I think what you have is a H. bella, how large are the individual leaves.?
I have had success with feeding them beer...
actually better success than with commercial fertilizers.
you have to use flat beer since the carbonation is unhealthy for the roots..Use a regular whisker to whip it out.
dilute it 1part to 10 parts water.
Another thing that is giving them a boost is potatowater!
I scrub my potatoes but don't peel before boiling , and I do not add any salt in the water.
Once it cools off my hoyas, hibiscus,lantanas and passiflora
all get a slurp. (actually any vegetable water is saved for the plants)
these plants I think, are known for being heavy feeders..
meaning I guess that blooming is affected if they do not get fertilized frequently.
whatever you do, don't trim 'dead' parts, these are the spurs the buds are coming on.
( it only looks dead)
In any case, if the plant is 3 years old it can't mean that it is too small to bloom, it's either feeding or sick but you didn't mention any ill shape to it?
I am myself interested in hearing somebody elses take on the potato /beer thing, what actually makes what happen.
I have no idea as of why just that it works real well for me.
The good thing is that it is a relatively safe experiment( if you avoid salts and bubbles!) and you could try for a couple of weeks and make record of the response, You'll definetly will see a slowdown in salt buildups in the soil , which always happens with regular ferts.
Good luck!
kk

I would help to know what kind it is. If it's a bella as Kerstin suggested, those like more water than most other hoyas. Mine wouldn't bloom until it sat in water, which would be fatal to most hoyas. Could you see if you can find one that looks like it? The most common is carnosa, so you might want to look that one up, too. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Hoya

Good advice here. I might add though, that the size of the pot that the hoya is in is important - it needs to be small. When I start a new hoya, I put it in a 3-4" pot and don't transplant it again until after it has bloomed-which takes 3-4 years-and when roots are coming out the bottom of the pot. They like to be potbound and won't bloom unless they are. When transplanting only go 1" bigger in pot size and, again don't transplant until roots are coming out the bottom of the pot. This goes for any type of hoya. Identifying it will help you know its watering needs. All of them don't like strong direct sun, but do like it bright.

I just re-read your post; do you have it planted in a pot, or in the ground? If its in the ground, obviously it will eventually bloom, but I don't know how long it would take.

lifeisjustabeach--as Mare states, it would be helpful if you knew which Hoya you have. Care differs slightly depending on variety so it's not safe to assume you have one or the other without properly identifying it.

I do think you were given some slightly off-kilter info. though--it doesn't take all hoyas 3-4 years to bloom--that's a myth about Hoyas. There have been several discussions on this board regarding why some Hoyas seem to never bloom, while others will bloom while they are still just a recently rooted cutting. I myself have had Hoya Multiflora bloom long before it was pot-bound and within 6 months of rooting it. I do agree though that in general they prefer to be pot-bound.

Hope this helps some! :-)

(Hey Mare!)

I too think it's important to learn which Hoya it is first. Depending on where you got it, I'm not inclined to think it's a Bella. The most commonly found Hoyas (IME) tend to be Carnosas & Pubicalyx(es), both of whch prefer (IME) to dry out btwn waterings.

From what I hear/read abt Bellas, they like it more moist (which might be bad for Carnosas & Pubicalyxes). Pls. search either here at Hoya (Picture) Gallery, or do some Google searches, then isolate the search to Images only. That should give you some helpful pix w/ which to start.

Just to add to the confusion abt how old Hoyas need to be to bloom, my 1st Hoya gift bloomed as a cutting in a glass of water (think it was the green Krinkle 8), I was thrilled!

I have 3 pots (6" self watering) with over 3 year old carnosas and one pubicalyx = no bloom at all on them. They are pot bounded without a doubt.
Contrary to what you say - I water them often. They like moist conditions in my house. Not wet - just moist. They grow like crazy(especially the one over the sink in the kitchen where humidity is high and I often rinse all plant in the sink), but will not bloom. Good light, warm place - this year I started fertilizing , hoping this should help setting some blooms. So far nothing -I'm not complaining - would be nice to see some blooms- but the leaves are attractive too. Someone was saying that carnosas are difficult bloomers = is that right?

I'm new to the forum and was just reading the interesting response from Kristen about feeding with flat beer. Is this with all blooming plants or just Hoya (which by the way I have none of these). I have a large pineapple plant that just keeps growing but I can't get it to bloom. I've seen small ones in nurserys with fruit and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Its potted and kept outside in summer and in the greenhouse in winter. Any suggestions anyone. I hope I have posted this correctly.
Sandy409

I've been growing and propogating hoyas for 20 years, all carnosa cultivars, and none have never bloomed for me in under 3 years. I guess I need to expand my "portfolio" and get some different varieties.

I have 3 hoyas. One is in an unfiltered window in direct sun from about 10 am till 3 pm and it blooms like crazy. I rarely fertilize it, water it once a week in the summer, about once every 2 weeks in the winter. I just repotted it last summer in a large pot (not root-bound anymore) so I was not expecting flowers afterward, but it proved me wrong-- it has 2 full flower bunches now and about 5 flower buds preparing to mature. The other 2 hoyas have gorgeous leaves (tri-color), are not in direct sun, and very very rarely flower.

My conclusion: lots and lots of direct sunlight for blooms.

Hi Matt,

Yr plants are just great, look happy & quite healthy & well grown. I'm guessing the top one is the Pubicalyx, the others the Carnosas, maybe Krimson Queen, one of my favorites, I just love when the leaves 'cup' like that.

Different strokes for diff. folks, since yours look so happy, maybe when it warms up a bit, I'll try keeping mine a bit more moist. I'm certainly open to trying diff. things & learning new & better tips. Thx for the idea & keep up yr. GREAT work!

Your plant looks too healthy. Mine never bloomed until I stopped repotting it and rarerly watered it. It then produced so many clusters of flowers and has continued doing so.. it is such a beautiful flower.