Hi again all 👋

I have a new hoya question!

So I bought a hoya krohniana silver plant and also a krohniana black.





I have not repotted yet and I had an idea to mix the two types together (half back/half silver) in each pot. (They won't be staying in that pot or hanging basket)

But then I saw some images of hoya black silver with splotches of silver and black throughout.

Will these two variants of the same species hybridize if they are planted together?

I'd rather keep the silver-silver and black- black, so I'm asking before I repot. Bad idea?

Thanks a bunch!

No, they won't "hybridize" living in the same pot. You might be able to make a hybrid if you can get them to flower at the same time and then actually pollinate them (that's tricky). They will be fine living together.
My krohniana 'Eskimo' flowers all the time in an East window, but I am a 1000 k. South of you.

Thanks again Iochroma!
Yay I can plant them together ❤️ I don't want to 'hybridize' these, but thanks for the info. I used to pollinate the flowers growing out my aquarium with a q-tip and it worked! (Self pollinating aquatic plant).

They will be going on the same window as the other krimson queen hoyas, so I might have to supplement the lighting.

I hope after repotting I can keep these alive! I have barely watered them yet, too scared lol.

Pretty plants! Yes you can plant your Wax Plant (Hoya krohniana 'Super Silver') and Wax Plant (Hoya krohniana 'Black') together in the same pot.

Hoya's like their roots to be snug so be sure the pot you choose isn't overly large and be sure it has drainage holes in the bottom. Hoyas require a well draining substrate that doesn't retain a lot of moisture and using a chunky mix works best because it creates oxygen in the soil and allows quick draining.

Thank you Lin! Yes, if anything I think my pot will be too small, it's only 3 and a bit inches.

I plan to use bark, maybe a bit of worm castings. I learned my lesson with proper substrate with my krimson queen hoyas. Maybe it's my watering practices or environment, but my hostas need a really well draining substrate.

Don't know if I will even add anything else because I read here hoyas don't even need soil. I mean it makes sense to me to plant them in what they'd be growing on in the wild.

Really happy I can plant them together because I just can't pick which one I like best.

BTW, I keep saying hostas instead of hoyas, so if I missed a typo, that's why.

Katonical said:Maybe it's my watering practices or environment, but my hoyas need a really well draining substrate.

All Hoyas (no matter the environment) require a fast draining substrate so a chunky mix is definitely best.

I'm getting up in age and I don't grow as many Hoyas as I did years ago but I think I still have 15 or 16 in my plant menagerie. I live in Southeast Florida where it's quite warm and humid and everything grows like weeds! All of my Hoyas stay outside on my pool deck year round and I use a mixture that consists of potting soil, perlite and orchid bark. For awhile I was also adding a small amount of coconut husk chips into the mix but I discontinued that practice because I found it was holding more moisture than I preferred. I do still use it as a decorative mulch cover on the top of the soil of some of my outdoor container plants.

Since you live in a northern zone and have to grow your plants with less intense lighting and lower indoor temperatures, you may only have to water every couple of weeks, even with using a chunky substrate.

I hope you will upload more photos when you get both of your Hoya kroniana plants potted together. They appear to be of good size so you may get blooms next summer!

I'm becoming a bit hoya crazed, I think it's because of the hoya my mom gave me about 20 years ago in my kitchen window, can't believe it's been 20 years without much care and it's still thriving in that little pot to this day!

Must be so nice with all your hoyas 💕 Must be nice to be able to keep your plants outside all year round. That is mind blowing to me, I've always lived with seasons. Do you have a picture of your hoyas somewhere?

In the summer it is very warm and humid here. Not as warm as your region consistently, but definitely humid outside most of the summer. I could put my plants outside in the summer, but since I would only be able to keep them out there for 3 to 4 months, I'd rather not make them adjust to different conditions. Read hoyas don't like change much and starting to learn that for myself!

I sure will update when I get them planted! I'm pretty excited to get this window planted up.

The only issue I could see and I hope it's not a huge issue, but my cache pot has no drainage holes and it closed (like no air through the pot). My other hoyas and epiphites will be planted in pots with holes (orchid pots) and placed in basket planters. The pot is clear with drainage holes only at the bottom, but the aeration will mostly come from the top of the pot once it's placed in the cache pot.



