There’s so many varieties of Hoya species, but the Hoya Linearis is one of the most distinctive. At the moment they’re in such demand that growers are struggling to keep up. It’s not the easiest plant to care for but if you follow our guide, you’ll be fine.
So, how do you care for a Hoya Linearis? Hoya Lineris plants need well draining soil, allow the surface of it to dry before watering it again. It prefers bright, filtered light so ensure you keep it out of direct sunlight. Keep the temperature between 15°C-29°C, ensuring it never drops below 10°C. Fertilize it twice per month but only during the growing season (Spring – Summer).
Once you master the basics, this plant becomes pretty simple to care for. Plus it looks beautiful hanging almost anywhere in the home, so it’s worth the effort.
Taking appropriate care of it will keep it thriving for years. In the below guide I’ve covered everything I’ve learnt about caring for this plant so you can have success with yours.
Table of Contents
Indoor vs Outdoor Growing
They originate from the Himalayas, so it’s quite cool being able to grow a plant with origins such as this in your home.
Typically they grow as epiphytes at high altitudes, dangling from trees. So that’s why it’s essential that you get the right soil for them to reside in. We’ll get into this later on in the guide.
As they’re from this region, they get a lot of moisture from the air and surrounding environment. So they do well with regular misting if you’re growing them in your home.
Best Location For Your Hoya Linearis
Hoya Linearis will do well in most areas of the home. However, it will do better in some areas over others. One of the key points to bear in mind is the light. They prefer bright, filtered light to truly thrive. Just ensure you don’t put them somewhere that receives a lot of direct sunlight as this will damage the leaves. If you do, you’ll notice that the leaves will start to yellow and burn if the light is too strong.
Ideally it needs to be situated somewhere with an east or northern facing window. This helps prevent it getting too much direct light. Ensure that the room is well lit throughout the day though. If you’re having problems finding the ideal location, you can always simulate the lighting conditions with a combination of LED lights and blinds.
But bear in mind that they do actually need periods of darkness to thrive. One location that I’ve found works pretty well is the bathroom as most homes have filtered windows in there. Plus the humidity in this room is usually higher than the rest of the home. This helps simulate their natural environment.
Soil For Hoya Linearis
As these plants are epiphytic and typically grow attached to trees at high altitude, organic soil is essential. They do best in well draining, organic compost. Keep it loose so the water can drain well and this helps prevent pooling. Pooling is a recipe for disaster, it can bring on diseases such as root rot.
Creating your own potting mix is probably the best option as you know exactly what’s going into it, plus you can compost it yourself. However, when doing this you must ensure everything you use is free from any pests. This is the most common way they get into your home, through new potting soil.
Watering Your Hoya Linearis
This plant only needs to be watered once the top layer of soil becomes dry to the touch. Anymore and you risk over watering your plant. This is a recipe for disaster. Root rot can quickly set in if water begins to pool and that can be the end of your plant without appropriate action. Excess waters also attracts those unwanted pests. During winter this will become less frequent, but don’t be tempted to increase the frequency. Make sure you stick the guidelines.
A common mistake that people make is watering at the wrong times. This might seem strange, but as the temperature drops at night, so does the rate of evaporation. With less water evaporating, it just means there’s more water sitting in your soil. Again this is a common cause for root rot and attracting pests. You might notice brown spots on the leaves if you’re doing this. So make sure you water them early in the morning to prevent this from happening.
Another thing to consider is the temperature of the water. You want to let your water sit out and reach room temperature before you give it your plant. Any extreme water temperatures can send the plant into shock, causing some of the drooping leaves to drop off. It’s not pretty. Also, it’s advisable that you use filtered water. This removes most of the impurities that are often in tap water. If you don’t have a filter, then you can simply leave the water out overnight to allow some of the chemicals to dissipate.
It’s impossible to give you an exact figure on how much water your plant will require. It relies on various factors such as the temperature, humidity of your home and the local environment. But you can always be sure that it will need less water during the cooler winter months.
