Hi guys,

I'm new into the world of Hoyas.
I got my hands on a Hoya Compacta and a Hoya Imperialis Red in December (ordered them from a website in my country).
Got them repotted a couple weeks after they arrived (it was recommended I do that on their website, since it's the cold season and it was meant to ease them into the new environment).
It's been more than a month since I've repotted them, but the Imperialis is now showing signs of withering (I think?).
Some leaves are getting dry and yellow, there's been no new growth of any kind.
I've been trying to be gentle with the watering, only a small cup once a week, since it's cold, trying not to overwater it.
The soil was bought along with the flowers, website said it's specially designed for the Hoyas (felt very airy when I potted them, so I know for sure the roots aren't strangled by hardened soil).
They're on the balcony, no direct sunlight, away from the heater, but temperatures in there vary between 15-20C (59-68F) as the windows are sometimes open (kitchen opens in the balcony). Not much of an option to move it in another room, as my bf's mom opens the windows every day and the temperature swing is even higher.

I'm not entirely sure what I can do save it, I'd appreciate some help with this.

Here are some pictures from today:
(one of the leaves was damaged during transport I think, and half of it dried and came off last week)





At least the Compacta's leaves are still green, looking healthy I guess, none withered; even thought it hasn't had any growth either not even a small leaf..

Hi icantevenhoyabro,

I no longer grow Honey Plant (Hoya imperialis) but I do have several other Hoyas that I've had for years. Hoyas prefer to be tightly potted with a light chunky potting mix that offers good air circulation around their roots and they require bright light and consistently warm temperatures, away from any cold drafts. It's normal for plants to be resting at this time of year so I wouldn't expect to see any growth but once summer arrives, the plant should visibly put on new growth and begin to take off.

To my eyes, the pot that your Hoya is in appears too large; pot size should be only large enough for the root mass to fit snugly. The soil you are using may be too water retentive which is not conducive to a healthy Hoya. 1 cup of water a week seems excessive and may be the issue with the yellowing leaves. Temperatures of 15-20C (59-68F) at the low point of what is optimum.

I'm sure others will be along to offer advise and suggestions before long.

After you water, I assume the pot is heavy. How long does it take for the pot to feel light again? When you do water, do you make sure all the soil is moistened?

Hello plantladylin and DaisyI,

Thank you for the warm welcome!

In regards to the pot I used - would it be alright to change it again? Will it annoy the plant if I do it again so soon? I do have smaller ones that would probably have the roots snuggle a bit inside. Should I do the same for the Compacta? It has a pretty much same size pot and the flower is just as tiny :(

The soil mixture says it's made of uhhh 'small caliber pine bark', coconut fibre compost, perlite, pumice (I hope that's the right word), some sort of peat and some more coconut fibre made from the shells. I apologize if any of this doesn't make any sense, please feel free to let me know if some of these words are bogus, had to use google translate on a few.

Here is a picture of the soil, maybe it helps:



In regards to watering - it doesn't really feel that heavy tbh. The amount of water I give it is maybe about 130-150ml (Google says 4-5 fl oz or 0.5-0.6 US cup). I try to make sure I pour it around evenly and then I basically let the pot drip away any excess for a couple minutes and settle the plant back down. And this is once a week. The soil absorbs it instantly and water goes whoosh on the other side in maybe 5-10seconds.

Thank you very much for your replies so far, makes me feel a bit better knowing the temps are not that hard on the little one (even if barely) and the growing (or lack thereof) is also normal during this season.

That potting mix sounds perfect. I think the pot size will be okay but one cup of water a week is likely keeping the soil too wet. At this time of year plants are fairly inactive and require less water so you will need to adjust your watering routine, allowing more time for the soil to dry a bit before adding more water.

Keep us posted on how your Hindu Rope Hoya (Hoya carnosa 'Compacta') and Honey Plant (Hoya imperialis) are doing!

plantladylin said:That potting mix sounds perfect. I think the pot size will be okay but one cup of water a week is likely keeping the soil too wet. At this time of year plants are fairly inactive and require less water so you will need to adjust your watering routine, allowing more time for the soil to dry a bit before adding more water.

Keep us posted on how your Hindu Rope Hoya (Hoya carnosa 'Compacta') and Honey Plant (Hoya imperialis) are doing!

Understood, I'll tone down the watering on both.
The Compacta has a slightly smaller pot, but seems to be doing ok in general. It had a little growth when it came but since dried off - I assume issues with the temperatures during transport, or also overwatering...





Will bring another update on the tiny ones, hopefully no more yellowing for the next weeks.

You guys have been of great help, thank you for your patience with a noob and your advice!

I think you people nailed it. The potting mix looks good, but I'm betting it's staying too moist for this time of year, and because the roots haven't filled the pot yet, it's just not drying enough before it's given another shot of water. What everyone above has suggested should do it.
Best of luck with both of them.
My wish list plant is an imperialis - once it stops snowing! 3 days straight now! Ugh!

