Are you saying it was fine before you put it out, or you put it out because it was looking a little limp? When I think of "limp", I think dehydration, which either means it was unwatered for too long, or the roots are dying. If you've been watering regularly, I have to assume your root system is compromised. When you call it rubra, are you referring to one of the variegates?

I'd suggest that if you can find any good stems to take cuttings. If the whole plant is in poor condition, you'll probably just have to replace it. If the roots have gone bad, there usually isn't much that can be done to salvage it other than cuttings...

Denise in Omaha

Hi Denise, yes the plant was fine before putting outside. I put the variegated Carnosa out with my tricolor and busted Chelsea to get some fresh air. I think it was the next day or two when the stems of the Rubra were a little "droopy" looking. The pot of the Rubra was the lightest in weight but the bottom was damp. The next day I watered it (found the wasp) and waited. It never "perked" back up so I thought it might have some mealies (that the wasp could have been feeding on) didn't really see anything so I gave a light spray of neem oil. That's when the big problem started.

Last night I pulled the plant out of the pot, wrapped the root ball (which was wet) in plastic and showered down all the leaves. It made no difference. All I could do was cut the "bad" leaves/stems off. I kept the plant out of the pot overnight with the ceiling fan on high and this morning there are more yucky leaves/stems. The roots look ok to me but the leaves still have a slight greasy feel.

Two questions:

*Were temps and light exposure outside different than where you had it inside?

*Did you Neem it and then put it back out in the sun or in bright light?

Those roots don't look terrible to me, but they don't look the best, either. Do you have any un-greasy areas you could take cuttings from? I know Neem can greasify leaves, but it shouldn't make them smell of anything other than Neem. Smelly plants make me think rot. Unless they are meant to be smelly...like stapeliads, huernias, etc.

Monica, here are a couple of hoyas I feared I had killed last year - instead of soap spray for mealies, I unknowingly grabbed spray cleaner. I tried to rinse it all off, but too late, The leaves turned a horrible spotty brown. I pinched off the worst ones but left the vines. cut back to minimal watering and waited. With time and patience, new growth emerged from the nodes. Here they are 15 or so months later, and no mealies ,,,,,,

Nos. 1 & 2 are the same vine, soon to be snipped for a cutting. No. 3 shows complete pot. No. 4 was trimmed almost 24 inches to get it back in control.

Wow, those plants look great.

Sadly, this morning my plant looked worse. Several weeks ago I took a couple small cuttings of the vines that were starting to revert back to all green.

Thinking back on when I got this plant it was totally saturated from Lowes. I did everything I could to try and dry it out as best and fast as I could. I'm sure the plants roots were already compromised. Maybe the neem oil was just a coincidence or it excelled its death. I'm not as upset anymore as the variegated (Rubra) is such a common Hoya at the bb stores. I'll just get another one this spring.

Thanks for your great words of wisdom. If I didn't know differently, I'd swear you've been growing and studying Hoyas for decades! (but of course, you're way too young for that) :-)

I think I can speak to most of us on this forum that your plethora of Hoya knowledge is invaluable to us. Thank you.

Thank you for the wonderful compliments.

I'm not a Hoya guru, though, it was just the old "pinch off the growing tip and they'll grow from the leaf nodes" rule. To tell the truth, I've killed many a hoya from babying and/or overwatering them.