My Bella is growing like a weed including producing peduncles. But the peduncles keep turning yellow and falling off. Does anyone have this experience? I keep the soil damp but not wet.

Any recent change in environmental conditions; a sudden temperature change, a change in lighting, a change in location?

It stays in the east window with additional light. Some branches have lost leaves. Others keep theirs. Maybe the soil is not uniformly damp????

Can you upload a photo of your Miniature Wax Plant (Hoya bella) so that we might be able to see the issue? In your earlier post, you said it was peduncles turning yellow and falling off.

If some of the stems have lost leaves, it makes me wonder if the plant is being rotated occasionally so that all sides of the plant receive bright light from the window. Depending on the type of potting medium being used, if it's a soil moisture issue, the problem may very well be originating at root level.

Hopefully others who grow Hoya bella will recognize the issue you are having with this particular Hoya and be able to offer suggestions on how to correct it.

I'm away from home right now, but I will snaps some pictures when I get back.

Here are a couple of photos of my Bella. Lin, I do rotate the pot. The humidity level is low in my house--45 to 50%-- despite the fact that have humidity trays everywhere. I haven't taken it from the pot yet but I will if this persists to look at the roots and soil. Thanks everyone!

Whoops. Thought I put this one up too.

Your plant, to me, looks generally unhealthy -- discoloring, puckered leaves like it's not drinking properly, etc. It makes me think there is a soil issue -- too wet, or too rich, or a nutrient imbalance. Is that the nursery pot and soil it came in? That's probably the problem -- nursery soil is usually way too dense for hoyas outside of a controlled greenhouse. I would get it out and repotted NOW.

My Bella lives in low humidity too, same as yours or even lower, with a pebble tray under it that I am always forgetting to fill up. It's potted in a mix of maybe half regular potting soil and half orchid mix and pumice (this is a pretty typical mix for hoyas). I let it dry out fairly well between waterings, same as I do my compacta, and it hasn't dropped a single leaf in the 6 months I've had it. It IS very easily stressed and has dropped several peduncles though (particularly after my cat messed with it) but otherwise has grown like a weed and is already replacing the spurs it dropped.

Hope that helps. Good luck!
(Oh, P.S. -- humidity trays only create a little humid zone directly around/above them; they do not raise the overall household humidity. If you want to do that, then you need an actual humidifier.)

Thanks, Rose! I'm willing to try that. It is the original pot and soil. I tried keeping a humidifier going but it got to be a nuisance to keep filled. Now most everything sits above humidity trays. I hate to stress the poor thing again but it looks like I have no choice.

I really wouldn't worry about your humidity situation. Hoyas may like a little higher humidity, but in my experience, they really truly don't need it. I live in a drier climate than you, and I put the pebble tray under my Bella as a sort of better-safe-than-sorry measure, because I heard these were more fiddly. But as I said, I forget to fill it all the time and it hasn't shown any sign that it cares. My compacta has been thriving for four years with no humidifying aid whatsoever. If it ain't broke, I'm not gonna try and fix it! I also think that being a little drier actually has some benefits -- it decreases the risk of fungal/bacterial rot issues, and probably the risk of mealies and other bugs as well.

I have close to 40 different species/cultivars. I only have 3 or 4 that are blooming size. The others are small or newly rooted cuttings. I'm a compulsive waterer so hoyas are a bit of a challenge. Learning to let them dry out is hard! I have a few that are in LECA self watering pots-- Retusa and Multiflora. They are doing very well but they have thin leaves. Some are in "humidity hospitals." I'm just trying to figure out what the little darlings want. Like kids-they're all different.

I was thinking about some of my others.. I have a CV Sunrise that was trying to expire. I took cuttings and they are rooting like gangbusters in water but the original plant is kept nearly dry but suffering. I took a cutting from my Rotundiflora when it appeared to be dying. It's in my hospital with one leaf but I think it's going to make it. I really got too many too fast but I like them so now I've got my work cut out for me.

I hear u Magpie, I got addicted fast too. I'm having the greatest trouble with watering and waiting for leaves to grow full size! So long, so hard! Lol


Good thing the babies are so beautiful... I feel like maybe hoyas are the cats of the plant world, if u catch my drift.

I intend to move as much to leca as I can. I've had so much good luck actually rooting them in leca! Other than that, I'm working with the noot potting mix (recommend) and also noot as a fertilizer - if that's what it's really called as such.

I need to empathize with you, because I'm having the hardest time mastering the watering for my Bellas too. But, one incredible thing is that have you ever looked at a Hoya one day and the next and found like a whole shoot with leaves that wasn't there the night before? I swear!

Let us know how the repot goes! Would love to hear if u decide to go with leca and how it goes if so 💝

I took this one out of its pot. The soil didn't seem heavy but I knocked off a little and added more perlite. I also cur it back a little. I suspect that the pot was full of a bunch of barely rooted cuttings and couldn't support the rapid leaf growth. Anyway, it seems better and is holding onto it's buds.

Magpie26 said:


I suspect that the pot was full of a bunch of barely rooted cuttings and couldn't support the rapid leaf growth. Anyway, it seems better and is holding onto it's buds.

If the cuttings were barely rooted, they would be focusing their energy on roots. They don't grow leaves when the roots and nutrient levels can't support it.

After three years these guys are still mysteries to me and probably will be for a good while. Hopefully, they'll teach me how to take care of them before I kill them. It's a good thing they are tough. I'm kind of a "helicopter" plant owner. Thanks for your input!

Finally! Really excited.

Peggy, what a beautiful photo of those blooms! That picture really shows why one of the common names of Hoya is "Porcelain Flower" ... those blooms really do look like porcelain!!

You should add a couple of photos to the database!

Here's the entry: Miniature Wax Plant (Hoya bella)

Thanks Lin.