Sounds like you have Mealies. Get some alcohol and a cotton swab and remove at once. Keep a close eye on your hoya to make sure it doesn't back. TammyPie

Mealies love hoyas..mealybugs, they are usually found near the leaf axilis...

spider mites sometimes if kept too dry and not enough humidity.....

another one...aphids...usually they are yellow oleander aphid, green peach aphid, oat bird cherry aphid.

I used Bayers Advanced All in One Rose and Flower care and it works for me!

Good luck!

Cottony fuzz is undoubtedly mealy bugs, advice abt alcohol treatment above is good. You'll need to re-do it every 2nd or 3rd day if you see anymore (it can be persistent).

Also important, pls. remove this plant from the rest of your plants, put it in another room to isolate it as mealies can spread quickly among a Hoya collection & also other some other plants.

Not to bum you out, if it's not too bad, it can go away quickly & easily. I had one a month ago, zapped it w/ alcohol VERY quickly & haven't seen anymore since.

Thank you ALL for your advice.

Pirate Girl....that is exactly what I did..as soon as I noticed it only on one plant, I removed it from the others. I examined my other plants but to my relief no signs of the white cotton fuzz but will keep a very close eye on all of them.

Oh gosh, now another question...do I dilute the alcohol or use it straight from the bottle?

ravenwy: That is exactly where I found it...near the leaf axil.

I sure hope I caught it quickly enough.

Linda

Linda,

You can't be too careful with mealies. If you have a large collection of plants, you will probably fight them FOREVER. They're hidious!...

I've gotten mine under control (only find one every now and then these days...) using the Bayer Tree and Shrub, which you dilute and water in to the plants now and then. But if you don't have a large collection and/or have only found them on one plant, the alcohol method should work fine. Don't dilute it. Dip your cotton swab in pure rubbing alcohol and swab away. I even keep a spray bottle with alcohol in it so I can spray into crevices (I grow a lot of Haworthias, which have very tight spaces...) The key, though, is to CLOESELY examine all of your plants at every watering, looking for mealies. This will be your best defense against a serious attack. I make it part of my routine.

Denise in Omaha

Linda-
I also suggest using Bayer Tree and Shrub. The first time I found mealies I tried using some natural spray stuff and lost that hoya. Second time I found them (only one plant) I got Bayer and the plant is doing well now. Another suggestion is if the pot your infected hoya is in has a lip at the top of it check under there. I had a bunch of them hiding and they would have re-infected my hoyas if I had not check that and gotten rid of them. I wiped off all the crevis' with a q-tip (pure alcohol) then sprayed with alcohol on the leaves, took the plant out of the pot and soaked it in a jug of Bayer and cleaned the pot with alcohol. Let all dry seperate over night in the bath tub and put back together in the morning. Worked for me. Hope it does for you too.

shanna