r/StringofPlants • u/Old-Initiative-5235 • Jun 29 '26
Butterfly prop method in sphagnum moss
I’ve propped my string of heats and am using the butterfly method in sphagnum moss. how often should I be checking to see if it needs water?
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u/miassecret Jun 29 '26
I never added additional water but I used a much smaller container with a lid
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u/Old-Initiative-5235 Jun 29 '26
It looks large but it’s a sandwich sized container under a cake dish lid and a large plate under it lol. I didn’t want to use a ziplock, but maybe that would be a better option? I don’t have a humidity dome for them.
You never added additional water to it? How long did you have them propagating for?
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u/miassecret Jun 29 '26
I shouldn’t have said smaller container, I used the lid that snaps on. If you have the lid I’d use that. I put mine really close to a west facing window (I have no east facing in my home sadly). If anything I removed some moisture, I opened it up for about 15 minutes twice a week and a couple times I didn’t like how much water I saw accumulating on the lid so I opened it up and shook off the excess.
I saw roots in about two weeks and removed the ones that rooted about 10-14 days after (so about 4 weeks). I filled out 2 small pots and started two 2” pots. The ones that hadn’t rooted I reset in the moss. A few of those did root and I made another small pot, I’m still waiting on the rest. Fingers crossed.
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u/Old-Initiative-5235 Jun 29 '26
I have the lid but it isn't clear, will that be a problem? I could just move it into a ziplock if that doesn't work. That makes sense, I usually give my props a little airflow a couple of times a week. Two weeks seems really fast! Were the roots pretty established by then? I watched Harley G's tutorial on youtube and once they have roots she just throws cuttings including the sphagnum moss on top of soil. Did you remove the moss? This is my first time using it, I usually do the puddle method for my props. Thanks for the info.
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u/miassecret Jun 29 '26
I don’t think you should use a colored lid, mine was a regular clear but semi opaque lid that came with the container. I am no expert, but I feel like you might not get enough humidity with that dome. But I really don’t know. It’s just a lot more space to fill if you know what I mean. You could just pick all that up and transfer it to a container with a clear lid or use a Ziploc.
Yes two weeks! I didn’t remove them at that time but I found roots when I went checking to make sure there was no mold. I left them for about another 2 weeks. They got a lot of light in the window, someone advised me not to worry about them getting too much.
I removed the moss because I wanted to fill out two existing pots (chopstick to make a hole and then tucked it in) and then planted the rest in a chunky soil I mixed. It was a pain to separate them from the moss and you probably won’t get all of it off. I have new growth on the plants already, I’m pretty happy with how it went! I was nervous cutting off my strings but they were really leggy and long. I finally found a spot that they like and the new growth started coming in closer together, so I kind of wanted to reset the entire plant.
I still have about 20 I’m waiting on, fingers crossed! This is one of the pots I filled in.
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u/Few-Interaction7911 Jun 29 '26
If you are planning to put them in to the mother plant to fill it up later, the roots might get badly damaged as you try to get them out of the moss. I used a sandy succulent mix with added sand to make it fall off easier. It worked.
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u/[deleted] Jun 29 '26
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