I posted a few weeks ago about two hoyas (carnosa crimson princess and carnosa compacta) I had gotten from lowe's. I was concerned the soil was too dense and held on to too much moisture but was advised to not repot them if they were doing ok. I have only watered them once after letting the soil completely dry out after purchase. The pot do have drain holes. That watering was about 2-3 weeks ago now. The soil is still pretty moist and the compacta is starting to have some leaves rot. The crimson princess seems to be ok but the soil is also still very damp. I just wanted to check in and see if leaving them is still best even though the soil is really holding onto water. Would repotting cause more stress? I know hoya don't always respond well. I don't mind waiting a long time for the soil to dry between watering a but this soil is so peaty that it still feels like it was watered days ago and not weeks.

I have found that the hoyas from the box stores always come with this problem. I actually got a lacunosa from Lowes that had started to rot from overwatering, originally $15, for $1. I immediately repotted it and now its a great healthy plant.
Back in the old days, c1990's into the early 2000's, I was on a dedicated and very active hoya forum at a site called Gardenweb that no longer exists....it became Houzz but it was never the same so I dropped off. But there was a woman who lived in an apartment in New York who grew magnificent hoyas, many but not all from the box stores. Her immediate action when bringing a new plant home was to repot it into a more loose and well draining mix with lots of perlite and organic material like orchid bark. The mix they use to sell these is just too prone to holding water and compacting. Especially when their watering practice is to water everything, everyday, whether it needs watering or not

During summer I find my succulent Hoyas growing outdoors in shade likes frequent spray misting on their vines, apart from giving them more frequent watering. But my area is very dry, so I can get away with it since our humidity levels are so low 30% and lower.

Sometimes leaves rotting is not just due to overwatering, it may be underwatering too.

I also have a Hoya carnosa crimson princess that I bought at Lowe's in early spring. It holds onto the water for a long time but the plant is doing great and even has two new peduncles. I was also wondering about re-potting but don't want to lose any flowers from the new growth.

The best thing I can suggest to anyone who doesn;t want to repot is to take that little attached saucer off the bottom of the pot to allow water to drain more freely. That soil can work perfectly fine for some people, but it all depends on your personal watering practices. It would never work for me. It rains for 20 minutes every day in my greenhouse, and the coverage is almost complete. Everything gets watered unless I hide it somewhere under something else that shelters it

@SewDebba If you've had your Wax Plant (Hoya carnosa) for a few months and it seems healthy and happy, I don't think there is any need to repot, just be sure to empty any excess water from the saucer attached to the pot, after the soil has drained.

I personally don't like trays attached to pots and I always remove them and toss them into the recycle bin as soon as I get a plant home. When watering, I either take my plants outside to water and bring them back indoors after they've drained, or I water them in the kitchen sink and allow them to drain before placing them back in their locations around the house. I use "cache" pots (decorative containers without drainage) that my plastic nursery pots sit down into but I have to be vigilant and make sure that no water accumulates in the decorative pot, which would cause lack of proper air circulation and drainage around the plants roots.

For some reason, many people think the first thing they should do after bringing a new plant home, is to repot but that only causes unnecessary stress. A plant will have to adjust to the difference in light, humidity, etc. that they were growing in at the greenhouse/nursery and adding additional stress may cause the plant to suffer to the point of demise.

Some people tend to over-water their plants and then can't understand what's happening and why the plant isn't doing well because they were told that they should water once a week. I was told by a nursery grower a long time ago that most wholesale growers use a water retentive potting medium to help keep the plants alive for transport in trucks across the country and then in the garden centers for extended periods of time before a plant enthusiast buys it.

Different types of plants might require different light and moisture levels but all plants need good air circulation and soil drainage for the roots to survive.

In my growing conditions, my plants go two to three weeks between waterings and they thrive.

I had this happen to me with a plant from lowes too. And I was advised not to repot. I resisted listening to my gut, and very nearly lost the plant. The soil from lowes stayed wet for a long long time. Probably 2 months!!! I had wrinkled up leaves and a bad smell from the soil. Ick... When I finally got it out of that soil, I had to clip off nasty roots, it was a mess, but it came back ok. I never pot up my hoya. I want blooms too much so the last thing I want to do is re pot. I get why we are discouraged from re potting, but if it were mine, I would get it in some good soil asap.

I usually remove the box store soil. I don;t do it all the way....I NEVER go the extreme of washing soil off of roots of plants because that is what is so very injurious. But taking the plant put of the pot, giving it a good shake to remove what falls off, and putting into a well draining, aerated mix is what works for me. Then I can leave that Hoya (and many other genera of plants) in that pot for a long time. I have a couple of hoyas (like my big Sweetheart vines) that have been in the same very small pots for years even though to plant itself is huge. Every once in a while, I just add soil to the pots to replace any that has disappeared.

