Guide: Hoya Kerrii
Aren’t Hoya kerrii the cutest plump, plush babies? This pudgy plant is a must have, but there are some things we need to discuss. From those single-leaf plants, to care, to properly propagating, here is a guide to everything you need to know about them.

If you aren’t super familiar with Hoya, which are one of my favorite pet safe plant families, they’re kind of a cross between a plant and a succulent. I talk more about Hoyas in this post, but keep this in mind; they have thick, juicy leaves which hold water like a succulent would. Hoya are typically found in Thailand, China and India and they make the best houseplants.
This post isn’t about all Hoyas though, it’s about Hoya kerrii. As you see, these chubby babies are not only pet safe and pinchably cute, but also look like a little heart vine. Like, I can’t.
Caring for a Hoya kerrii
Sunlight: Again, these guys have plump leaves that hold water like succulents do, so they need lots of sun. I keep all of my Hoya in a very bright window with 6+ hours of daily sun. Low light = sad Hoya.
Watering: Water when the pot feels dry. If you have a moisture meter you can test that way, or go by feel. When the pot is light, gently aerate the soil and water throughly. Never let these stand in water.
Humidity: I always have a humidifier running (my fav is this one by Vornado), but Hoya like some humidity over dry air.
Soil: For all of my Hoya, I do an orchid bark, perlite, sand, and soil mixture. This keeps the soil well-draining so when it’s watering time, there’s not a root rot risk.
Hoya Kerrii Varieties
These guys are hard to find, too, at least in a mature plant form. H. compacta and H. carnosa are probably the more common varieties you see in greenhouses and garden centers. A slow grower, Hoya kerrii is a trailing vine that comes in a few different varieties:
Hoya kerrii

Hoya kerrii “Splash”

Hoya kerrii “Albomarginata”

Hoya kerri “Sweetheart” single-leaf

Yes, the variegated ones are amazing, but let’s talk a bit about this last one, those single leaf Hoya. Let me tell you a story.
Those Single Leaf Hoya Kerrii
A few months ago I bought one of these babies for $8.

So cute, I thought. Now I have the beginnings of a Hoya kerrii, one that will turn into a plump, gorgeous vine, like this:

Nope, incorrect.
You may have seen these single “Sweetheart leaf” Hoya around, specifically around Valentines Day, sometimes with I Love You on them or something stupid. After looking around on the internet for far too long, I have come to this consensus – you cannot grow a Hoya kerrii with a single leaf. Generally, Hoya are very easy to propagate. Like other plants, they need a node in order to successfully continue to develop into a plant. Well here’s the problem, these little cuttings have no node.

These “single leaf” Hoya kerrii are just that, a leaf. These will stay in this adorable heart shape state as they contain no node or way to grow. Sure, you may get lucky, and some may have some tiinnnnyy piece of stem on them, but 9.5 times out of ten they are just a leaf with roots. This is called a blind leaf. Essentially, the leaf will never amount to anything except, well, a leaf with roots. It’s not uncommon to see Fiddle leaf Fig leaves (just the leaves) being propagated with a hot flood of roots on Instagram. While this may seem like legit #rootgoals, know that it will never turn into a plant. A piece of the stem with a node is the only way to get a plant to sprout new and continued growth.

I did an experiment. I have a Hoya carnosa leaf that fell off (above). It developed roots but has not popped out anything in else for months whether it is in water or soil. It just has roots. Adding rooting hormone may seem like a good idea, but it just encourages more roots, not stem growth.
By contrast, here are two cutting with nodes (below). They put out new growth and aren’t even in soil yet. They are actually younger than the single leaf cutting.

Caring for a single Hoya kerrii leaf…
While I’m sorry for the depressing news about single leaf Hoya kerrii, I have good news. These are still adorable little plump plants that you should still care for like any other plant. These guys will continue to stay this shape and remain green. Care is similar to regular Hoya as I described above.

…And Propagating a Plant
If you do manage to get your hands on an actual cutting, be sure it has at least two leaves and attached to a healthy piece of the stem. If you purchase a cutting online, look for the same. Be sure the seller always shows a photo of the actual plant. I’ve been seeing cuttings and smaller plants on ebay and Amazon for for about $20-40 USD.

