My heart shaped Hoya is turning brown at the bottom and it seems to be spreading! It used to be bright green then it turned pale and sickly and now it looks as though it is dying! My boyfriend bought it a year ago in a little red pot and we have it on the window where there is bright but indirect sunlight. The only reason why I think it might be dying is that my boyfriend watered it a week after I watered it but he said the soil was dry. How can I revive it? Is it too late??
i've not grown that particular one - yet, that is :) hoya generally do like to go quite dry before being watered again and the two close-together waterings are probably the problem. if you haven't ever repotted it, that may also be part of the problem. i would allow it to dry thoroughly. i'd also take a few cuttings and pot them up separately...if you lose the main plant, hopefully the cuttings will take and you'll still have something. now, for cuttings, there's a minimum of nodes that should be on the cutting. and, darn! i can't remember how many! 3 or 4 i think.
I speculate this hoya can be propagated with a single leaf (if that's all you have), perhaps because of its larger size. Stores often sell single-leafed specimens around Valentine's Day because of the shape of the leaf resembles a heart.
Yes mine is just a single leaf- so it's just one heart shape but it is going brown at the bottom and it's getting worse as each day comes.... is there anything I can do? What do you mean by cuttings? I'm not very familiar with plants I'm afraid! :S
let me get this right...you have ONE leaf with no vine attached at all? if that's the case, it's browing up because it's not rooted and it's finally starting to die. if what you have is a section of vine with leaves (or even just one leaf) on it, then doing a cutting might be possible...doesn't sound like that's what you have tho.
This may be a lost cause. The recommended method to propagate hoya is through stem cuttings but since you have nothing to lose at this point you might try the leaf cutting method as described here. Disclaimer: I have no experience growing hoya.
Thank you for your replies. Joclyn- yes- it is not attached to a vine- it's basically a single heart shaped leaf that is attached to the soil...I'm not sure how to do the cutting if there is no vine and especially if it is browning at the bottom. Do you think it would be too late to root it now? I really want to save it as it means a lot to me!
i'm sorry, if it's just a leaf sitting in the soil then there is nothing to take a cutting from. if the leaf is browning up, then it never rooted and is now, finally, on it's way out. since these are succulents, they can actually do quite well for quite a long time before the evidence of their imminent death is visible. i'm really sorry that i don't have better news for you!! it was such a thoughtful gift - and so completely apropos for valentine's day!! maybe the bf can find an actual plant this year rather than just a potted leaf?
i've found that a lot of plants sold in the big box stores are actually mostly fresh cuttings just stuck in the soil...sometimes they end up rooting and sometimes not. as for this - the hoya kerrii - i was probably sold specifically for valentine's day; because the leaves are heart-shaped. i've been told hoya leaves aren't likely to root. i've actually tried it a couple times with different types. only one, the basic carnosa, actually did form roots. didn't do much other than that, though, and eventually died.
I've just bought some H. kerrii pre-rooted leaves and I am hoping that they have a stem at the base (under the soil) or I will be most disgruntled!!! I didn't but them to just have a leaf tick over for a few months and then die. I have seen some photo's showing one of these leaves (forgotten which site) and a shoot pushing up from under the soil proving that there was at least one node pair below the surface. The ones I purchased definitely have roots so I will just have to wait and see.
Hi All, I'm new here, but I read this post and thought I could add something useful. I have grown Hoya for many years and have found that Hoya kerrii is easy to root from single leaves but will never develop a new shoot, unless there is at least a slice of healthy stem tissue taken with the cutting. Unfortunately, most of the Hoya kerrii sold as Valentine Gifts are never going to develop into a huge mature specimen, but the single leaf cuttings do root and can 'survive' almost indefinitely. Molly x
About 3 years ago I got one of those sweetheart plants from Home Depot as a single leaf. After about 6 months it started springing up with vines and now has taken over about half of a large dining room window! I have to regularly prune it to keep it in check. I used 3 leaves to make new plants, letting the leaves dry out for a day after cutting them and then putting them in porous soil. All three leaves are doing great and are starting to put out vines, so you can definitely propagate full plants from single leaves. That won't help in your case because it sounds like the leaf you have simply didn't take root. All you can do at this point is to get another plant. Try to get one with 2-3 leaves on it as you will have a better chance of it having already rooted. Overwatering is about the only way to kill a rooted sweetheart plant. Sorry I don't have anything more to add to help you save your one leaf plant. Good luck.