I'm not so sure the poster is overwatering.
I get the impression they are not in US since they are using Celsius and ml in measurements.
They say they add "a small cup" of water once a week and that the water goes right through and out the drainage hole within 5-10 seconds. Their soil is a good hoya mix that drains well.
They explained that their 'small cup' is: "The amount of water I give it is maybe about 130-150ml (Google says 4-5 fl oz or 0.5-0.6 US cup)"... so they are actually watering a well drained pot once a week with about 1/2 cup in terms of US/ounces, only about half of a typical 8oz cup. Is that really an overwatering problem for what look to be rooted cuttings in well draining bark /hoya mix?

Omie said:I'm not so sure the poster is overwatering.
I get the impression they are not in US since they are using Celsius and ml in measurements.
They say they add "a small cup" of water once a week and that the water goes right through and out the drainage hole within 5-10 seconds. Their soil is a good hoya mix that drains well.
They explained that their 'small cup' is: "The amount of water I give it is maybe about 130-150ml (Google says 4-5 fl oz or 0.5-0.6 US cup)"... so they are actually watering a well drained pot once a week with about 1/2 cup in terms of US/ounces, only about half of a typical 8oz cup. Is that really an overwatering problem for what look to be rooted cuttings in well draining bark /hoya mix?

Hi there!

First off - yep, I am not from the US, but somewhere in central Eastern Europe. I tried my best to convert the temperatures and whatnot though!

In regards to overwatering, I did end up cutting down on it. Over the past weeks, after I posted here, I think I watered it with about the same amount of water, but every 10 days or so. I made sure the pot was pretty light; sometimes scraped off a tiny bit of soil at the edge of the pot (far from its current small roots) and checked if it was still damp. :D

To be completely honest, I think I might just have been a bit too scared :D I had never owned a Hoya before and it probably was a bad idea to order them during winter, when they seem to be stagnant, AND I don't have enough knowledge on how to care for them. They might have just been under stress from transportation in what was maybe -10 to 0 degrees C (approx 15-30 F) during those days. They came well packed with layers and layers of stuff around them but yeah.

As a small update, they seem to be doing fine nowadays! The Imperialis shed off its biggest leaf and hasn't shown any new growth yet, but there isn't any other 'damage', like other leaves going down. The tiny leaves at the top are half-dried since forever so I'll just leave them be.
The Compacta is on its way to be a superstar and decided to surprise me a couple days ago with a new tiny growth! Super stoked about it and can't wait to see it in action.

Here's some pictures!

That's good news- I'm happy for you! :D

Hello again!

Wanted to drop by and show off my almost-died-but-revived little plant

The compacta was very generous these past few months and doubled its amount of leaves; still tiny, but definitely looking better.



The little imperialis went almost poof... until I started watering it more than usual. It seemed to like it.
It's gone down to 2 leaves and I thought I was going to lose it, but it made it through!




They seem to really enjoy the warmer weather and the more water that comes with it

Thank you, all of you who have answered here, and everyone else whose posts I might have lurked on.

I hope you all have a great week!

That's great to hear... they look great!

Yay and whew!

I have returned victorious!

As it's been a while since I last posted, I wanted to once again thank everyone for the advice I have received.

My little plants are both alright thanks to you. I've ended up cutting down on water in a way - I put more at once (and let it drain well), but water less often, maybe once every 10 days or 2 weeks, depending on how I feel the soil or by the weight of the pot. Yay for experience!

The Imperialis had a hard time in the beginning. For a bit more than half a year it kept trying to grow but every leaf fell off - it left a bit of a scar as marked in the photo. That's when I decided to switch the watering style and it seems to have helped - cool big leaves now!
I'm just unsure if that scarring will affect it when it grows - it's starting to lean on one side now because of the weight so I'll have to look into a proper way to support it.

Compacta's been doing fine as well, I think. Just keeps expanding and has surprised me recently with new growth.

I hope these words (and pictures!) will help other newbies in the world of Hoyas understand how the plants grow - but most of all, I hope you don't give up on your lovely plants. Even after half a year of fallen leaves, they can still thrive!

Again, thank you to everyone on this forum. Hope you all have a lovely day ahead of you.

Imperialis Isn't really a beginner Hoya so you did great. The tiny new leaf is your most important sign as to whether you have damaged the plant when you re-potted. There was brown on that leaf which meant that the plant would need to reset and start a growth so since it did that means it is happy and don't change anything you are doing. My suggestion would be to start fertilizer if you are not already doing so. Unless people have your same conditions we can not offer you help on watering. I live in South Florida and my Hoya is outdoors so my humidity is different. AC or Heat will dry your soil mix quicker than fresh air. I water my potted Hoya a few times per week but unless people have the same conditions they should follow their own. My outdoor non-potted blooms every month or every other month but not my potted so there are many things different.