Once you experience the joy of growing the fragrant flowers and thick succulent leaves of a hoya plant (Hoya carnosa), you’ll likely want to form a collection of these plants and share them with your family and friends. Fortunately, when you know how to propagate a hoya (also known as a wax plant), it’s easy to make more hoyas with different leaf shapes and sizes. Use the following step-by-step guide to propagate hoya plants from cuttings rooted in water or layered in soil. 

How to Propagate a Hoya Plant in Water

You can experience how stem propagation in water works by taking a stem cutting from your hoya plant and placing it in a container of water until it grows roots. It’s easy, affordable, and fun to watch the plant’s roots develop.

Step 1: Prepare a Container

You’ll need a transparent container for the cutting. Before using the container, sanitize it with mild dish soap and water or rubbing alcohol. Fill the container three-fourths of the way to the top with room-temperature tap water.

Step 2: Take Hoya Cuttings

Choose a healthy stem that is at least 6 inches long with at least three leaves. Locate the hoya’s nodes, which are found along the entire vine. Using clean, sharp garden pruners or scissors, cut off a piece of the stem directly below a leaf node, making sure the part you cut off contains leaf nodes; the roots grow from these nodes.

Step 3: Remove Lower Leaves

Peel off the lower leaves near the bottom of the hoya cutting so they don’t sit below the water line and cause rotting.

Step 4: Put Cuttings in Water

Several hoya cuttings can be placed in a container of water. Just make sure the bottom-most nodes sit below the water line and all the leaves are above the water.

Step 5: Provide Ideal Conditions for Propagation

For the fastest root growth, place the jar of cuttings in bright, indirect light in a room that is 73°F to 77°F. Refresh the container with clean water once a week to provide fresh oxygen to the cuttings. Hoya cuttings usually develop roots in two to four weeks.

Step 6: Transplant Rooted Cuttings into Soil

When the cuttings’ roots are at least 1½ inches long, transplant the new hoya plants into pots filled with potting mix. Water the rooted cuttings until water drains from the bottom of the pot. Place the plants in a warm location that receives bright, indirect light.

How to Propagate Hoya in Soil

An effective way to propagate vining houseplants like hoyas is to use the simple layering propagation method. Your hoya cuttings will root easily with this method because they receive an ongoing supply of water and nutrients while attached to the mother plant.

Step 1: Gather Supplies

Select a potted hoya plant to propagate and set a smaller pot filled with an aroid potting mix next to it.

Step 2: Position Stems

Pick up the hoya vines you’ve chosen to propagate and lay them across the top of the smaller pot. Remove any leaves around the nodes that will be buried in the potting mix.

Step 3: Bury Hoya Plant’s Nodes 

Locate the hoya plant’s nodes, which are the bumps along the stem of the vine, and bury them in the potting mix. If needed, hold the nodes in place with opened paper clips, floral pins, or bobby pins.

Step 4: Maintain Moisture Levels

Keep the second pot evenly moist during the entire propagation process, and water the mother plant as usual—letting it completely dry out between waterings.

Step 5: Cut Vines from Mother Plant

Check the growth of the new root system in six to twelve weeks to see if roots have developed to at least 1 inch on some of the vine in the new pot. If you find adequate growth, cut the vine that attaches the small pot to the mother plant.

Once the newly propagated hoya’s roots are 1 inch long, water the plant just as you water the mother plant. Give the hoya bright, indirect light for up to six hours daily. 

How to Propagate Hoya Heart Plant

The hoya heart plant (Hoya kerri) is beloved for its thick, heart-shaped leaves. The leaves of this plant are often individually rooted in pots and sold as popular Valentine’s Day gifts. Unfortunately, a single leaf without stem tissue won’t grow into a fully vined plant. If you hope to propagate a hoya heart plant, you need more than a leaf cutting. You need to purchase a whole hoya heart plant that has a vine with at least two leaves to propagate the plant by stem cuttings.

How to Propagate Hindu Rope Plant

The crinkled leaves of Hoya carnosa ‘Compacta’ give the plant a rope-like appearance. But don’t let its unique appearance daunt you; you can propagate this plant just like other hoyas by rooting stem cuttings in water or a well-draining potting mix.