My hoya has dropped four yellow leaves in a fortnight. They go soft rather than crispy, mostly the lower older ones, and the soil still feels damp three days after I water.
It sits on a windowsill about four inches from the glass and the heating came on last week. I have not changed anything about my watering since summer, which I suspect is the answer, but the window and the radiator are both candidates too.
You have diagnosed it. Soft yellow leaves plus soil still damp three days later plus an unchanged summer watering schedule is too much water for the amount of light, and it is the most common version of this by a long way.
In winter it gets less light, grows slowly and uses far less water. Let the soil dry most or all of the way through before watering, which in a lot of homes means watering several times less often than in July. Check the pot actually drains while you are at it.
Should I check the roots or wait and see whether easing off fixes it?
@cold_glass_side · in 5m
Four inches from the glass is close enough to matter separately. Hoyas are tropical and cold glass, a draughty frame or a door opening onto winter air all stress them, and the tell is yellowing concentrated on the window side or on leaves that were actually touching the pane.
Pull it back a bit, or at least move it off the sill on the coldest nights. They want to stay comfortably above about 15C.
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