String of Hearts How To Care To Get Bushy String Of Hearts (SOH)

String of Hearts plant also popularly known as SOH is a vine that grows small heart (not biologically) shaped leaves with pink tinge on the back of the leaves, it grows well in a small pot or hanging planters. 

String of Hearts, botanical name is Ceropegia woodii is a succulent plant but not thick leaves, the status of belonging to succulent family means it needs less water as compare to most of the other plants

How do you care for string of hearts? | Is string of Hearts good indoor plant? | Does string of Hearts need direct sunlight? | What does the string of Heart symbolise? 

What Are The Benefits of String Of Hearts

String of Hearts is a creeper vine plant with thin stem and a very small and flat leaves in the shape of heart (artistically heart shaped )

They have bulb root similar to green zz plant. These plants grow very slowly

Does String Of Hearts Need Direct Sunlight

No direct sunlight for String of Hearts, it is a succulent plant and needs sunlight that is filtered, neither to hot nor too mild.

The ideal location to grow this plant is in the easy facing window

If not, then place in under grow lights or any other artificial source of light

How Do You Care For String Of Hearts Plant

Watering:

If you are living in hot and humid weather conditions, then just spray some water over the leaves and the vines.

Water the potting mix only once the potting mix is almost dry and remove excess water.

Fertilizer:

Use any one method to fertilize the plant

1) Add a piece of chalk to the potting mix, the size of the chalk should be not more than 2 -3 cms, once in 2-3 months

2) Add 2 drops of liquid sea weed fertilizer to 500ml of water and spray this on the plant, repeat this after every 15 days

3) Mix sand and compost in the ratio of 50-50 and add it to the plant 

Remember to follow any one of the methods either early morning before 9 am or in the evening after 5 pm

How To Make Potting Mix For String  Of Hearts

• 1 part of vermiculite or perlite 
• 1 part of fine sand
• 1 part of compost
• 1 part of tree bark (if available)
• 1/4  part of soil (not clay type)
• 1 tsp of rock phosphate

Mix all the above ingredients to get a good potting mix, these can be used for other succulent plants as well.

How To Buy String of Hearts Plant?

Selection of the right plant is important for the better survival of  SOH / String of Hearts

• Always buy String of Hearts that are sold in a bunch and that too in a pot.
• Ensure the string has atleast one tuber / ball
• Young plant would have a very small ball, that would be the size of a peppercorn, but a matured plant would have ball/ tuber that would be of the size of a grape fruit.
• Make a note of the potting mix, the potting mix used must be sand soil, and not water soaked
• The leaves must not be wrinkled and very thin pappery like
• The vines must have leaves, bald vines means the plant is dropping off the leaves.

Pest and other insects

Avoid overwatering and that is the best and the only way to avoid insects in these plants

If you find mealy bugs in plants, then just use an ear bud and remove them from the plant, if the infestation is too high, then change the potting mix of the plant.