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Welcome to our guide to how to propagate string of hearts a.k.a. ceropegia woodii. They are a succulent that grows in the wild in South Africa I have a few string of hearts and have propagated them using various methods, I cover water, soil and moss methods below. My favorite method is to use the ‘butterfly method’ with sphagnum moss, as it’s easy, roots quickly, and results in a bushy plant, I’ll cover that one first, then the other propagation methods afterwards…

How To Propagate String Of Hearts Butterfly Method

One of the best ways of propagating string of hearts (ceropegia woodii) is with the so called ‘butterfly method’, so called as it involves lots of individual cuttings that look like butterflies. In summary, you chop off a long branch, then chop it quickly with scissors up into separate ‘butterflies’, then put them all in moist sphagnum moss.

Follow these steps:

Take stem cuttings: one of the ‘strings’ or branches off the mother plant.
Cut it in to pieces, so there is only one node on each cutting.
Get a takeout box or some old tupper ware and fill it with moist sphagnum moss.
Make a few small holes in the lid so that air can circulate.
Sprinkle the cuttings evenly over the top of the moss and push them down slightly so the nodes touch the moss.
Keep it warm and moist, and well lit (but no direct sun). And take the lid off to refresh the air occasionally.
They should root over the next few weeks or months and you’ll start to see new growth from the top of the plant.
You can then pot it up into cactus and succulent soil at this stage and treat the plant as a juvenile string of hearts.

String of hearts cuttings in water to root.

How To Propagate String Of Hearts In Water

You can propagate string of hearts using water propagation, just follow these steps:

Get all you need ready: sharp scissors, your string of hearts plant, a jar of filtered tap water.
Cut off one of the ‘strings’, the long thin branches.
Strip off the leaves from the bottom few nodes of the branches.
Leave the cuttings to callous over for half a day so that the wounds are sealed to reduce the chance of rot.
Put the cuttings in the jar of water so that the stripped nodes are under the water and there are no leaves below the surface.
Put it in a warm location with bright light, but out of direct sunlight and let the cuttings root over the forthcoming weeks.
After a couple of months they should be rooted well. The great thing about this method is you can see the root growth. You can put them in a new pot of cactus and succulent mix.

How To Propagate String Of Hearts In Soil

You can propagate string of hearts in soil really easily, just take a long branch or ‘string’ off the plant, and curl it around on the surface of a pot of soil. Then lightly dust it with some more soil so that the nodes are overed but the leaves are out. Then wet the soil ( you can bottom water so the surface does no get disturbed – put it in a tub of water so the soil soaks up what it needs. Then let any excess water drain off and put the pot in a plastic bag or storage box to increase humidity, leave it open to allow some air to move. Keep it in bright indirect sunlight and keep it moist and humid until it puts out new roots and new leaf growth. You can then treat it as a young plant.

This is a great method to use if you have a plant that is sparse and you want it to get fuller – you can use live branches from the plant and shallow bury them in their current pot to encourage them to root.

Make sure the pot is well draining with drainage holes, the biggest killer of strings of hearts is root rot from overwatering.

How To Propagate String Of Hearts In Sphagnum Moss

To propagate string of hearts in sphagnum moss use the butterfly method. You cut some of the ‘strings’ into individual node cuttings and root them in moist sphagnum moss. We go into more details above in this article.

Other Names

String of hearts plants are also called: ceropegia woodii, rosary vine, chain of hearts.

Can String Of Hearts Be Propagated In Water?

String of heats can be propagated in water, just make sure you don’t get any leaves under the surface.

How To Propagate String Of Hearts Tubers

String of hearts put out round aerial tubers every now and again, and you can cut them off and use them to propagate a new plant. Try to get some of the stem with it, and bury it in soil or moist sphagnum moss so that it is almost covered but the top is just out of the medium. It should root in a few weeks.

Can You Grow String Of Hearts From A Cutting?

String of hearts can be grown from cuttings using water, sphagnum moss or soil as a growing medium.

How Long Does It Take To Propagate A String Of Hearts?

A string of hearts cutting will start to root in 2 or 3 weeks and can then take 2 or 3 months for the plant to have decent sized roots. At this point it will produce growth out the top of the plant.

Where Do You Cut A String Of Hearts To Propagate?

String of hearts cuttings need at least one node and one set of leaves. The nodes are the parts where the leaves grow from.

How Long Does It Take To Root String Of Hearts In Water?

It can take 2 months or more for roots to develop to good size, but they will start growing in the first week.

Can String Of Hearts Survive In Water?

Yes string of hearts can be grown in water alone, if rooted in water from cuttings.

How Long Does It Take String Of Hearts To Root In Soil?

String of hearts should start to root in a week to one month in soil, and have a healthy root system in 2 months or so.

For more on which cactus and succulent compost to buy or how to make you own, see our guide: Succulent Soil.

What Is The Best Method Of Propagating String Of Hearts?

The easiest way is to shallow-bury a ‘string’ in soil or sphagnum moss: just put a branch on top of the soil and push it down a bit and it should root. But I find the best method in terms of success is the butterfly method with sphagnum moss.

some of my string of hearts props in moss

Is It Easy To Propagate String Of Hearts?

String of heats are really easy to propagate as long as you keep the nodes moist until the rot and produce new leaf growth.

How Do You Make A String Of Hearts Bushier?

You can make a string of hearts bushier by taking some cuttings and propagating them back in with the main plant. You can take a live branch and lay it on top of the soil and they can root.

What Are The Tubers In String Of Hearts?

The tubers are totally normal. They are growth points and you can propagate a new plant from these by replanting them. Tuber propagation is a really easy string of hearts propagation method: you can just take them out and shallow bury them in soil or moss and keep them moist and give them enough light and they should root well and put out new vines within a month or two.

Can You Propagate String Of Hearts With Just A Leaf?

They can be propagated by just a leaf and stem.

When Is The Best Time To Propagate A String Of Hearts?

You can propagate them year round, but the best time of year is early Spring so that they can grow and root well over the warmer coming months of the growing season.