Once you have the cutting, you can plop it in water to grow some useful roots. Be sure to keep the leaves above the water, only the roots submerged. After a few months you can plant in a well-draining mix (similar to mine above). Hoya kerrii are the slowest growers, but you should see some good stuff happening in a few months and you’ll be on you way to a lovely looking vine.
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I have questions. So many questions! I bought one of these guys maybe a year and a half ago. It was a full plant with several stems and a couple little leaf only sections. I put it in a hanging pot. Trailing vine is not what I got. This thing has grown straight up and is now creeping along my ceiling. The top part is super leggy with little outshoots to help hold itself into the ceiling. What I want to know is, how do I groom it. It seems to be thriving but I’m unsure of the best way to help it out as far as leading out at the top. At this point it’s about 3 feet tall and I’m afraid to touch it for fear of making it sad
Hi Rachael! It does sound happy, but it also sounds like it may need more light, hence the legginess. These shouldn’t have too much space in between leaves and more sunlight will fix that. You should definitely prune it. I would take off a foot or so and you can propagate into smaller plants. Alternatively, you can not chop anything off and just get a pole for it to climb on. Either way I would move it to more light and I think it would benefit from a trim, but don’t do it if makes you anxious! 🙂
I don’t know if you are checking in on your post, but the way you said that and what I envisioned had me laughing so hard. Thank you! And good luck with keeping it and you happy!!
Your post had me scared but props tothelittlejungle Etsy shop, bc my valentine self-gifted leaf has sprouted a lil vine as promised!!! It’s not impossible to find a well propagated cutting 🙂 there is hope.
Congrats Elyse!
Is a west facing window okay for a variegated Kerrii Heart?
Hi Alison! Yes a west window is fine. The key with hoyas is no harsh, direct sun.
I got a single heart 6 yrs ago and now it is one long vine. Love it but can I trim it and start another vine and how???
You can! Just be sure there is a little nub/node included in the cutting so you develop a new vining plant.
Hi! I have a question I testing right now between 2 different plants. Can an established Hoya Kerrii grow in water only? With only the roots submerged. I know my Hoya Krimson grows like that, but I can’t find anything on this question anywhere..?
Hi Nathan! Yes you should be able to root a kerrii (as long as they’re nodes) in water. You can also try moist sphagnum moss – which yield really nice roots. You just place the cutting in moist sphagnum, keeping the moss moist at all times, and wait a month or so for roots to develop, then carefully peel away any extra moss before you plant. Either way would work.
$8!! Only one local nursery around me has them and one leaf is “on sale” for $45. I live in central MO so maybe that has something to do with it? But it feels like extortion so I refuse to buy one haha!
That’s highway robbery!
I had a hoya plant that someone dropped off at a nursery where I work. It was in very bad shape. They had left it in direct hot sunlight and it was pretty burnt. I took some leaves that looked half way survivable and planted them. Just the leaves, no stems. Well they rooted. Now my question is, how to get them to grow. They have been rooted for nearly a year now and are not growing. Will they grow ? Any information anyone could provide is greatly appreciated. Thank You
They will not – they need a piece of stem (like I show above) to do anything, otherwise they’ll just stay leaves with roots. Hoyas grow pretty quick, so if you haven’t seen anything in a few weeks let alone a year, you may not see a plant anytime soon. The leaves look pretty though, they’ll stay happy in soil and stay small.
Anastasia, one of my leaves including the stem came loose/broke loose from the mother plant. This happened last night. Will this leaf and stem root in water? This is a new plant to me and I hate that that leaf came off.
Yes! If there is a chunk of stem attached it will, if it’s just a leaf it will just root like I talk about here, but may not continue to grow more leaves. I would try anyway – why not, right? Good luck!
Hello! I was gifted 3 single sweetheart hoya in 6cm pots.. I was just wondering if they can all be put into one pot together & whether this will be helpful for them to become a trailing plant as they should be? I don’t want to pick a pot too big but also not too small. I love succulents & have a range of them, but these are totally alien to me (and cute asf) Thanks in advance!
Hi Emily, they can be grouped, but just like I mention in the article you may not get a growing/trailing plant. Either way they will look cute and grow fine altogether in one planter.
I bought a single leaf that remained a single leaf for 4 years! I gave up and left it to the side and it was quite dry for some time. Suddenly it popped out a shoot and a new leaf, now it’s growing quite fast. Never give up on the single leaf Kerri!
