very healthy looking!

When you bought the plant, was it VERY heavy? Did it feel like it weighed much more than the size of it would indicate it should? If so, it had been way overwatered. I find alot of these plants are just saturated, and that combined with what everyone thinks is a wetting agent in the EA soil, is not good for most hoyas. A plus is that the carnosas seem to survive this treatment, as long as it doesn't go on for too long. I have never lost an EA carnosa, and have never repotted one. So, I would leave it alone and just be careful not to overwater, check it every few days and water it when it dries out. Really feel down into the soil a few inches for moisture, and if it feels even damp, leave it for another day or two. Depending on where you keep it, it will take more or less time to dry out, and eventually you will be able to tell when it needs water just by hefting the pot a little. But don't stress, this is an easy and fun hoya to care for.

I don't know why you took the hanger off, this variety does well hanging. It shows off the plant to its best advantage. If you are going to leave it hangerless, a high shelf would be good, where the stems can dangle down.

Enjoy your new plant!

Hi Ines.

Yes, it was very heavy. But I could tell that it had just been watered. It looked like all the plants in it's section had just been watered. All the plants were dripping and the floor was wet. When I took the bottom off, water came rushing out.

I would have loved to use it as a hanging basket, but my husband really dislikes them for some reason. Since he's learned to tolerate my plant habit, and I've learned to pick my battles, I figure it's just not worth the argument. :-)

I can't wait to get my first blooms! Meanwhile I'll just keep reading you guys' posts and learning.

Well, it will be a while before it flowers, so just try to enjoy it for it's great way of growing and it's beautiful foliage. Find a nice bright spot in your home and don't over water and it should do great.

If you want a hoya that will bloom sooner, go back to Lowes on a regular basis and see if you can find a fresh hoya lacunosa - when I say fresh, I mean one that has not been at the store getting overwatered for too long. It is a more sensitive variety when it comes to root rot, but if you can find a healthy one, it will flower relatively quickly. I have seen them flower right there in the store.

I just googled pictures of the lacunosa. That's a very attractive looking plant. I also think I've seen some in HD. I'll have a hoya addiction in no time.

Last night I was going through a couple of old posts on the forum. Yeah, I see that carnosa rubras don't bloom as readily as some other hoyas. It would be great if they did, but it such a good looking plant that I'm fine with it.

I have it on the top level of a plant shelf that is pushed up to an east facing window. The more I look at it, the plant looks so full because there are a lot of newer starts close to the soil. So a good third of the plant is a bunch of babies.

I don't think there's much danger of me over watering. Plants that need water very often tend to languish in my care. LOL Poor plants... I don't bother with any plant that needs more water than a pothos.

Thanks again Ines!

Very nice carnosa Amanda! I think you'll do fine with hoyas, since you are a succulent lover. They don't need to dry out as much as succulents (and most of them really shouldn't), but since some are quite succulent they seem to like drying out mostly before being watered.

Ines gave you some great advice. And a lacunosa would be a great buy if you want some blooms pretty quickly. And the scent is pure heaven (especially at night). Once they start blooming they don't stop. I would ask your local Lowes or HD when the hoya shipments come in, and then go in on that day so that you get them before the store employees go crazy with overwatering.

I used to repot EA hoyas, but now I keep them in the original soil and I'm just super careful with watering. I just bought an EA hoya not too long ago, and it's doing great. I'm glad you took the bottom saucer off...that'll help with drying it out.

Also, I let my carnosa hang off a shelf as well. I still consider it "hanging", since it's not on a trellis, but I don't have it in a hanging basket. It does great where it is. So no worries...you have a great looking plant and I'm sure you'll take great care of it! Good luck :-)

Gabi

Well, it's been exactly a week now. The soil had become more visible due to the plant sort of lifting up from the pot. Reaching out to the light, I suppose. I pinched and cut off about 6 yellowing leaves today that were close to the soil. I figured yellow leaves was a good reason to take a look at the soil. Plus the pot was almost as heavy as it had been when I bought the hoya. I pulled the plant out and the soil was way too moist. It was as moist as if I'd watered it yesterday. I hadn't watered it since I got it though.

I ended up changing the soil. Thankfully the roots weren't mush. I put the plant back in the same pot with C&S soil and extra perlite. I didn't water it. I figured I'd wait a while for that. I'm think I'll give it a drink in 3 - 7 days. Would that be too long? I'll have to keep an eye on the leaves to see if they get droopy. It's still on the top of a shelf pushed up to an eastern window. 1:1 C&S soil and perlite.

