String of Hearts Plant Care (Ceropegia Woodii)
The String of Hearts (Ceropegia woodii) is an easy-to-care-for trailing semi-succulent type plant with long slender stems. Pairs of heart-shaped leaves grow along the delicate stems. The leaves have beautiful marbled patterns and pink-purple undersides.
These charming vines thrive in bright, indirect light and well-draining soil. Allow the soil to partially dry between waterings and provide warm temperatures for optimal growth.
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String of Hearts Plant Care
Scientific name: Ceropegia woodii. Common names: String of Hearts plant, Rosary Vine, or Chain of Hearts.
The String of Hearts is native to South Africa where it grows on the side of rock formations, trailing over and under other plants.
Related reading: The best houseplants for beginners.
Light Requirements
The string of hearts loves a lot of light. Mine hangs near an east-facing window, and is currently just over 5 feet long and filled with hearts and flowers.
Grow your string of hearts in the room that gets the most natural light in your home. If possible a couple of hours of direct sunlight in the morning.
Without sufficient light, your chain of hearts plant will show you how unhappy it is. The colors won’t be as bright, and the foliage will be sparse and leggy with longer empty spaces between the leaves.
If you can not give your plant more light, you can use a grow lamp. These special plant lights used to be large and quite expensive, but nowadays you can find very good smaller and affordable grow lights.
More light means a more defined leaf pattern and brighter pink-purple colors on the backside of the leaves.
Further reading: Beginners Guide to Basic Houseplant Care.
Watering
The string of hearts stores water in its leaves like a succulent type plant, so you can forget to water once in a while and not be in too much trouble. Although it can withstand some neglect, leaves may drop if you withhold water for too long.
During the growing season in spring and summer, let the soil dry out slightly before watering. Water less often in fall and winter when the plant grows dormant.
If you are uncertain, you can use a handy moisture meter to help you with when to water.
Further reading: Tips on how and when to water house plants – How to use a soil moisture meter.
When to Fertilize
String of Hearts plants don’t need a lot of fertilizer. But you can give your plant a boost during the active growing season. Fertilize about once a month with diluted liquid fertilizer. No need for any fertilizing in winter.
Soil and Repotting
Repotting should be done in spring or summer when the roots have filled the pot and/or roots are growing from the bottom of the pot.
Refresh the soil every two to three years, even if your plant still has room to grow. The soil will have lost all of its nutrients and will need to be replaced with fresh fast-draining succulent soil.
Plant your string of hearts in a pot that is one size larger than the original. Make sure the pot has drainage holes on the bottom so excess water has a way out.
Further reading: How to repot your indoor plants.
How to Prune a String of Hearts Plant
With enough light, the string of hearts can grow fairly quickly and trail down a few feet long. Our living room has very high ceilings so it can handle a 5-feet hanging plant with room to grow. But if your string of hearts is getting too long for its space, you can trim and prune it back.
Simply cut back the stems to the desired length. Make your cut just below a node where a set of leaves grows from the stem.
Don’t discard the stem cuttings, propagate them back in the soil and create an instantly fuller plant! Or start a new plant by planting the cuttings in their own little pot.
What are the Balls Growing on a String of Hearts?
You can find small white balls growing from the stems and the roots of your Sting of Hearts. This is a perfectly normal part of the plant’s root system.
Those balls are not flowers, but tubers, and when these aerial tubers come into contact with soil, they form roots and begin to grow into a new plant.
String of Hearts Propagation
You can propagate the tubers that grow along the vines and roots of the plant. Another way is to take stem cuttings and root these cuttings in water or soil. Or place butterfly leaf pair cuttings in soil to propagate them that way.
Want to learn more about plant propagation? Read the complete guide explaining the 6 different ways to propagate your plants. Or get more details about propagating the String of hearts specifically.
String of Hearts Flowers
Under the right conditions, String of Hearts plants will bloom with pink tubular flowers, looking somewhat like small lanterns.
These curiously shaped flowers function as ingenious fly traps. Lured by the scent of the flowers, small flies will get into the purple tops and are then trapped inside. Unlike the carnivorous venus flytrap or pitcher plants, the string of hearts releases the flies after they have been covered in the plant’s pollen.
Fertilize during spring and summer to give your string of hearts an energy boost and a better chance of growing flowers.
Plant Pests
The String of Hearts plant is pretty much pest-free but can be affected by any common household pests. Most often mealybugs or aphids.
