Disclosure: This post may include affiliate links meaning I receive a commission if you make a purchase through these links at no extra cost to yourself. This helps to keep OSERA ad free. Thank you for your support on this platform.

Why Is My Hoya Dying?

Why is my Hoya dying? is a question no plant lover wants to be asking, but if you find yourself trying to find an answer to this question then don’t worry, there are normally only a few major issues that will cause a Hoya to die. Let’s look through them one by one and you can systematically eliminate each one until you find out what’s wrong with your Hoya and what you can do to fix it.

Overwatering

The most common cause of a Hoya dying is overwater or improper watering. Due to their beautiful thick leaves, Hoya can go for longer without water than other plants like Calathea or Peace Lilies. They store excess water in their thick leaves and can be prone to overwatering. It’s important you allow to the soil to dry out between waterings to prevent overwatering. You’ll also want to use a well draining potting mix and a pot with drainage holes.

Underwatering

Although overwatering is the most common answer to why is my Hoya dying, underwatering is also sometimes the culprit. It’s important to allow your plant to dry out between waterings but once it has dried out you need to water it again. If you allow the soil to become bone dry and wait before watering your plant or if you leave it weeks between waterings (especially in the summer months) then your plant may start to suffer and could eventually die.

Not Enough Light

Hoya plants like bright direct light. They thrive under sunlight and will bloom if the conditions are right. If you have your plant placed in a dim spot or a room that gets little to no natural light then your plant will start to deteriorate very quickly. You might find at first it stops growing and if left in poor lighting conditions for long enough it can start to die. Try to put your Hoya in direct light in front of a window. If this isn’t an option for you but you want to keep Hoya then it may be a good idea to consider using grow lights. Grow lights are a great way to get around poor lighting when you want to grow lots of interesting plants with high light demands.

Not Enough Humidity

Although less likely than light and watering, a possible cause of your Hoya dying could be a lack of humidity. Hoya’s need medium levels of humidity. Although they can tolerate lower levels if the humidity drops too low they may start to dry out. Keeping your Hoya near radiators and fire places will cause your plant to dry out faster and could be the cause of your dying Hoya plant.

Lack Of Nutrients

It’s not enough to water your plant regularly, you also need to feed it. Try using a fertiliser with a higher nitrogen content during spring and summer to help it grow and feed your plant around once every two weeks. Remember you don’t need to feed a Hoya during the winter and you may need to feed plants in direct sunlight more than ones in dim light as they should be producing more growth.

The most likely cause of why your Hoya is dying is improper watering. Make sure you check your plant’s watering schedule first, if everything seems in order then move onto light before looking at humidity and fertiliser. Changing one thing at a time allows you to see what has made an impact on your plant. If you change everything at once it’s more difficult to diagnose the problem and you may have issues in the future with other plants as you won’t know what it was specifically that you did to fix the situation.

Shop Our Favourite Resources