I think with mostly bark and such a small pot, it will be OK, but not sure.

Oh I forgot to ask about spagnum moss....
Would it be good to add some to the bark and worm castings?

Hoyas are pretty resilient and I think you can definitely move your plants outside during the warmer months, just be sure to gradually acclimate them to the higher light.

The clear plastic nursery pot has good sized drainage holes and looks perfect to me!

Regarding cache pots, I always advise using a cache pot that is a few inches wider than the plastic nursery pot to allow for proper air circulation.

I've never added sphagnum moss to potting mix so I can't offer advice on that. I did have a couple of orchids growing in straight sphag. years ago but due to my neglect the moss dried out and became extremely compacted and the orchids were not happy.

I don't use worm castings so I can't advise on that.

Hopefully some of our other Hoya growers will be able to offer advice. @Gina1960, @Hortica, @Magpie26, @tarev, @DebbieC


LOL, I have hundreds of pictures of my Hoyas in our database, some of these I no longer grow. https://garden.org/plants/brow...

Thanks for the Pic links, they are beyond beautiful 😍

And thanks for the tags, I'll need all the help I can get!

So the problem is solved!


There was actually a bunny in our front yard there haha






It was just going to be the pot fit inside that disco ball part, but I found this candle holder? thing at the dollar store that definitely would provide circulation at root level and I think it looks pretty. I just have to get a second one for the other disco ball planter and a third for the reason I originally intended for it. I can even fit (or squeeze) a larger pot in there if I feel it needs it.

It's not really a good idea to add sphagnum moss to a potting mix made mostly with soil. It creates areas of 'wet' that rot roots locally.
Aroidists who grow a lot of epiphytes sometimes make what we call dirty moss for plants that will live their entire lives in moss…it's mainly moss mixed with a very scant amount of potting soil and cut with either perlite or pumice.

Thank you so much Gina for your warning! I will try the moss for propagation only. One of the hoyas I recently picked up looks like it's planted in a moss mix, so I was curious. I plan to repot it shortly anyway.

A lot of the Hoyas (and ALL of the aroids) being sold now and potted in a kind of horrible really heavy peaty mix from the grower. It's very water retentive and makes it easy to rot the plant if you overwater even a little. I usually repot anything I buy that is in this mix into my own heavily amended and aerated soil mix.
Hoya are actually epiphytes. They will tolerate having their roots in a soil mix, but the more epiphytic friendly and free draining that mix is, the better

Thanks! Yes I agree, much better to know exactly what the root situation and what type of soil it is planted in. I definitely overwatered my krimson queen hoyas because of the soil from the grower and I thought I was being super careful!

So I'm thinking of using only fine bark. What are your thoughts on worm castings? I also have orchid soil mix and cactus mix, but thinking of doing just bark and a bit of worm castings to keep it super airy?

Hoya roots aren't really all that fine...fine bark would work, but I would also put something else like pumice in there. Fine fir bark is best for plants that have really small fine roots like Oncidiums and the like. I've never used worm castings.

plantladylin said: Hoyas are pretty resilient and I think you can definitely move your plants outside during the warmer months, just be sure to gradually acclimate them to the higher light.

The clear plastic nursery pot has good sized drainage holes and looks perfect to me!

Regarding cache pots, I always advise using a cache pot that is a few inches wider than the plastic nursery pot to allow for proper air circulation.

I've never added sphagnum moss to potting mix so I can't offer advice on that. I did have a couple of orchids growing in straight sphag. years ago but due to my neglect the moss dried out and became extremely compacted and the orchids were not happy.

I don't use worm castings so I can't advise on that.

Hopefully some of our other Hoya growers will be able to offer advice. @Gina1960, @Hortica, @Magpie26, @tarev, @DebbieC


LOL, I have hundreds of pictures of my Hoyas in our database, some of these I no longer grow. https://garden.org/plants/brow...