Things are still good overall. It's a lovely plant.

Carnosas are pretty tough, but some of those Exotic Angel plants go into shock or do not survive a repotting. I have never had to repot a carnosa from that grower, but I am not sure if the ones I bought were soaked like most of the EA plants are. It should be ok. I just took a carnosa that was over 15 years old out of a pot where it had been growing all this time with a pubicalyx. I separated the two different plants, it was almost impossible to be gentle about it, chopped the root balls down with a knife and repotted each into their own separate new pots....and both are already putting out new growth, it has only been a few weeks. So, my point is, they are really tough!

Chances are the root ball of your plant is still soaked, but you want those roots to reach out into the new soil. Give it a day or two and then maybe water lightly around the perimeter where the new soil is. Chances are the leaves won't get droopy, what happens is that the older leaves are more likely to feel softer when the plant needs water, they lose that crisp, stiff feel. It takes a while though for carnosa to start showing the effects of being too dry. They can go a while without water, it isn't necessarily good for the roots if too much time goes by, but a few days will do no harm.

By the way, you don't have to use cactus soil for these plants. I don't think it could hurt, but over time I have found that hoyas love a loose chunky soil mix of perlite, orchid bark, and regular potting soil, equal amounts of each. Again, the hardier varieties like carnosa probably won't care what they are growing in! The only thing that would concern me would be the nutrients in cactus soil, I don't think they are the same as other types so you may want to fertilize occasionally once the plant gets settled in its new pot and starts growing for you. Maybe someone else will know more about cactus soil.

It sounds like carnosas are the like the pothos of the hoya world!

The moisture of the soil may have been more a Lowes issue than an EA one. I'm pretty sure it had just been watered the morning I bought it. Perhaps, though, it had been watered a relatively short time before too. It doesn't help that the bottoms of those pots are attached. So each time the water just collected. There were also quite a few of those moisture retentive crystals in the soil.

I think that most of the plant was made up of recently rooted cuttings. So getting soil away from the roots wasn't hard. What didn't fall off easily came off when I gave the cuttings some gentle shakes. Repotting was actually sort of a headache because there were so many cuttings.

I'll baby it for a while until it gets settled. I have a batch of the beer fertilizer made. Maybe in a couple of weeks I'll start using a weak solution of that a couple of times a month.

Thanks so much for all your advice Ines. You all are so, so helpful. :-)

Oh, Lowes and most other stores definately do overwater, but the issue lies mainly with the type of soil EA uses, alot of growers use those crystals, a "wetting agent" that will keep them from having to water too often. This is probably not a problem when cuttings are rooting and need the extra moisture, but it becomes a problem later with root rot especially after a few weeks or longer of garden center or store employees who think that just dumping more water on the plants everyday is what they need.

You are right about young and just purchased EA plants being little more than a potfull of rooted cuttings, and they are a real pain to repot!! You may lose a stem or two, but maybe not. And yes, let the plant get acclimated before using a weak solution of fertilizer. I might add that for years, my hoyas never saw a drop of plant food and bloomed like crazy anyway, but I do believe it helps them in their growth.

It seems as if your repotting experience has given you a good lesson on these EA plants, and in the future you won't be as likely to lose them like some of us have.

How is your hoya doing Amanda? I have actually used C+S soil mixed with extra perlite for some hoyas, and they did fine (and are still doing fine!). I now use more of a mix like Ines described (regular potting soil, perlite, and bark), but C+S soil is pretty similar to that.

I have also repotted EA hoyas in the past, and they've done well...not all have done well though. Then again, not all EA hoyas that I did NOT repot have done well. I think it's a tough call sometimes on whether to repot...but hopefully you made the right decision - it comes down to your gut instinct I guess. Also, if the soil was as wet as you described and you were getting yellowing leaves, then you probably were better off changing the soil to something you are familiar with. It will make watering easier for you also.

Good luck, and keep us updated on your first hoya :-)

Gabi

Hi Gabi.

So far, so good. I watered yesterday because the leaves were getting a bit limp. This morning, most of the limper ones seemed to be firming up. I'm sure it will take me a while to get into the swing of things, but I'm really glad I bought it. I still can't get over how pretty the foliage is.

I think I'm going to look for a plant stand this weekend for it.

I have over 20 hoyas to my collection. I need to stop it, but it's hard.. hee hee