Inspect your plant regularly for signs of pests to catch a possible infestation before it becomes severe. Check under the leaves and in axils where insects like to hide.
Further reading: How to get rid of houseplant pests.
Is the String of Hearts Plant Toxic to Cats and Dogs?
String of hearts plants are considered non-toxic and safe to grow at home around your cats or dogs.
If your pets are playful, do keep this plant out of reach. Those dangling strings are just waiting to be played with which can leave you with a severely damaged plant.
Further reading: The risks of toxic plants around your pets.
Love String of Hearts plants? Check out the care guides for the String of Pearls and the String of Turtles plants as well!
I have overwatered my string of hearts. The tubers were hard now they have gone soft. The plant looks good still. Do you think if I stop watering it so much it will come back?
Definitely stop watering for a bit. Give the roots some time to dry out first. How are the stems and leaves looking? If you start seeing trouble there, I would advise taking the parts that are still unaffected and propagate them to save your plant. Good luck and let me know how the plant improves.
Do you place the cuttings in water or soil directly to propagte? Do you need to have the cuttings callus before placing in soil or water? Thank you.
Hi Jamela,
I like to place cuttings in water first and see the roots grow. But you can plant them directly in soil as well if you like. Keep the soil slightly damp. You could use a little rooting hormone for a better success rate. You can also lay your cuttings on top of the soil. Circle it around and make sure the nodes touch the soil. Make sure you keep the humidity high while waiting for roots to grow.
Hope this helps!
What are the spikes growing out of my chain of hearts? They are about 2cm long and curved.
Hi Helen, I am not quite sure what you are describing when you say spikes? 2 cm, curved… could they be the odd-shaped flowers of the String of Hearts maybe? Those are about that size and curved. If you look at the photos in this post you see a lot of those flowers. You can check if that is what you are seeing on your plant.
@Helen, my string of hearts has just grown two pairs of spikes, they are completely different to the flowers and leaves. Did you ever work out what they are?
Will the regular “green” string of hearts turn purple under the leaves as some claim only the variegated plants do?
I’ve had mine for a week. I carefully untangled the vines and took out leaves/stems that didn’t make it during the shipping process. Everything was good. Now some of the vines are shriveling up and dying. It’s so sad to see a dead, shriveled heart hanging off of a thin, thirsty vine. Some of the vines are turning white. I’m not sure if it’s pushing new growth or lacking nutrients. I have kept it in a South facing window 2-5 feet away from the window. As I write this now, it’s outside in the shade because I hope a little more heat will dry out the soil faster.
I’m sorry your String of Hearts is having trouble! I must say, I expect every plant to go through some stress when being shipped and then having to adjust to its new environment. Have you watered it a lot since it arrived? If the most issues are with the leaves nearest to the soil, it could be overwatered. In that case, I would cut the vines to where the leaves are still looking good. Root those vines in water, and start over. At least that way you have a good chance for your plant to survive. Good luck!
Thank you for posting this great advice. Please let me know if the soil needs to get the east light or just the hearts to grow properly. And what is a tuner? The tiny ‘bumps’ on the vine? Removing them means how exactly.
Hi Linda, The tubers are small round “beads” growing on the stem of the string of hearts plant. There’s a photo in this post where you can see one.
You can carefully remove it by cutting the stem just before and right behind the tuber. Press it down in fresh soil and wait for roots to grow.
If the stem with the tuber on it gives enough leeway, you can also keep the tuber attached and press it into the soil in another pot that you place next to the mother plant.
Does that make sense? It’s sort of like how you can propagate spider plant babies in another pot but still attached to the original plant. You can see that in this post about how to propagate spider plants.
Hope this helps!
Hello! I have an amazing mother plant that I got from a nursery a couple of years ago, it is over 3ft long and my pride and joy. I have propagated 2 plants out of it. The first attempt was going so well and has gotten quite long but now a lot of the strings are shrivelling up and completely dried out, totally crispy and beyond saving – any ideas what has gone wrong here please???
Hi! My string of hearts are in a bright North facing location. They’re growing but the leaves are not showing any markings. They’re just plain greyish green. What can I do to get those patterns on the leaves?
hi i have just received a string of hearts plant as a present at the moment i have no hanging basket for it at the moment have put on my kitchen window sill would that be too bright quite sunny on there in the mornings i was going to hang by my staircase only dappled light there or maybe bathroom thoughts on these dont want to spoil as a lovely present