2 of my Hoyas are the ones with succulent leaves, Hoya kerrii variegata and Hoya Krimson Queen, so these two prefer well draining media. Pretty much I grow them like a typical succulent, containers with drain holes, well draining media with added pumice and some clay rocks, but the difference would be the amount of light and heat. I grow them now indoors, since it is way too hot and dry outdoors but I always have a ceiling fan running too to simulate constant airflow around them. They need shadier conditions.

The other Hoya I grow is Hoya shooting stars. This one has thinner tropical looking leaves, loves being more moistened conditions than the other Hoyas. But just the same, grown indoors year round, well draining media. It is really happier when conditions goes a bit cooler. So I must make sure our white sheer curtains are drawn so it will not get too much sun.

Heat outdoors this summer is so ridiculously high, I am glad I grow all my Hoyas indoors, they will just be roasted if I have left them outdoors.

I never use sphagnum moss on them.

Add some perlite to your mix. I use a premix from RePotMe. It has coconut husk, perlite, charcoal, and cocoa peat. It's a light mix that works well for me. I tend to be a helicopter plant owner which means I overwater. I used to use cache pots for everything. I have too many now and can't do that! I like the clear cups so I can see the roots but I've also used colored nursery pots. I also use self watering pots for all my thin leafed Hoyas. If you're worried a plant might die, take cuttings and root them. I've had a few bloom lately. I'll post some pictures.

@tarev Thank you for your response!

There's so many interesting hoyas, I've never even heard of shooting stars hoya yet!

Where I am, I don't think it gets too hot outside and it's always humid. But I'm not interested in growing outside for some reason. Also don't want to worry about conditions suddenly changing and fluctuating (very hot to cool) which happens often. Idk, not thinking it's really a thing people do here and really I want my plants for that space inside, like bringing the outside in, it makes me happy.

So I got some grow lights in my window now, and I gotta say, I didn't know I how much I needed lights in my window! Even when it's rainy, it's nice and bright/happy inside and I don't worry anymore about plants getting enough light.

I seem to gravitate toward the more succulent type hoyas, so I have to really make sure my substrate for them is really well draining and doesn't hold into moisture, because I already overwatered my two new hoya krimson queens 😢

@Magpie26 Hi thanks for adding your insight here too! Perfect 👌 I have a bunch of perlite! I was wondering if I could use perlite in place of pumice. I have read about charcoal in the potting mix but I still have to learn about it's benefits, thanks for sharing what works best for you 😊

My more prized plants (like my hoyas) will be planted in clear pots, I really like to be able to see the roots. Totally new concept for me.

Would you call hoya krohniana thin leaved? I'm so paranoid now about over watering. Can you explain how you use the self watering pot? There is a reserve of water at the bottom? Do you use a wick to soak up water? Does the mix stay wet? Because I added a humidity tray (lava rock) and I think that's what 'did in' my krimson queens, the soil stayed way too moist. Or maybe it was a combo of poor draining soil (the mix it came with) and water at the bottom. Also how often do you change out the extra water reserve? Or do you just use the self watering pot as an easy way to bottom water? Sorry for all the questions, this is very new to me.

I'd love to see your bloom pictures! I know I've said it before, but I have one krimson queen in my east window for (not exaggerating) very close to 20 years and it's been blooming for me for years now. Considering I wasn't into indoor plants that much back then, I'd say these plants do really well with a bit of neglect or left alone which I'm struggling with as of late haha! Trying not to helicopter around them, but it's so hard!

Yeah I'm kicking myself that I didn't take cuttings with my new krimson queens, the leaves were a bit more elongated than my other 20YO krimson queen. I have a few cuttings of other plants and hoyas rooting, but that's a whole other story how to plant them and get them growing out of a pot.

Feeling a bit over my head and scared to repot and do anything to kill my plants because I've made some mistakes, but I guess I'm also learning, so not a total loss I guess.

Gina1960 said: Hoya roots aren't really all that fine...fine bark would work, but I would also put something else like pumice in there. Fine fir bark is best for plants that have really small fine roots like Oncidiums and the like. I've never used worm castings.

Hi, are you suggesting a larger grain of fir bark then? I will still cut with perlite, I'm just curious what you mean. The guy at the greenhouse just said, small plant=small grain fir bark.

Actually its small ROOTS small grain fir bark. Yes, that is what I am suggesting