I am overly concerned about my hoya publicalyx. The leaves keep turning brown, i have lost 6-7 leaves already. I was watering it once a week. Am I watering it too much? But now it is REALLY dry because it's been almost two weeks. What should I do? Can you tell me what you think is wrong?

It's in a draining terrocota pot on my plant stand about 1ft away from a south facing window shaded by a tree.

I wonder if the soil you are using for your Wax Plant (Hoya pubicalyx) might be the issue? Hoyas require a porous, airy, well draining potting medium. The top of your plants soil appears dry but the root area may be retaining too much moisture and not drying out sufficiently.

I've been growing a few hoyas for more than fifteen years; mine are all planted in a combination of potting soil with lots of orchid bark mix and perlite added. It's a fast draining, chunky mix that allows for good air circulation around the plants roots. I live in warm, humid Florida and my plants stay outside year round where they seem to thrive; the chunky mix works well for my growing conditions. I don't have a "regular" watering routine and tend to allow all of my plants (including the hoyas) to go fairly dry between watering but as I mentioned, my hoyas stay outside year round in a humid climate.

plantladylin said:I wonder if the soil you are using for your Wax Plant (Hoya pubicalyx) might be the issue? Hoyas require a porous, airy, well draining potting medium. The top of your plants soil appears dry but the root area may be retaining too much moisture and not drying out sufficiently.

I've been growing a few hoyas for more than fifteen years; mine are all planted in a combination of potting soil with lots of orchid bark mix and perlite added. It's a fast draining, chunky mix that allows for good air circulation around the plants roots. I live in warm, humid Florida and my plants stay outside year round where they seem to thrive; the chunky mix works well for my growing conditions. I don't have a "regular" watering routine and tend to allow all of my plants (including the hoyas) to go fairly dry between watering but as I mentioned, my hoyas stay outside year round in a humid climate.

I repotted it maybe a month ago from the nursery pot. I used succulent mix 70%, perlite 10% and coarse orchid bark 10%. Do you think I should have used regular potting mix instead? Right now I only have Miracle Moisture control Potting Mix. Is the ratio ok?

I don't know if repotting it would be ok at this moment. At this point, I hear my aunt's voice in my head, "if it's not thriving, dig it up and put it in water." But for now, I'll just water it.

I am thinking you maybe underwatering it too much. Try to step up watering. My area is the flipside of Lin's growing area. Over here it is super lower humidity and dry heat wave, no rain for 6 to 7 months. Since June I have been watering my hoyas daily here. I also use cacti mix and have added pumice to the media. Growing it in the shadiest side of my garden.

You may not need to water daily like I do here, but two weeks of no watering will take its toll on any plant especially during its active growing time.

tarev said:I am thinking you maybe underwatering it too much. Try to step up watering. My area is the flipside of Lin's growing area. Over here it is super lower humidity and dry heat wave, no rain for 6 to 7 months. Since June I have been watering my hoyas daily here. I also use cacti mix and have added pumice to the media. Growing it in the shadiest side of my garden.

You may not need to water daily like I do here, but two weeks of no watering will take its toll on any plant especially during its active growing time.

When I originally purchased the plant from Pistils Nursery, before I repotted it, it was bone dry. You could literally knock on the dry soil. But when I begin to water it weekly, i feel like that's when the problems started. I agree though, I think the plant is dry. I'm currently watering it.

I can tell already that I'm gonna lose those three yellowish green leaves too. This is so frustrating!

To my eyes, the brown leaf petiole looks like it's rotting, which I assumed was a watering issue. It may also be my eyesight but in one of the photos, the pot looks rather tall. Again, that may just be my view of the photo. In my experience, Hoyas prefer to be tightly potted in shallow containers.

Personally, I have never liked Miracle Gro potting soil for any of my succulents, it always retains too much moisture than the succulents needs. Try to shore up more perlite towards the base of your plant, so that when you do step up watering, it will not sit too long in wet media.

I wonder if the plant may have dropped the leaves it cannot sustain since it has been water deprived for quite awhile. Sometimes succulents does that, just keeping what it can ably sustain. The vine looks green, keep misting that, it maybe encouraged to make leaves.

It does seem to be planted in too deep a container as Lin mentioned. But I am hesistant to bother that plant now with summer at its peak. I usually do any changes during mid Spring, or in early Fall just as soon as temps cool down a bit.

Ok, thank you everyone for your advice. I really appreciate it.

Wheezy807 said:Ok, thank you everyone for your advice. I really appreciate it.

What did you end up doing with this plant?? Did it make it? I bought a Hoya publicalyx online also and am having the same yellowing problem from the stem side.

@Mwaters18,

I don't think Wheezy807 has posted since last October so he/she may no longer be active on the site and may not see your question.

Can you explain what you mean by the "stem side"? If you can upload a photo of your new Wax Plant (Hoya pubicalyx) someone may be able to diagnose what the issue might be. I'm wondering if perhaps the seller has it planted in a water retentive soil, in which case you will need to allow it to dry out longer between waterings.

I find Hoya pubicalyx to be one of the easiest to grow (along with those in the carnosa group.) I've had this plant for 14 years and on occasion it gets a yellowing leaf here and there but for the most part, it's just fine. It's been blooming the past couple of weeks, I took this photo earlier today.

Oh, Lin. So pretty!

Thanks Peggy!

I have the same problem with my publicalyx. one leaf has brown spots and I immediately cut it because i got scared. the other leaves might be contaminated. Can somebody help me identify if the leaf is sick? thanks in advance.

Does your plant have good air circulation around it? You didn't say where you live but anyplace warm and humid, lack of air circulation is a major problem.

my publicalyx has brown spots on several leaves. please help me treat them. I am from south California.

That looks like mechanical damage. Are the leaves being bumped or chewed on my a helpful kitty?

The black spots on the leaves of your Wax Plant (Hoya pubicalyx) look like mechanical damage to me too. Damage can occur when a plant is bumped around at the nursery or garden center, or while in transit from one location to another (like when it's on a truck and being transported from the nursery/greenhouse to the garden center. I've also had damage like that occur with plants hanging in trees and getting blown about on a windy day.