If you happen to forget to water it for a short while, don’t panic. Often people make the dreaded mistake of giving it extra water. This should never be done, it just gives a green light for some of the potential ailments your plant can get. If you do happen to forget though, just water it as normal and see it as a learning experience. Just try to not let it happen too often.
Humidity For Your Hoya Linearis
This plant is native to a pretty tropical environment so it’s not surprising that it loves humidity. Plus epiphytes mainly get their moisture from the surrounding air. So as I said earlier on, the bathroom makes an ideal location for this plant. It will give it consistent humidity and as the bathroom is smaller than most rooms, you can control the temperature a little better.
Once winter comes around though, or you can’t keep it in your bathroom then it can sometimes be difficult to maintain the humidity levels it needs. Simply watering it more will not solve the humidity issue. But don’t fret as there’s plenty of solutions for this.
One of the simplest methods is misting. Providing your plant with a regular misting of filtered water can help simulate a humid environment for it. When you do this though, ensure that you don’t soak the leaves. Just a light misting is sufficient, I’d recommend doing it every couple of days. If you do notice the leaves drooping from a lack of humidity, increase the frequency of misting.
If you are worried that you will not remember to mist your plant. Or you simply don’t want the extra effort, then you can invest in a humidifier. This one on Amazon would suffice for larger rooms in the home.
Another option is to create a community of plants in a small area. Naturally plants release moisture, so this is a great natural way of increasing the humidity in a small area. But if you don’t want a community of plants, a shallow bowl of water nearby will do the trick.
Fertilizing Your Hoya Linearis
You don’t really need to fertilize this plant too often. To be honest, it’s one I often don’t, as it seems to do fine on itself. But if you’re wanting to give it that extra boost of nourishment then do this twice a month. Whichever fertilizer you opt to use, make sure you follow the instructions carefully to get the dilution ratio correct. You don’t want to overfeed it, unfortunately extra feeding doesn’t mean it will grow any larger.
Don’t Burn Your Hoya!
When you do feed it, make sure that the potting soil is slightly moist. This needs to be done to prevent the roots from being burnt by the fertilizer. Another reason to ensure you get the dilution ratio correct, as it can kill your hoya linearis if it’s too strong.
Toxicity
It’s not uncommon to worry about the toxicity of a plant before bringing it in your home. Pets and children are easily attracted by plants, especially one as beautiful as the hoya linearis. So, are Hoya Linearis plants toxic? No, these plants are non-toxic. However, they do produce a milky-sap that can be irritable. So, as with any plant it’s advisable to keep it out of reach of your children or pets. But this plant is mainly hanging so it’s usually out of reach anyway.
Propagation
Propagating a hoya linearis is relatively simple. It can be done by anyone, as long as you follow my instructions closely. But you might already be familiar with the method, cuttings. It’s one of the simpler methods and simply requires you to cut away part of the plant and re-pot it elsewhere. Obviously with a bit of extra care in the initial stages, but that’s the basic idea.
First of all, you need to cut away part of the stem and ensure that there’s 3 to 4 nodes on it already. Once you’ve done that, remove the leaves from just one of the lowest node. After that, you simply need to plant it in some potting soil and keep a close eye on it for the next few weeks. Ensure it gets plenty of water.
Propagation can take weeks before you start to notice any results. But there are ways of speeding this up. For example, you can use a rooting hormone such as this one on Amazon to help give it a boost in the early phases.
Repotting
You don’t really need to repot your hoya linearis as they’re quite tolerable of being root bound. But if you want to check if repotting is necessary, there’s a couple steps you can take. First, take the plant out of its pot. Then check the base of the plant, if you notice a large amount of roots circling around the bottom then it’s probably best if you re-pot it.
Ideally you want to be doing this during the early days of spring. This helps give it a full growing season for the roots to get back to full health and establish their new base. When doing this though, you only need to increase the pot size by a couple centimetres. Also, ensure you follow my earlier advice on the potting soil. You can even use the soil it’s already in but I tend to freshen things up when I re-pot a plant.
