5 Quick Tips For Hoya Carnosa (I Wish I Had Known Before)
In this article we give you 5 quick tips on Hoyas, also known as wax plants or wax flower based off the waxy texture of their leaves and like when they bloom their flowers are quite waxy looking like they almost look fake which is pretty cool but they’re really gorgeous but they have become so popular recently.
This will apply to any type of Hoya.
Table of Contents
#1 Check The Leaves
When choosing which Hoya you’re going to buy in the shop, take a look at the leaves and make sure that they are hard and they have thick waxy surface on them.
If it doesn’t, then pick another plant because that one isn’t feeling very well.
#2 Push It To Flower
Hoyas likes it when the soil dries out in between watering. And it flowers quite frequently, usually up to two times a year.
But if your Hoya hasn’t flowered in a long period of time, you could actually try and push it to flower. It is our experience that if you let your plant dry out a little bit more, now it wants to dry out a little bit, but if it dries out a little bit more, you can actually wait until you see that it’s so dry that perhaps one or two leaves start to fall off. Or if it’s hanging quite a lot, then you water it again.
Then you perform this a couple of times. You let it dry out a little bit more. This could actually push this plant to flower because it does flower when it thinks that it’s going to die.
#3Prune Your Plant
Hoyas grow fast. So prune your Hoya quite often. You can prune it any time of year, however, it’s always better to prune the most in the beginning of spring.
But you can do it any time of year. And when you prune your Hoya, you just go in and make a cut a couple of centimeters or half an inch above the leaf pair where you want to make the cut. So you just go in and make that cut.
#4 Bleeding
Hoyas bleed when you have pruned them. And to make it bleed as little as possible, make sure to water your Hoya an hour before you prune it. That helps with that pressure buildup within the plant so that when you make that cut, it will not bleed as much.
#5 Adjust The Growth Of Hoya
Hoyas grow quickly and it will be growing even quicker if you place it with a lot of light. So if you want it to grow really fast, place it where you have a lot of indirect sunlight. But if you want it to grow a little bit slower, then you could place it somewhere where it’s darker, for instance, a bit into the room, and then you will slow down the growth of your Hoya.
 *(Include an image of droopy leaves)* Some plants, such as calatheas, prefer moist soil at all times; otherwise, they develop that signature brown tissue damage on the leaves. The annoying thing here is that the damage cannot be reversed and can only be cut away, leaving you with a damaged plant. If the soil of your plant is bone dry, you'll notice that it's pulling away from the sides of the pot. This is because the soil has shrunk due to a lack of moisture, so make sure you are not letting this happen by watering a little more frequently. #### Signs Your Plant is Overwatered (darkgreen) Overwatering plants is a really common way that people kill their plants. Beginner plant enthusiasts often have a common misconception that houseplants need lots of water, but the reality is that these plants are native to hot climates where they may get periods of drought followed by large rain which rehydrates them. **Yellowing leaves** (red) can indicate an overwatering problem as well as an underwatering problem. If you are watering your plant too often and the soil is always wet, this can lead to root rot, which will begin to affect the leaves of your plant. **Limp and mushy leaves** (red) also indicate that you are overwatering your plant. This is particularly true with succulents such as Echeverias. Echeverias store water in their thick leaves and have difficulty storing excess water if you are watering your plant too often. This leads to mushy plants that eventually fall off.  *(Include an image of yellowing leaves)* Philodendron and Pothos plants tend to get mushy leaves that fall off if the soil is consistently soggy. My Philodendron Birkin recently developed some new brown leaves that fell off because I was overwatering it. Whereas crispy brown edges on leaves indicate an underwatering problem, if the whole leaves are turning brown, this tends to mean that the plant tissue is rotting due to too much water. You may also notice some water droplets on the ends of the leaves of some of your plants. This is the plant perspiring excess water through its leaves and can indicate that you are giving the plant too much water. Now, this tends to happen on plants that prefer drier soil, and I notice it quite often on my Philodendron Birkin and my Tradescantia Nanook. **Increased presence of fungus gnats** (red) can also be a sign that your plant is too moist. Fungus gnats like a moist top two inches of soil to breed and lay their eggs, so if your soil is wet, it creates a breeding ground for gnats. If you see lots of flea-like flies jumping around the top of your soil, I would just dial back on the watering and let the top two inches of the soil dry out before watering again. #### Watering Tips (darkgreen) It is important to allow the soil of your houseplant to dry out between waterings. This prevents the possibility of over-watering, which is one of the most common reasons people kill their plants. **Check the soil moisture** (red) before watering your plant by sticking your finger two inches into the soil. If it feels wet, leave it a few days and then check again. An even better way to check the soil moisture is to invest in a moisture meter. This device needs no batteries and tells you exactly how much moisture is in the soil, giving you control over watering your plants.  *(Include an image of a moisture meter)* When you identify that your plant needs water, make sure you give it a thorough soaking. Take your plant to a sink area and soak the soil four or five times until water drains out of the bottom each time. This ensures that all the soil in the pot gets moistened and there are no dry patches. **Bottom watering** (teal) is a method that has changed the health of my plants since I implemented it a couple of years ago. Place your plant in a container of water and let it absorb moisture from the bottom up. This method prevents water from getting on the leaves, which can cause leaf tissue damage. I hope this article was helpful. Now you know when to water your plants and when not to. Apply this knowledge to your plants and see the growth. Happy gardening! --- Incorporating these visual and formatting enhancements will make your article more attractive and engaging for your readers.](https://growinggaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/pexels-artempodrez-7242495-scaled.jpg)
