Update:
Well ummmm not sure what to say, not exactly what I was hoping for. But I did learn a little bit, so not a total loss.
Here's a pic update of each plant
Plant 1
Plant 2
What I learned:
Plant 1 actually did worst than plant 2
Plant 1 WAS growing better than plant 2 with new stem growth, but it's demise was swift. The bottom leaves turned yellow and dropped easily almost overnight. When I repotted this one, I discovered the roots were all in a compact ball of heavy potting soil that just doesn't dry out. It was definitely remaining too soggy for too long and led to root rot. Not knowing how to ID rotten hoya roots, I just tried to remove as much compacted wet soil as possible when repotting and tried to leave them alone in their new bark/worm castings/cactus soil/perlite mix. But almost half the stems continued to collapse. The stems dropped yellowing leaves and top leaves wilted slowly and dropped too. Upon examining the roots of these stems, they were all stringy and falling apart (root rot). I left two or three stems because they still upright and leaves looked ok.
Overall, a bit disappointed with the outcome how they continued to rot, but I learned a good lesson about the importance of proper substrate. I'm not sure if the remaining two stems have rot because I didn't want to tear up the roots again since they looked ok, and I'm not sure if I was absolutely supposed to cut out any rooted roots and now it will spread to healthy stems or if the still healthy stems can overcome the rotten roots and grow new healthy roots, but it's done and we'll see what happens.
Plant 2
This one was drying out at stem tips/points. It wasn't growing as much stem as Plant 1, the stems on Plant 2 just seemed to keep drying up and it would start a new one only to dry up.
Upon repotting, I discovered that the roots were mostly at the top. I suspect that's why new growth kept drying out. Although this plant dropped a few leaves, it was no where close to what Plant 1 did. When I repotted, I gently smoothed the roots downward. I didn't bother to upset the roots this time to have a look because it looks like it is doing alright and I don't see any dead stems.
