I know these are famously finicky and hard to keep alive— this is my third try and I fear it’s going downhill lol. I’ve had this plant for about 2 months.
Does anyone have an idea what could be wrong with my SOP? The pearls are plump in some areas but it also looks like it’s drying up in others, especially closer to the base…
I’ve tried to remove some of the wilted up strings to allow more nutrients in other areas of the plant, but it just causes strings and pearls to fall off (very fragile and easy to rip off strings) so I stopped trying to do that…
South/Southwest window with indirect bright light I would say (covered patio outside this window do no direct light). It’s in a hanging planter but in a nursery style pot with good drainage inside the hanging pot!
I water it like once a month- let it dry out between watering until pearls start to look less plump. Soak it in the tub and let the excess water drain for a few hours.
Soil is a 40/10/50 mix of perlite, hardening charcoal, and indoor houseplant mix.
Any suggestions for what I can do to avoid losing this guy? Thank you!!
by Quick_Mention_9949
14 Comments
It appears that this one has rotted so you’re going to need to propagate the ones that have crispy stems near the soil. Only water and established plant once the windows have closed and they feel squishy.
I didn’t realise these have a bad reputation, they grow like weeds at my place. Literally just toss some on top of a pot of who knows how old potting mix and garden dirt, and water them every couple of weeks, outside in the heat and cold
I have resurrected rare orchids, saved an albo from complete root rot, and even told my fiddle leaf fig that I cared about it… but these bastards commit ritual suicide *en masse* minutes after entering my home 🤷♂️
I always killed these with overwatering/rot.
It helped just pulling the plastic pot off and putting the whole thing into a breathable clay pot.
I am not an expert but my SOP is doing well and I do not soak it. They have shallow roots so I just water normally whenever the soil gets dry. Someone else said to replant it and I agree and then just water normally.
I think your soil to rich. Join succulent sub. They have a soil recipe just basic stuff u already have different proportions. Also they seem to like a lot of indirect sun. Mine is tiny got real small it’s thriving on 4 hours direct sun through window augmented with a light on 8 hours. Sun through a window counts as indirect sun. Read there wiki. Very insightful.
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Mine is thriving, it’s right by my huge window but I also have a grow light above it. I think they like top light. I water when most of the window slits on the pearls close up, which is more frequently than I expected. Maybe add a grow light?
they have delicate roots and are prone to overwatering and rot but once you find the right conditions for them they’ll take off and keep going.
mine came with root rot and died almost immediately. i salvaged a couple strings and as much of the root system as i could and repotted it in almost straight orchid bark with a little cactus soil and perlite into a terracotta pot. terracotta allows excess moisture to evaporate and helps prevent rot. she lives in a south window with a supplemental barrina grow light bar and she is loving life! i water her maybe every other week. this is her growth from 2 original strings over a year and she’s got several vines that are almost a foot long!
so tldr: metric tons of light (as much as you can indoors), making sure it gets light from the top (keeps it from dying off at the base and having bare strands), chunky af substrate, terracotta pot. you got this.
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I slaughtered my first one in quick time, I think by overwatering and poor placement with insufficient light. My second attempt is going great though. I have it placed in a bright east facing window with a lot of light, and bottom water once a week. So far it’s thriving, a lot of new growth!
I water mine about once every two weeks, but water it *really* well, like it’s sitting in a puddle at the end. It spends its time on a very sunny windowsill and is thriving there.
That’s probably not enough light.
Im constantly perplexed by people’s struggles with SOP, I think maybe they often come in bad soil? And that maybe people are a bit over attentive?
Like I’m not joking I originally kept mine in the no-holes plastic tray filled with coir I’d been posted it in, for months and months and he was so happy I planted it in a no-holes plastic bowl in more coir and just rested the bowl inside the pretty pot I was going to use. But I always let the coir get BONE DRY.
When I moved I had to downsize the plant collection so I gave away the SOP except for one string. The care of the one string is probably more sensible and repeatable than the coir experiment, which I wouldn’t do long term because NUTRIENTS.
Small terricotta pot. Filled with peat-free multipurpose compost (whatever was cheap) mixed with grit. Lay the string on top. Water thoroughly. Water when the soil is dry for the first few weeks while he gets some roots. Then, the secret: Ignore the string. Don’t look at the string. Don’t talk to the string. Very occasionally throw some water at the string. Water well when you do water, before you know it you have to give away *more* strings. Terricotta and a 50% grit mix makes it very very hard to overwater.
Now the string is established and many strings he can have a slightly bigger pot. It’s even metal instead of terracotta so the water maintenance is less clear. I often don’t water him until the pearls deflated slightly – this is a self sustaining system because I put him up on a bracket, in a pot with holes in the bottom, and it’s a bastard to get him down to water and I can’t water him up there as the water will go everywhere. So I’m not ever going to overwater.
The windowsill is east facing, the pearls get direct sun for several hours before 12. Your pearls look too far apart, I suspect they need some direct light, even if it isn’t all day.
Looks like overwatering still, perhaps your mixture is holding onto water too long, or you are waiting too long and you are getting dry rot. I would suggest shallower pot/terracotta with pon as the medium. Easier to keep succulents happy. I would also recommend trying out semi hydro (pon). I have my “string of” plants in that setup and you basically don’t need to monitor the timing of watering, all you need to do is keep the reservoir filled. Good luck!
These have very shallow roots usually, so I suspect the ones at the base that are wrinkled are having a tough time rooting into the soil getting past what looks like dead stems/debris. I would try the following: Take them out of the soil and gently clean them off, discard the debris, and then very lightly bury some of the base.
Then, wrap the ends up and plop them on top of the soil as well. This way they can establish a better root system. Don’t worry, they will still climb/pour over after a while.
Use well-draining soil mixed with perlite. When many of the pearls have a concave “eye slit”, like this one without the wrinkles, that’s when you water. Bring to the sink and soak well and allow to drain. Sometimes the soil is a bit hydrophobic, so I usually soak-drain-soak-drain a few times. They love sun but can also get sunburned, if they turn a paler green with hints of pink/red it’s probably too intense sunlight.
Good luck!!
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Bottom watering is key!