Hoya Collecting in Canada

Hoya is a plant species native to countries such as Australia, New Guinea, Polynesia, Indonesia, China, and Thailand. Also called the Wax plant and Hindu rope, you can grow hoya in your garden, balcony, or home.

How to Grow Hoya

The good thing about this plant is that it doesn’t require a lot of care and can be grown inside. It is a good idea to place it in a greenhouse or protected area and close to a sunny window if possible. Make sure your hoya receives enough sunlight and plant it in a fertile, well drained, light, and moist soil. It is a good idea to add perlite which has a good water content and makes for an excellent growing medium. How you water your hoya depends on the season. Ensure moist soil in summer and spring. Dry soil is best during the winter but not too dry because you risk shriveled foliage. If you want to, you may mist the leaves from time to time to improve humidity levels, and you can clean the foliage. This can have a good effect on your hoya when it is in flower or budding. Speaking of temperature, the best medium varies with the season. Ensure warm temperature in summer and spring, which is the growing season, and around 50 degrees at other times. Hoya will be in a semi-dormant state during the colder months.

Fertilizers also help grow a healthy, strong plant but don’t overdo. You can use fertilizers during the spring season when hoya benefits the most. Use once a month or a couple of times during the growing season. Don’t fertilize during the cold months when hoya is semi-dormant. If you use fertilizers more frequently or keep the soil too dry, this can result in brown edges developing. Remember not to touch the leaves or blooms during the blooming period which is during summer and spring. This is when blooms begin to develop (during the active period). Avoid constant moving around and hovering as well.

Additional Tips

While good care depends on the type of hoya you have at home, there are several things to keep in mind, one being that propagation requires a leaf or cutting to grow a plant in about two years. You can do it the same way you do with gloxinias or African violets. If you want quick results, then layering can help. The reason is that layers tend to mature at a faster pace. You will have good results if you choose to use African violet soil for layering purposes. Avoid plastic pots and use clay pots instead. Placing the cuttings in water works well for some species such as Hoya bella, Hoya carnosa, and others. It is much more difficult to grow hoya from a seed, so use the above methods instead. Another reason is that seeds are scarce and thus hard to find. Blooms may produce seeds but this does not happen often enough. This is because in their natural environment, different types of species pollinate hoya, which are not native to Canada. Speaking of diseases and pest control, this can only be a problem if you grow hoya outdoors but most people choose to grow it at home.