Can you tell us the details of your soil mixes and pot sizes? Most Hoyas are epiphytes so when grown in a pot they generally like a fast draining mix that also holds water well. This mix can be anything from top soil, peat based soil-less soils, or even coir or ground coconut husk in various grades. To the soil or soil substitute you need to add something to open the mix up so perlite works well as does small or medium fir bark for orchids. You need to start with a small pot and for a couple standard sized Hoya carnosa or say pubicalax cuttings a 4" pot is a good place to start. Also epiphytes are adapted to a cycle of wet and dry each day with select species growing in constantly moist situations. This is the reason for a fast draining mix and why many Hoyas prefer to dry slightly before being watered again. Most Hoyas do well in bright light but many can also grow in more shaded situations and will even flower for you in a north window. East facing windows are a good choice for many Hoyas but I grow all of mine about two or three feet back from bright south facing windows.
It can be difficult to keep plants healthy during the gloomy winter months so if you experience many gloomy days in your area a compact fluorescent daylight bulb a foot or two above your plant will do wonders until spring comes around.

Mike

I don't know if anyone else does this or not but I grow mine in african violet soil. It seems to work fine.

All of mine once they were rooted in the course sand are now growing in Sunshine mix no. 4 and seem to be doing well, even bella. I let the mix almost dry out before watering again. Time will tell whether I'm on the right track or not.

Annette

Thank you for the responses.

Mike, I've used various types of soil and soil mixes except for sand as Annette has and chunky mixes as gabro14 has. I really like the bags of fertilized soils but also use recycled/reclaimed soil mixed with my homemade compost. I currently have a single clipping in such a mix in a 4" pot and it's doing nothing above the surface. Because of the size of the pot, I'm hoping the energy is in the roots and growing like mad below the surface. I'm not sure, though, why I'd be any more successful at this attempt than any others. I'm considering that sand idea as well as the orchid mix. I also have some peat on hand. African violet soil?

As for sun, I have no east exposure, but I do have west! West in the winter should be ok right? Would west in summer be too hot/bright? I have more space under the fluorescent as well as a grow light currently over a terrarium if I cannot do natural light.

I have two places on the vine that will give me some new cuttings (away from the blooms). Should I wait until the blooms fall off or can I snip it now?

Thanks again

If you put a new cutting in a large pot it will grow a large root system before there is much top growth. I rooted a Hoya acuta cutting this spring and once it showed new growth I moved it up to a bigger pot with a bamboo trellis. The move to a bigger pot stalled the new growth and I am sure the plant is once again focusing on root growth. I would if I were you try a mix like the one I mentioned composed of soil or a soil substitute, perlite and orchid bark. Simply adding some extra perlite to regular potting mix would be better than nothing and you should see an improvement in your success.
West exposures are very bright in the afternoon and during the summer they can get quite hot. I don't grow any plants in a west exposure myself but if I were faced with the problem I would keep plants back from the glass at least a foot or use a sheer curtain to help shade the plants slightly if you notice they look stressed.
As for taking cuttings I don't think it matters much when you take them although I can not say for sure if it will cause flower buds to abort or flowers to age prematurely. If you are taking cuttings in the winter months bottom heat will help them root faster if they seem to be struggling.

Mike

Hello
are you rooting your cuttings in water before transplanting them into soil? That could be a problem, I know ALOT of people do this, but I have never had much luck with it myself. With an appropriate soil mix (like the one mentioned by Gabro14 )you could try rooting your cuttings directly into the soil. Dip them in a little rooting homone first, and keep them out of direct sun. The suggestion to use a smaller pot is good, and if you have bottom heat, that helps.

Cuttings taken from an older part of the plant, or from growth that is too new, generally do not do too well. A good cutting to start with would be one that is not brand new growth, or one that is not too woody. This is very important. Although the too old or too new cuttings may root, they do not do as well when it comes to growing.

Good luck to you..I don't see why you won't be able to overcome these issues!
Jen

Hi Mike,

I don't have any orchid mix on hand but I do have a bag of Expert Gardener Perfect Mix which is chunky mix (with bark pieces, etc.) that I sometimes add a bit of spent coffee to. I think that might suffice, except that I also have no perlite. I do, however, have some coarse sand and other soil that could be added to complete the mix.

Jen,

I've tried rooting both directly from water and directly from a fresh cutting. I haven't used any rooting powder, but I've had the same success rate (with other plants) with and without the hormone. I'm certainly willing to try if that will make the transplant successful.

As for the age of the cutting area, I've never heard that before. I only have new areas on my current stem, but I will keep the tip in mind the next time I'm lucky enough to get some cuttings from a mature plant.

Thanks!

I think the problem is your rooting in water and the cut is growing water type roots,,,,not the type to take in the nutrients of a soil mix. There is indeed a difference in the roots grown in water and roots grown in soil.
Try this,,,add some soil mix into the water in the vase and let it stay in the vase for awhile longer to get use to soaking up soil type nutrients. This has worked for me lots of times and the move to soil is much more successful.
Good luck!,,,,Debbie

hi, to be honest I'm a little surprised you're having so much difficulty growing hoyas. my grandmother got me into gardening and I took over from her when she died, she had 3 established plants some decades old and to be completely honest she did nothing but neglect them lol. she passed on 7 years ago since which time I've repotted them once, back into the same pot by lifting the plant, putting searles premium potting mix underneath then putting the plant back in and more on top, they went NUTS and grew all over our bottlebrush tree, further surprising me by flowering and developing seed pods, collected the seed and we now have a new variation which seems to be a mix between a variegated pink flowering one and a deep red one, the resulting leaves have small spots of variegation and deep pink flowers that are different in shape than either parent. considering the ease with which the seedlings have grown ( we have about 20 new plants) and the neglect the adults have recieved I'm a little shocked they can be such difficult plants to grow.
we are in the process of cutting down the bottlebrush tree as unfortunately it has rot, so I'm planning on placing the 3 adult plants still in their hanging pots at the base of a few tree ferns and letting them grow all over them. hope it works, not that I need worry, in removing the tree I've got enough hoya cuttings now to start off at least another 20 of each plant. wish I had some helpful advice for you, all I can do is agree that they are indeed epiphytic plants so a hanging basket under a tree or a moist pocket in the fork of a branch is ideal I've also got a few growing in my elkhorn ferns and they seem to love it. good luck!

It is a bit unclear to me when the Hoyas started failing for you in the past.

Also, am I understanding correctly that you grew your current plant to 1.5x its original size inside a plastic bag with a damp paper towel? That is so crazy! You must have all kinds of experiments going on.

It looks like you've got some kind of Hoya publicalyx there, and I grow several of my publicalyxes in a West facing window. They are no more than 5" from the glass but I do keep a sheer white curtain across it. For a while this winter, I drew back the curtain and the other plants in that location got mad, but none of the Hoyas did. I wouldn't test them in the summer, though.