How To Keep Your New Hoya Alive

Care Instructions Below:

Hoya Wayetii, Hoya Chelsea and Hoya Nummularioides

Hoyas are incredible plants in that they're both easy enough for beginner plant parents, and diverse and exciting enough with their striking foliage and fragrant bloom cycles to keep the more experienced plant parent busy for a lifetime. What makes Hoyas so easy to care for is that even though they are tropical plants from the jungle, many species in this genus have thick, succulent-like leaves that can store water for long periods of time making them drought-tolerant. This means that they can go a longer period of time between waterings then other tropical plants. If you travel a lot for work or fun, or simply get a little lazy about watering, Hoyas may be your perfect match! Read below for how to take care of your new “wax-plant” as they are often called:

Watering:

Hoyas are easy going but not all fun and blooms. What makes them a challenge is that they are highly prone to root rot as a result of watering too frequently (aka “overwatering”). So if you are a helicopter plant parent with a heavy hand on the watering can (like me), beware! If the species of Hoya that you have has thick, glossy, waxy leaves, you will want to water it ONLY when it is bone dry. I like to use a moisture meter and stick it in all the way to the bottom of the pot near the root ball in multiple places to confirm my conjecture that the soil is dry- every 8-12 days or so. You will learn your plant’s typical watering schedule. You can also use a chopstick or your finger.

Once it is time to water, you will want to water thoroughly until water rushes out of the bottom of the pot through the drainage hole. There are certain species of Hoyas that do not like to dry out completely between waterings, although they are few and far between. They include some of the Hoyas with thinner leaves like Hoya Linearis. Since these species they cannot store as much water in their leaves for later use, they will need to be watered more frequently. When in doubt though, assume your Hoya wants to dry out.

Pest Control:

Hoyas don’t get pests nearly as much as other popular houseplants, such as the notorious Alocasia spider mite magnet, but they are more prone to mealybugs than other tropical plants. Certain species of Hoyas are also prone to spider mites, but even more common in recent years, tiny red or orange flat mites (aka “false spider mites”). Like any plant in your collection regular pest prevention methods and proper care must be utilized. Wipe down the leaves or wash the leaves off in the shower every now and then. Inspect your plant with a  45x magnifying glass or a microscope that plugs into your phone each month. Some spray preventatively with neem oil during the evening a couple times a month. Using beneficial insects, such as beneficial mites are extremely effective, but if you are newer to keeping houseplants, you may not be ready for this step yet. Whatever you do, don’t just ignore your Hoya, or it may find love in all the wrong places: including with a gang of mealybugs.

Potting Mix:

When it comes to potting mix, it’s always helpful to research how a plant grows in the wild. Most Hoyas are epiphytic plants in the wild, meaning they grow on/up/in trees with their roots attaching to the tree bark and getting moisture and from the bark and the mist in the air. Therefore, in your home they enjoy a chunky potting mix with lots of air pockets.  They also like to be a bit root bound, so keep the roots snug in the pot. Don’t repot them often (every other year should suffice).

As far as what exact mix to use, many people will use what is often referred to as an “Aroid mix” with their Hoyas. I personally like to use a bag of high-quality potting soil (Fox Farm Ocean Soil is my favorite) mixed with roughly 25% extra perlite and 25% pine bark (or orchid bark) or coco coir chips.  You can purchase bags of Perlite and Pine bark or orchid bark on Amazon or any gardening store. My favorite pine bark brand is Orchiata.

Another extremely popular way to grow Hoyas is to grow them in a passive hydroponic set up, which means to say in a self watering pot. Instead of soil, you use a substrate that looks like a little rocks that absorb water from the bottom of the pot. That substrate could be something like pon (homemade or made by Lechuza) or fluval stratum (that you can buy at a pet store or Amazon because it is made for fish tanks). Hoyas grow like crazy in a semi-hydro setup and then you don’t have to worry about over or under watering them!

Hoyas are excellent candidates for hanging planters in sunny windows. This is my cute-as-a-button Hoya Matildhe.

Light:

Hoyas love the sunshine. The more sun that they get the more they will bloom and the more beautiful colors their leaves will turn. It is possible for the leaves to sunburn, and if you notice that starting to happen, simply move your plant further from the light source. You will know they are burning if the leaves turn dark brown or black in some spots. This is not a big deal if it happens just a tiny bit, it will not damage the plant as a whole, simply adjust your plant’s position (I promise it’s not going to spontaneously combust). In general, however, Hoyas will like super bright, indirect light and a little bit of direct light each day. Southern and western facing windows that are on obstructed or just slightly obstructed are wonderful. Put them right in the window and let them see the sky. Again, if you notice that this is too much light, you can always move your Hoya away over time. If you put your plant in an eastern or northern facing window, make sure they are completely unobstructed by trees or other buildings or you also use grow lights, or your plants will grow verrrrryyyyyy slowly. Hoyas are notorious for this.

This is a rare hoya called Hoya Gunung Gading that I sun-stressed using an extremely bright grow light. I couldn’t believe the colors it turned! This is all ONE plant! (sun-stressing is still healthy for the plant)

Humidity:

Humidity is a big bonus for Hoyas. Anyone who grows Hoyas in a grow tent, IKEA cabinet or greenhouse in 60-80% humidity will tell you that their plants took off and started blooming like crazy. Higher humidity will lead to rapid growth and bigger leaves. However, Hoyas are adaptable and will acclimate just fine to low humidity conditions. I grow many Hoyas in my Chicago living room that is around 20% humidity all winter long. Most of my Hoyas will go into a bit of dormancy all winter and start growing again during the summer. Therefore, if you can give your Hoyas around 50% to 70% humidity, that would be ideal, but absolutely not necessary to stress over. You will still have beautiful plants without it.

Fertilizer:

Another way to speed up your Hoyas growth is to fertilize it all year round with a fertilizer made for tropical plants. Just note, if you’re fertilizing, your plant will need enough “food” (aka light) to properly take in all these extra nutrients! I highly recommend starting off with Fox Farm Grow Big and then switching to Fox Farm Big Bloom once you see it getting ready to flower to encourage the plant to produce big beautiful flowers (use the listings labeled as “Soil Formula” if your hoya is planted in a chunky soil mix and “hydroponic formula” if using pon or stratum). I also love using TPS One and then TPS Bloom (same idea…switch to the bloom formula when it’s almost bloom time, or to encourage bloom time). Both of the TPS fertilizers as well as the Dyna-Gro brand fertilizer that I love can be used in both soil AND hydroponic set-ups. Fertilize every time or nearly every time you water and you will have happy, robust Hoyas. Many people also swear by misting their plants with Miracle Grow orchid food mist to get them to bloom. I have personally never used this, but it has a cult following in the Hoya world (just cruise the Hoya Facebook groups and you will see). Here is the link to all the fertilizers I use and recommend. I will address the pH down, Silicon, and beneficial microbes you will see on my Amazon page in future blog posts, but for now, don’t worry about them; just check out the fertilizers I mentioned above. Your plants will go crazy for them!

Again, congratulations on your new baby Hoya. This won’t be your last, as they are the Pokemon of the plant world. You have to catch ‘em all (and I’ll be here to send enable you).