How to grow Hoya

Hoya carnosa · wax plant, porcelain flower

An evergreen climbing or trailing vine from Asia with fleshy leaves and clusters of waxy, star-shaped, fragrant white to pale pink flowers. Plants usually start flowering at two or three years old.

Quick facts

Type	Houseplant
Family	Apocynaceae
Light	Partial shade
Soil pH	6–8
Frost	does not tolerate frost
Soil for sowing	from 10 °C
Where it grows	At home

When to plant

Sow straight into the bed after your last spring frost, once the soil has warmed.

Frost dates · When to plant

Care

At home

Stage	Watering	Temperature	Feeding
Growth	every 7 days	16…24 °C	balanced (NPK), 14 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 28 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 42 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 56 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 70 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 84 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 98 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 112 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 126 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 140 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 154 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 168 days into the stage
Winter rest	every 14 days	10…16 °C	balanced (NPK), 14 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 44 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 74 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 104 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 134 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 164 days into the stage

Growing notes

Light

Bright indirect light all year; keep it out of hot summer sun, which scorches the leaves. Good, steady light is needed for flowering.

Soil

A loose, fast-draining mix, for example equal parts orchid bark, peat-free multi-purpose compost and coarse perlite, in a pot only a few centimetres larger than the roots; pH around neutral.

Care

Water regularly in spring and summer with room-temperature water, letting excess drain; from October to February water moderately, only once the compost is fairly dry, but never let it dry out completely. Keep it at 16–24 °C in summer and a little cooler in winter, not below 10 °C, and raise humidity with a tray of damp gravel. Feed lightly every two weeks in spring and summer and monthly in autumn and winter. Give it a support or let it trail; do not cut off the old flower stalks, which flower again, and do not move a plant in bud, or it may drop the buds. Wear gloves when pruning, as the milky sap irritates. It is non-toxic to cats and dogs.

Pests and diseases of Hoya

Sources

Figures checked against these sources.