help me save these hoyas?

5 years ago

so... I bought a "collection" of Hoyas off of FB marketplace and about half of them were in deplorable condition. Leaves wrinkled, soil bone dry and super compacted, and also just looking beat up in general. Anyways, I ended up returning about half but decided to keep these because they seemed a bit better but also because I just really wanted them. There are two which are in quite the decline! I'm keeping them in quite a bright window (direct sunlight till about noon), and they are potted in a barky mix that is roughly 5:1:1:1 bark:peat:perlite:calcined DE.

hoya retusa:
This has lost most of its leaves, they yellow and fall off. They don't get mushy, just turn yellow and break off at the petiole. Does that mean it's too dry?

hoya wayetii:
The end leaves are curled, used to be just the last two but now it's the last 4 on the vine. Again, too dry? maybe they are drying out too quickly in that bright window.

The second picture shows the other 4 which I think are doing okay. But I have a feeling the Hoya gracilis will lose the leaves that had just started coming in. And the Bilabota has a few really dimply leaves near the base,, but I suspect that is from being repeatedly dried out too much.

thanks for any insight or advice!

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Comments (5)

Gregory Randolph
5 years ago
No one has answered you!

I don't know about the new leaves coming in being wrinkled (I have the same problem with a few!). But question for the retusa: did it have established roots or was it really just a stem (cutting)? If it's only a cutting, no roots, then normal hoya care needs to be modified. It needs to not completely dry out (just mostly) between waterings to give a chance for the roots to form.

Have you had any luck with the leaf wrinkling? I'm looking for an answer too.
Elena Nuta
Original Author
5 years ago
hi Gregory,
The wayetii leaves have fully plumped back up! I think it must have had some root damage and maybe it was using water from its leaves until the roots got reestablished. It took a long time though, I was so close to chopping it up to try and propagate, but I am so glad I didn't do anything so drastic lol.

I should clarify, the leaves are not coming in wrinkled (there haven't been any new leaves yet). it's just the existing leaves that were getting dehydrated I guess.

The retusa had some decent roots, but I suspect it was a newly potted up rooted cutting, so maybe I let it dry out too much? Consensus on the internet seems to be that Retusa is less able to handle dry periods. anyways it's got a total of two very sad looking leaves, but I keep misting it in hopes it'll come back to life.

thanks for your input, and I hope my reply helps you as well!

Elena
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popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
5 years ago
Retusa has been a struggler for me. Started out pretty nice now it's pretty small. I don't know what it wants! Your Wayetii looks good.
Elena Nuta
Original Author
5 years ago
Wanted to update on these struggling ones.

Surprisingly I did not lose the retusa. I moved it to a smaller pot and tried to keep it lightly moist and with a humidity dome. It had just barely started to push out new growth when I decided to move it to LECA. It's been loving LECA and has really started growling.

The wayetii is doing okay but it aborts so many new leaves, I just don't seem to be getting the watering right, maybe I'm letting it dry out too much. Anyone have any suggestions on that? Does wayetii like to stay more moist?
popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
5 years ago
Retusa looks great! I was able to save mine by putting it in leca as well. I did buy another one also and it seems ok in soil so far.

I have a couple of wayetiis and have never noticed anything special about them other than the variegated one which I lost very quickly.