I can't tell ya what you should do, but suggest what you should NOT do -- fertilize, which does no good to an ailing plant.

I'd see how dry the mix is (poke a pencil way down deep into the mix) to check. How long since it's been watered pls?

Could it be that warm air & a cold humidifier could be conflicting & harming the plant?

Hi Pirate Girl...Boy, am I glad to hear from you!! I decided to shut the humidifiers off. The last time I added fertilizer was about two weeks ago. The soil was pretty dry so I watered the plant sparsely. What a mess the soil looks!! I think I need to take the plant out...shake off the awful looking potting soil and repot in fresh soil. Is part African Violet mix and part Orchid Mix okay for potting soil? Sorry about getting ahead of myself but I just get pretty upset when my plant was doing so well and then kaboom...! Thank you so much for your quick reply. I'm trying to calm down a bit...

Linda

Linda,

I don't think the humidifier would harm the plant...warm air and cold air humidifiers are pretty similar but have different ways of putting moisture into the air. But if you feel better leaving it off, that won't do any harm either.

When you say you "watered it sparsely", that's a little concerning. When the soil becomes dry, you should never water it sparsely...you should water it thoroughly. I take my plants over to the sink when the soil is dry and I keep watering until the pot feels heavy and I've seen lots of water coming out of the drainage holes. You can't overwater that way...overwatering is when you water too often (not too much in one sitting).

Also, I'd be careful about repotting right now unless absolutely necessary. What do you mean by the "awful looking potting soil"? The mix you use sounds fine (both of those mixes are pretty fast draining). Just be careful not to freak yourself out too much and do everything and anything, cause then you may dig yourself a deeper hole!Take a breath, and try and figure out what the main problem is.

For example, how often have you been watering? It really sounds like you might be underwatering. Also, ease up on the fertilizer for now.

I live in New York also, so I've been experiencing the same thing as you...no sunshine for quite some time now! It's horrible! BUT....my hoyas are doing fine. Is your hoya near a window? Even though it's not sunny, you should keep it near a window to give it as much light as possible.

Any other info on the kind of care you're giving it would help us better help you.

Good luck...maybe posting a pic would help too.

Gabi

Hi Gabi! Boy..there's nothing like knowing "help is just around the corner"!! I always "panic first" and then ask for help before I do anything to a plant when all it could be is something simple.

The plant is in the original potting soil, not the mix I had mentioned. When I lifted the branches up to water, it didn't even look like potting soil. It looked like just peat moss and maybe something else. I've only been using Eleanor's on this one hoya in particular.

You know...I learned something new from you today and for that I cannot thank you enough! I guess I never knew what "overwatering" meant! I guess I was afraid with a hoya that if I put enough water in it and it ran thru the bottom that I had "overwatered" it. You really made my day as I really feel good when I learn something.

Yes, all of my hoyas are in windows and I have a couple sitting back a bit on my cat's kitty condo. She's not happy about it! This hoya had been doing so well. I didn't change a thing to it so I'm leaning towards the fact that I have underwatered it. I water til the pot starts feeling heavy but never have watered til it runs thru the bottom.

I don't know how to post a pic here but have been practicing. I found the instructions on how to post but need to sit down and practice it someplace.

Think I'll go run some more water over it til it runs thru the bottom and take a "wait and see" attitude. It's amazing how fast these little buggers can turn on you.

Now to be perfectly honest with you, without your help, I would have thought that fertilizing would have helped with the yellowing....see how much I appreciate everyones' help!

Linda

Like I said earlier, fertilizer DOES NOT help an ailing plant. It only helps when a plant is in active & healthy growth. Pls. forget abt fertilzier altogether for at least a month & see if the plant recovers.

Generally, that waterting advice by Gabi is correct. Always water thoroughly until you see water coming out the bottom, then you can stop.

I think you should leave the plant alone for a week & see what happens. Sometimes it's best to try one thing at a time & give the plant a chance to recover. I agree abt not repotting it for now.

General suggestion: Panicking helps NOTHING, it may be somewhat natural for some, but really it solves nothing & tends to raise anxiety levels even further. In future, I'd suggest when you note a problem, take a deep breath & study it well, try to figure out what's going on & THEN come ask for help & give us descriptions.

Good luck w/ it!

Hi Linda,

Glad you learned something new :) Don't you just love when things start to make more and more sense? I've learned so much from this forum, and it's really helped me to get a REAL understanding of plant care (as opposed to just doing what the nursery guy tells you to do!). Glad to give back :)

Anyway, I didn't realize your plant was in a peaty, muddy mix. Is your plant an EA (Exotic Angel) plant? If you're not sure, did you buy it in a terra cotta/orangish hanging basket? The reason I ask is because their soil is horrible. How long ago did you buy this hoya? If you just bought this plant, the problem might not be your doing, but the store's doing (they tend to overwater), along with the horrible soil it's in.

Now this is a touchy subject, but I always repot my hoyas if they are in the type of soil you described. I like to use a more coarse soil, and a very peaty soil will take forever to dry out, and is then very hard to wet again. However, I'm not sure your immediate problem is related to the soil. I still think it might be from underwatering (depending on how long you've had this hoya). So I'd be hesitant to recommend that you change the soil, since the plant is already doing poorly and you don't want to shock it too much.

Many have differing opinions on repotting EA plants...some people do, and some don't. Maybe for right now leave it in there and see how it does with more water. Again, just be careful, because it tends to take a long time for that type of soil to dry out (I've read that a lot of people take those bottom trays off to give it some air and let it dry out easier), so make sure it's COMPLETELY dry before watering again. If the plant continues to look bad after giving it a good drink, you may want to consider changing the soil (that's what I'd do, at least). And once your plant has completely healed (positive thinking!!), I would change the soil (again, that's just what I do, and I've never had a problem). I have an EA Kentiana and I repotted it as soon as I brought it home.

I didn't know you were using Eleanor's. I don't think that would harm the plant if you continue to use it. I personally would use it on an ailing plant.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a VERY full (although completely overwatered and bare-in-the-middle) H. curtsii from EA. I put it on top of my computer in a saucer, with the original saucer off, since the computer is slightly warmer than the ambient air temp in my home. It helped it to dry out faster. Once it had dried out a couple times, I repotted it. I also took cuttings just in case I killed it.

So far, so good. I have new growth and things are looking up.

I would think the eleanors would help your ailing plant are you watering with eleanors or misting? I mist all of my plants with eleanors once a week (orchids) daily and it has improved my ailing from shipping or frost when we moved in January (northern NY Tug Hill Area) I have a watering routine established Spring has started here and so has new growth here wish I could help more I am one of those wait til the end of summer and then give up and buy a new one ppl

Just an update...From all the suggestions that were posted...I decided to remove the bottom of the pot...watered it til water came out the bottom and am taking the "wait and see" attitude for at least the next week. I really don't want to change all that much as it was doing well so I think what happened was it was dried out..not sure but the leaves have stopped falling off and the "yellowing" is starting to go away. Before when I watered it was with Eleanor's and I misted every other day. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Linda

Glad to hear it's perking up :-)