I second Gina's response. I always repot my Hoya. I bring them home and allow them time to acclimate to my home and dry out from being soaked. Then I remove any loose soil but do not pry into the root system at all, just anything that might fall off easily. I replace whatever was removed with a chunky mixture. All of my EA hoyas are in exactly the same style of pot. The smaller 6" EA are in a 6" terra-cotta Azalea pot and the 8" are in an 8" terra-cotta Azalea pot because a normal terra cotta pot is a few inches deeper and I find this detrimental to my plants with a generally shallow root system. I find that this azalea pot is nearly the exact size as the brown EA plastic pot, but I have the benefit of the terra-cotta (plus chunky mix) preventing my plant from sitting in water if I accidentally water too much, which sometimes happen because I forget which plants I watered the week before
It's kind of a safeguard for me, but has the benefit of my plants being happy.

Hello,
I was given an old hoya plant in a hanging pot that has been neglected for years. I had been putting off repotting it, until today. It just so happens we had moved it to a different position in our garden and after all the lovely rain we have had over the last few months, the leaves are looking greener and healthier than I have ever seen it. Should I just give it a trim and leave it alone. It is root bound.
BevMac

Hoya don't need soil, they are epiphytic. Most of us do not repot unless we acquire one that won't survive in its current circumstance. Rootbound is fine.

My oldest Hoya now lives with my daughter but it hasn't been repotted in 60 years.

This may sound dumb but its the truth. I have a mama squirrel who comes into my greenhouse every winter to make a nest and have babies. She hides her nest usually in some vines in the attic. And I think she eats some stuff, like epiphytic cacti and hoya from time to time. I have a huge specimen of ric rac cactus that is growing up at a level of 12 feet out of a depression made by a still cross strut of the greenhouse wall in nothing but the accumulated debris and leaf litter caught there. I also have hoya Pink Silver doing the same thing in SEVERAL locations. It doesn't arise from a container anywhere, just probably a piece that mama squirrel chewed off and dropped up there. Most hoya are totally capable of growing without soil if there is suitable humidity and water that falls on them and runs off. Some of the more unusual species are sold mounted to cork bark, tree fern etc.

y'all. I bought my hoya Carnosa krimson princess in late November. It's in a 4in ceramic pot. The roots are showing on top and bottom and it's top heavy, so it tends to fall over. It's Spring, it's putting out new leaves like crazy. I'm worried that a repot my stop growth. Am I wrong? Everyone says that they haven't repotted their hoya in 10, 14 even 40 years. But surely this isn't the same pot it came in... it's extremely difficult to find reliable information online.

@YRosie, Repotting should not stunt or stop growth as long as you repot it into the correct size pot. I don't advise ceramic pots for "planting" due to the fact that it's difficult to water correctly, they do not dry out as quickly as plastic. If you feel it needs repotting, use a plastic pot only a little larger than it's current container, it should be just large enough to hold the root ball and a little additional soil. Be sure to use a very airy, porous and well draining potting medium. Warm weather should be arriving in your area before long I'd think and that is when Hoyas (like other plants) begin to take off for the season so you will likely see new growth in the coming summer months and possibly blooms too if the plant is happy and healthy!

I have repotted Hoyas many times over the years but my big plants have been in the same pots now for at least eight to ten years due to the fact that I've gotten old and my attention span isn't what it used to be. The main thing to remember about repotting a plant (especially Hoya) is to NOT go up to a much larger pot because it will spend all it's time concentrating on filling the pot with roots, rather than new top growth and blooms. When one uses a much larger pot than needed, it also causes issues with proper watering.

@Yrosie, Also ... you need to realize that the majority of Hoyas grow as scrambling, twining, climbing vines and your Krimson Princess Hoya (Hoya carnosa 'Rubra') will likely continue to be top heavy because the vines do get thick.

Many use hanging baskets for Hoyas, while others will plant some type of trellis or moss pole into the center of a pot, to allow the vine to climb.

Thank you, Lin! I had a trellis to begin with, but I just didn't like it with the growth. So I put a circular piece on the back side of the pot, hoping for some balance. I reckon I can hang it... I just like it to be sitting on my bedside table. I love to lay in bed and watch as the suns setting light hits it, my oxalis and lemon lime philodendron.

You could always sit the current pot down inside a heavier pot. I have a few orchids that are in very light weight plastic pots and I have to sit the plastic pots down into terra cotta pots for stability to keep them from falling over.

Hey, Rosie! Another Okie here!

I found some very inexpensive trellises at the Dollar Tree and my noid Pubicalyx really likes it.


It's flat but it bends easily to fit inside a cache pot. Went back and got four more for future use.

I have not repotted my Hoyas, either since I have acquired them, except for Hoya kerrii variegata, but all are in some sort of trellis support, since they do grow longer and longer, but always in shade. Only one now is left outdoors since it can tolerate our at times rainy winter and dry heat summer, but always in shade.

Hoya carnosa 'Krimson Queen' - have decided to let that vine loop around the square grid, still in shade always outdoors:


Hoya kerrii variegata has been using that same round loop it came in and I have decided to bring it indoors since last year, it was not tolerating our excessive dry heat and our rainy winters. Ah I remember, this is the exception, since I wanted this initially to fit in the wire table set-up but the original container does not fit well, so I did have to repot it one time, but made sure the media is very gritty and coarse.


Hoya shooting star has always been indoors and really liked being looped in that trellis, but must always keep media on the wet side and enjoys the cool air that comes in when we use the sliding doors: