Burtoniae considered a beginner plant?

Hoya Burtoniae is not considered a beginner plant due to its specific care requirements and sensitivity to overwatering.

Conclusion

There you have it! Let’s go through some of the things that you should know like the back of your hand as you take care of your Hoya burtoniae.

• Bright, indirect sunlight is best for your Hoya burtoniae, and the plant requires little water for survival. Too much water can be detrimental.
• A well-draining, well-aerated, slightly water-retaining soil mix promotes the healthy growth of your plant.
• You can add fertilizers to your Hoya burtoniae, but do so in moderation.
• Provide your plant with temperatures that range between 60 F and 95 F. Humidity levels between 50 and 70 percent will see your plant flourishing.
• This plant rarely needs pruning, but you can do so lightly to keep it in the shape that you desire.

The theoretical session on caring for your Hoya burtoniae is over. It’s time to get practical and gain relevant experience!