It won't shock your plant to take cuttings, though I do understand your reluctance! But the mama plant will be ok, maybe even benefit from some pruning. A roughly 5" or 6" cutting would be fine, you just cut right where above where a set of leaves ends, then on the cutting you need to strip a few sets if leaves from the bottom, maybe two or three, whereas you may only need one bare node to plant it soil. With hydroculture, you need a fairly long bare part of the stem to keep the cutting anchored in the aggregate. You don't really want a long leafy part above the top level of the aggregate, that is too much for the new roots that will be growing to maintain. Once the cutting gets rooted, it will concentrate on growing. If you put the cuttings in a glass of water to let them get started developing some roots, that helps. And when you do plant them in the clay aggregate, you keep the water level a little higher at first to help them to not dry out until they have really rooted well. It was pretty easy with my carnosa I just did last month. The first week or so, some of the leaves were too soft, I could tell they were not getting enough water, but after raising the water level a little more, everything is fine. I just have to keep an eye on it, cause once the roots are enough to support the plant, the water level will not need to be so high, and could possibly do more harm than good. I will look for a few hydroculture links for you, the lady in canada grows all of her hoyas this way, and she is very helpful.

My experience with this plant is that is likes to stay fairly moist. I water mine a couple of times a week in hot weather and about once a week in cool. I have one in a self watering pot that does well there also. I also mist it alot as I think it likes that and it makes the folage look better. If the soil dried out completely and then you watered, it could have rotted the roots. You need to unpot it and check the roots for brown dead ones, cut them back until you find life (white looking ones), & then repot with fresh dirt. If ALL the roots are gone & even the stems look dried and dead, you will need to take cuttings & try to start from scratch. Let us know how it looks when you take it out & look at the roots. Marcy

Are you saying the Hoyas in question have soft or wrinkled leaves? If so, that's usually a sign of dehydration. They likely aren't taking up water the way they need to, which usually is the result of letting them get too dry too often. I have this problem when I try to put a newly rooted cutting into a pot of established Hoya. The rooted cutting needs more water than the established plant, so it dehydrates. So now I always let the rooted cutting get a strong root system of it's own before I put it in with an older established plant. Misting shouldn't be causing the problem, but I wouldn't mist quite so much this time of year. Molds form pretty easy in winter when it's cooler at night and there isn't as much air movement. I only mist mine when I water this time of year, which means once every week or 10 days. Denise in Omaha

Thanks both for responding right away. Regarding pots, I'm confused about the plastic pots thing. I read online that plastic pots keep water in and are not great to use if you have problems with root rot. My apartment is so humid that when plants come from the nursery in soil that's heavy in peat, I have to repot right away because a single watering sometimes leads to root rot (despite drainage hole of course). I would greatly prefer to use plastic pots because they are much cheaper, lighter and less breakable, but I thought they were no good for plants that need lots of drainage? Only reason I am not using terracotta is bc I can't find white terracotta pots for cheap, so I figured the glazed ceramic was a compromise.. Any extra information would help. I'm pretty new to actually taking my houseplant hobby seriously. Regarding the perlite, I'm assuming it is dangerous to inhale the fumes. Should I wear some special sort of mask while handling it? I didn't know that about sand. I couldn't find a good succulent soil for my succulents, so I made a mix of 2:2:1 happy frog:sand:perlite. The sand is maybe medium level coarseness. This is the perlite I have been using: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CND4WV9/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_IDimFb7ND3EQ0 This is the sand I have been using to mix in for standard succulents: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QGNRR6/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_wEimFbX4T62J4 Is it bad enough that I should repot the things that I used sand with?