Here is a pic of it without the flash. As you can see, the older, lowest leaves are very yellow, while the newer leaves are still green, but yellowing. At first, like I said, I thought it was root issues. But this is a cutting and it has no roots! So then I thought maybe it was a magnesium deficiency. But my fert. has magnesium. I water this one every 4 days.

Do I understand you correctly, you watering with fertilizer and it hasn't rooted yet?

I should clarify that I was watering the mother plant with fertilizer. The cutting was made, and aside from misting with RO water, nothing has been added. It is exhibiting the same symptoms as the mother plant.

Am I supposed to fertilize a cutting? I thought that was a no-no. I figured if the mother plant died, even though I watered it every 4 days with the weak fertilizer, then the cutting should do BETTER with no fertilizer, since: a.)they really don't need anything other than potassium while rooting and b.) the fertilizer had no benefit for the mother plant. Am I incorrect?

i dont think you need to water so often.

From what I know about javanica, it is a hoya that does not like to dry out. I check my plants daily and my mix is dry 1-2 inches down by 4 days. I have tried both withholding water and increasing it, so I really don't think it is a water problem.

I should add that it was doing just fine until a couple of weeks ago. I have changed nothing. Fertilize the same, lighting the same,it is in the same medium, and on the same watering schedule. I am very puzzled. As I have said, I have tried everything.

I dont really know what is wrong, but maybe you should stop fertilizing it for a while. Then resume back in the spring.

How much did you pay for that cutting and where did you get it?
Do you know how soon it will flower?

tibean2004, I have NOT fertilized this cutting. I did not pay for it, as it was from my mother plant that died. It has a peduncle, but I am not expecting blooms any time soon, as it is putting effort into rooting.

How did the mother plant die?
Maybe that has something to do with what is happening to the cutting.

Please read over my posts. I have already explained what I do and don't know about both this cutting and the mother plant.

Well, the bottom 3 leaves fell off. If this continues, this will be the first hoya I have lost. :(

First, did it by chance get cold? Mine does that every winter as I push leaving it outside. It looks exactly like yours does when it does this. It always recovers eventually. As long as the stem is still good, it has a chance to recover.

Since you only list the amount of fertilzer you use, it doesn't tell anything as it depends on the NPK numbers. But I wouldn't expect excess fertilizer to cause leaf drop unless it killed the roots.

And for restarting it, I would restart in S/H, setting the end of the cutting right at the water level. If you choose to do this, use a very weak fertilizer solution as your liquid. Javanica does exceptionally well in S/H.

Yes javanica likes to be kept evenly moist (which is why it does so well in S/H).

Good luck

Renee

Sorry. Reread your posts and your main plant is already gone. But still did it get cold?

Btw let me know if your cutting doesn't survive, I'll get you a new one. I always have extras of this one around as I'm often trimming it to keep the plant a reasonable size.

Renee

Thanks, Renee. Your offer is very kind!
I don't think it has gotten cold. My house doesn't drop below 68-70 degrees (thermostats are set for 68; I am very sensitive to cold, a plus for the plants) and the ones by the window have a heat mat that I turn on at night for them.
The fertilizer I used on the mother plant had an NPK of 12:4:8. I have not had any issues with its use with my other hoyas, or any other house plants.
I am just puzzled. Am hoping for the best, though. The stem looks fine. It's odd, this javanica is losing its leaves left and right, but holding on so tight to that one peduncle! Usually, it is the other way around!

Sorry I didn't get a chance to check back until tonight. I guess I misread about the fertilizer. But glad I did because NO I don't think its a good idea to fertilize cuttings! :)

But I had leaves to yellow on mine this week. It was the lower set of leaves. I think it is probably due to coldness! My windows get pretty cold in winter. Im glad Renee told us about it not liking the coldness. It really made sense to me after I read that. I've since moved it out of the window.

Im sorry I don't have help for you. Atleast you have an offer for another!

Mine was never in the window! I think I found out what happened though! I did notice a few weeks back that I had an odd spill mark next to the where I keep the javanica. And my son's cup was on the floor below. Orange juice. I think one of my kids or kitties knocked the cup over and orange juice got into the pot. I did change the medium out on the mother plant, after checking the roots. The new cutting was made and put in a cutting cup, so new medium was already made for it. I'm wondering if I am still seeing residual effects from an acid (of the citrus kind) overdose. It seems better now, those top two leaves are hanging on, along with the peduncle. I am still hopeful...

It should be OK!Bottom heat will quicken the rooting process,like on top of the refrigerator.I have had shooting star hoya root with just a green stem outside in the summer time.

I'm coming in late, here, but I wanted to second the idea of growing javanica in semi-hydro. I've got mine in a glass flower vase and it amazes me how fast it sucks up the water I put in there! It can be touchy when it comes to not enough water, but I gotta say it's one that bounces back easily.

Did you toss the whole mother plant? I only ask because I've learned that even though you may think a plant is dead, it can come back with fury. I lost a huge australis ssp. tenuipes a couple winters ago. It started to yellow and shed its hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of leaves, so I took a bunch of cuttings and when I was done, I had this giant pot of (literally) bare sticks poking out of the soil. It did nothing the rest of the winter, so I was pretty sure it was dead, but dealing with a big pot of soil in the winter - well, I was too lazy to mess with it, so it just sat there. In the spring, I put it out on my back deck with the intention of dumping it, but got busy with the living plants and ignored it. By June, it was sprouting new growth on those "dead" sticks and by summer's end, it was full and beautiful. Since then, I will whack off a "dying" Hoya a little above the soil line, put it aside and adopt a "wait-and-see" attitude. Sometimes, they do come back!

Denise in Omaha

Yeah, I threw it out. It was not much bigger than the cutting anyway, and now the cutting is rooted and seems to be on the mend. I tried growing S/H and just can't get the hang of it, and being in WA with the newly passed cannabis law, I can never find hydroton (all the uh, hydro stores are always out of it, and online it is super expensive), so javanica and the ones that require staying damp are in their own tray. I water these every few days, vs once/week/2weeks for my "regular" hoyas.

I agree that a drop in temps seems to cause this, as mine do the same each winter. But it usually evens out on it's own. Maybe it has something to do with shorter day lengths, too.

H multiflora loves water, it doesn't even mind having wet feet. Semihydro works well on this plant.