Hoya
Hoya carnosa
Through the year 🗓️
☀️ Summer now
Bloom season. Never cut the flower spurs; they rebloom from the same spot.
🍂 Fall
Taper the feed and let it dry harder between drinks.
❄️ Winter
A cool, dry rest now is the secret to summer flowers.
🌱 Spring
New vines run and feeding begins. Do not relocate a budding plant.
The details
Light & placement
- Light
- Bright indirect with some gentle direct sun; more light = more blooms
- Ideal PPFD
- 200–450 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹
- Grow-light distance
- 12–18 in below LED
Water & feed
- Watering method
- Soak-and-dry. Its thick, semi-succulent leaves store water, so let the mix dry most of the way between drinks.
- Fertilizer
- Balanced feed at ½ strength monthly while growing; a higher-phosphorus feed encourages blooming.
Home & habit
- Soil
- Very airy, chunky mix (orchid bark + perlite + coco); pH 6.1–7.5
- Humidity
- Average–high (40–60%)
- Temperature
- 60–85 °F
- Mature size
- Trailing/climbing vines 2–6+ ft
- Repotting
- Rarely; blooms best when snug & root-bound
- Propagation
- Stem cuttings with 1–2 nodes in water, soil, or sphagnum. Very reliable.
When something looks wrong
- Overwatering signs
- Soft, yellowing, dropping leaves; mushy stems
- Underwatering signs
- Wrinkled, dimpled, softening leaves
- Common pests
- Mealybugs (love the leaf axils), aphids, scale
Common problems 🩺
The usual suspects when Hoya looks unhappy. Most houseplant trouble is watering or light, not disease — see all plant problems if you are not sure which plant is the culprit.
Never flowers
Likely cause
Not enough light, or the flower spurs were pruned off.
What to do
Give it bright light and never cut the little bare stubs — those are where blooms return each year.
Yellowing leaves
Likely cause
Overwatering — hoyas have thick semi-succulent leaves and store water.
What to do
Let the mix dry out most of the way, and use a chunky, airy potting mix.
Wrinkled, dimpled leaves
Likely cause
Thirst, or roots damaged by earlier overwatering.
What to do
Water thoroughly. If the leaves stay wrinkled in moist soil, check the roots.
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