So I climbed up the counter tops today, to have a good look at my normally very healthy, vibrant, fast growing Hoya Carnosa house plant, and much to my dismay, I noticed right away, that a few things weren't right about her..... I noticed that some of the younger leaves, located on stems which are growing closest to the base of the plant, are not only weak, soft, deformed, and dropping at the slightest little touch, but they also have some sort of silvery/greyish colored, irregular, blotchy, patches scattered about those leaves which are misshapen (unusually long and slender), soft, discolored, and dropping... Its definitely NOT hard water spots. I know exactly what that looks like, because all my hoyas have it... I hate to say it, but this issue here, shows all the signs of a disease of some sort... If you'll notice in the photos, the young, lower foliage, is looking strong, shiny, healthy, and relatively blemish free (besides the bright white hard water spots)... However these areas of foliage near the base of the plant, are suffering from something... I don't know if this could be related in any way, but ill mention it, because it IS the only thing I've done differently with the plant, since the last time I examined her, and found no concerns: For the sake of decor, I placed the plastic pot that the plant grows in, inside a prettier clay, cache pot, which has aa large hole in the bottom, so it does not hold water in that way. However, the plant and plastic pot fit very snuggly into the ceramic pot, so I wondered if this could have maybe caused some sort of air flow problem or something, which may have led to a moisture caused fungal disease? Either way, regardless of what this disease/issue is, I'm desperate for some pointers as to how I should go about healing the plant... I'm a relatively new indoor gardener, so this sort of issue isnt something I've had any experience with yet... Should I completely cut/remove all areas that show signs of invasion by this strange & unidentified health issue? Should I purchase some kind of spray? Is Neem oil known to address matters of this nature by any chance, because I do have some on hand? What kind of special treatment regimen should I put into play, to hopefully bring my beautiful lady back to her usual vigor & sturdy health? And of course... above all else... KEEP HER FROM DYING!? The plant is still growing in the weird powdery (almost like coffee grounds), soil, that the box store sold it to me in... Some kind of crumbly peat maybe? I'm not sure what it is really, but is it possible that the growing medium may be infected and/or bad in some way too? If I should be gearing up to repot, please advise.....
Any and all recommendations and shared knowledge will be greatly appreciated! I really do love, love, love, love, LOVE this plant... And of course she's one of the very few plants I've paid more than just a few dollars for too.... I'm invested! Heart, soul, time, and resources!
Thanks in advance for your help!
**Erika**
NOTE: I will attempt to post more photos in a comment, after I submit the actual post & pics that are hopefully gonna go thru, along with it... for some reason I'm getting an error message from the helpful gardener website, when I try and upload the attachments, saying: "Could not complete your request, due to low memory"... Low memory? In a discussion forum? The error message is from the website itself, not my phone. And my phone itself has an abundance of storage anyways... Very odd... Ill do my best tho!