Hi Karam,

Well I've never had this situation w/ Hoyas, but have seen it w/ other plants I've tended for other people (like neglected office plants) or inherited from friends.

I'm a believer that compacted soil is death to a plant, sooner or later. I also don't swear to this business of Hoyas not liking their roots disturbed. If it's compacted, I'd say disturbing its roots is necessary (that's the problem). I'll offer you two options, you'll pls. decide which feels more comfortable to you.

If it were mine, I'd be radical abt it. I'd soak & soak & soak this rootball (out of the pot, in a basin of some kind) 'til it's soft enough to break apart w/ yr. fingers. Then I'd gently remove all of this evil mix completely, examine the remaining roots, cutting off any that are dry & shriveled up or that might smell bad.

Then I'd change the mix completely, using something 'houseplanty' like maybe what you use for yr. Swedish Ivy, w/ added perlite (or pumice if you can get it), abt 30% by volume. That is to say roughly 1 part perlite to 2or 3 parts soil. This will help the mix be both fast draining & stay loose. (I suspect it was a heavily peat-based mix that allowed it to harden so badly.)

If you feel this is too radical, here's a variation, less extreme, but should yield similar results. I HAVE NOT TRIED THIS ON HOYAS, but have w/ other Houseplants, w/ good results.

Take the plant out of the pot after a good soak, having somewhat softened the hard rootball. Take a sharp & sterile knife & carefully cut vertical slits in the rootball, from top of mix, down the height of the rootball to its bottom. Do this 2-3" apart all around the entire rootball. The when done cutting, using yr. thumbs, gently spread open these slits abt a 1/2". I would also cut maybe a 1" slice off the bottom of the rootball, as if you're slicing a slice of bread, slice it off completely & discard this slice.

Both the vertical slits & the slice off the bottom will help expose the more inner parts of the rootball to fresh mix, air & water (they need all 3 components to thrive).

After either procedure, I'd wait 3-4 days & then water it well. Then I'd wait at least a month before fertilizing it. This should be a good amount of time to let the plant settle down & adjust to these changes, & I'd hope you'll see lots of new, better quality growth.

Pls. report back as to which procedure you try & what your results turn out to be. Either way, I believe this is bound to help the plant; it's survived this way so long (w/ its roots barely getting any air & water deep inside the rootball). Best of luck w/ it & hope it helps a lot.

Sorry to be so long, but wanted to explain it as well as I could.

Great advice , Pirate Girl. Would you recommend that Karam put the Hoya outside , when Spring in Kentucky gets underway , or keep it inside where it can be constantly observed ?

If the plant were mine , I would leave the vines as they are , unless some of the tips go brown and die back part way. Bare areas could flush out with new growth.

I purchased a variegated carnosa in a hanging pot , about 1 yr. ago. It was full and healthy , but had no hanging vines. For some reason it had been given a ' haircut '. This Hoya was mature enough to bloom , but only produced 2 umbels. It took the whole year to get it's vines , which are presently 2 to 4 feet long and have plenty of flowers. The wait was frustrating because I had scrawny little ones which were flowering !!
Perhaps you might ask your friends for some cuttings , which you could root yourself and then add to this pot , to make it fuller ,or you could also keep an eye out for some in the stores . That would be 'Big Box' store garden departments or larger nurseries that carry assorted foliage.
I have purchased Hoyas before and taken them apart because I disapprove of the soil that they came in . All my Hoyas live outside. Florida summer conditions are intense. I can't have them in soil which bakes to hardpan in one afternoon or , if we have a torrential downpour , takes 2 weeks to dry out.
Pirate Girl....you are very funny when you wrote ' evil mix ' . I'm still laughing , although just at the words. The situation of this Hoya is very sad.

Karam , don't give up on flowers this year. It's not uncommon in nature's plant kingdom , for plants that have incurred stress/trauma to flower. Like a last ditch effort to reproduce and save itself.
I also hope you report back. Good Luck,

Florajilly

Thanks so much for the excellent advice! I think I'll try Pirate Girl's first course of action..the drastic one. I had thought of doing something similar (specifically, removing all of the "evil mix" [I love that, it is indeed evil! I didn't want to ask, but I suspect it is "wild-crafted" outdoor soil- it looked like the dry, bare spots in vacant lots])but was too scared to do it w/out counsel of some sort. And I think I will hang it outdoors afterwards- I have a hook right by the door where I should be able to keep a sharp enough eye on it. Thanks again- I'll report back.

I don't know that I'd hang it outdoors yet.

I must caution that I only grow indoors, so I know little abt growing outdoors & helping plants transition from indoor to outdoors. However, all that I read suggests the transition should be made gradually.

Given that you're opting for the more drastic course I'm suggesting, w/ those changes being made to the plant, I think that's enough stress for a while w/out introducing new variables like wind, rain, bugs & direct sun, depending on what your exposures are.

I'm glad folks enjoyed my talking abt that mix as 'evil'. Any mix that turns hard as rock is, in my book evil & needs to leave ASAP!

I was planning to get rid of the compacted soil- but I just had an idea. Earthworms loosen soil (and enrich it)...would adding a few worms to the pot be a good idea? It's a concept I find appealing for obvious reasons..let the worms do the work!! If it is OK to have worms in a houseplant, how many?

I'm with Pirate girl on this one too. And earthworms won't survive long in an indoor plant.

My MIL recently went into a care center and I have custody of
most of her plants including a med sized hanging carnosa.
I'm telling you, judging from the other plants the dirt was original Syracuse NY clay at least 30 years old.
What nightmare-soaked for 2 days just to get it out of the pot and even then it wasn't enough to totally saturate the rootball.
Once out of the pot I did soak in Superthrive till I could seperate each peice and remove the old soil.
It's doing well with new soil and even throwing bloom spurs.
Tough little bugger!!
Don"t worry and take the drastic action. Believe you won't be sorry...Good luck repotting.

Wow Rosa,

Nice save, I'm green w/ envy as I've never bloomed a Carnosa to date (& I've had some of them longer than any other Hoyas including those that have bloomed).

Anyway, sounds like you did everything right, & I should think putting on spurs is complete proof of that, congrats to ya!