That’s amazing! I wish we could all be so lucky, Tracie!
That is encouraging Tracie! I’ve had mine for 2 years and it has not done a thing. I gave it a pretty pot and sea-glass dressing too. I’m going to take it out and put it in a plastic pot and put in a window in my dank basement. I’ve had such successes with other plants – ignore and/or mistreat them and somtimes they do wonderous things.
Hey so I have a single hoya kerri heart and it’s been doing well for about 8 months. It has now started turning whitish/yellow from the bottom. I’m scared to take it out of the soil (and damaging it completely) to check if it has a node or if it’s just a leaf with roots. It’s also not firm anymore like it used to be and seems to be falling back instead of standing on tis own. Does it sound like it’s a leaf only and it’s time is over?
It does and it doesn’t sound promising, and I would check those roots out and see what’s going on. Even if it were to pop out a stem, the bottom leaf shouldn’t yellow, so it just sounds like a single leaf plant that may have had too much water. He may not make it, but check out the roots and see if anything is going – you can try to put it in bright indirect like and see if he perks up too.
I have a single leaf Hoya Kerrii, as well as a plant with five leaves. One small leaf started turning lighter green and fell off. I have it under a lamp inside, so after reading your article, I am wondering if the plant is beginning to suffer from only a bright lamp lite and not actual sunlight. Is that a possibility?
Also what proportions do you use in your soil mix? Orchid soil, perlite, sand and soil?
Thank you,
Mary
Hi Mary, it is and could be. Hoyas need quite a bit of sun and unless its a grow light or a bulb with similar wattage, it is probably suffering quite a bit. I would move to a warm and bright location slowly, maybe a few feet closer to a window each day so you don’t shock the plant. It could also be overwatering which hoyas are very fragile to. As far as soil, I use a blend of all of the above you mention, and pretty much equal parts of each. Hoyas need lots of drainage.
Hey there. So I got a Hoya Kerri around the summer. When it was shipped to me it was pushing out new growth but all of the new leaves (not fully matured) turned yellow and fell right off. It pushed out a new leaf a few weeks ago and that one began to grow in (yay) but…there’s four leaves at the base of the plant and then a very long stem that’s pretty much bald from the leaves that dropped and that one leaf at the very top of that stem. So it’s looking very sparse. If I were to snip that stem (and propagate) should it continue to grow ? Hope this wasn’t confusing lol. Thanks so much.
You could snip that off and try propagating. I don’t believe that new leaves will grow on that empty part of the stem (on some hoyas new leaves do grow back) so yes, it will continue to grow. However, because all of those leaves dropped the plant may have been shocked. I would snip the good growth, root it but really monitor the main plant. Hopefully it pulls through and you’ll have two!
This is my first time to your site and I just want to say THANK YOU for saving me from the deep dive down the wwwabbit hole trying to find the exact info that you have here on this adorable Hoya!
You’re welcome Tami!
I have a Kerrii with a looong vine with no leaves. but the long vine portion has little bumps that look like they could turn into roots all along the vine section. it looks like these little cluster “root bumps” occur ever 3-4 inches. the long leafless vine tendril section is about 18-24 inches. My Question: could I wrap wet moss & saran on each of the 4 or five root clusters & try to air layer to get roots? Then if they root, cut off each section & plant it & hope each section will grow leaves? trying to figure the best way to propogate without cutting off too many leaves because it just has a few leaves all bunched together at the bottom with little or now branching.
Hi Gloria, I have the same thing happening on one of my hoyas and yes, these do turn into leaves. I have done exactly what you did and have honestly had mixed luck. I did water propagation and some rooted and some didn’t, but I noticed that in warm months this long tendril starts to pump out the leaves where the bumps are. If you are currently in colder months I would wait until it warms up before you majorly chop anything or propagate, but if you want to experiment you could take a piece off the top and see what happens. I hope that helps!
I bought a single leaf Hoya 8 years ago. I has grown into a straight up vine with 20 Hoya leaves. It is my absolute baby!
I do want to grow more baby Hoya plant from it, I understand about taking a cutting with a node etc but when I do this, will my original mature Hoya continue to grow from the cutting site?
I intend to cut from the very top.
Thank you.
Hi Amber – it will! It will branch out horizontally from the cut so be mindful of where you take the snip.