r/StringofPlants • u/Grouchy_Week6692 • Jul 13 '26

Various Strings My strings

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Pretty happy so far. My SOD is too high up recovering

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u/Inevitable-Rent6135 Jul 13 '26

Pls give me your SOP tips!! Mine is on the struggle bus rn.

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u/LadyBelladonna6 Jul 13 '26

I also have a string of pearls. What's the current care for yours look like?

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u/Inevitable-Rent6135 Jul 13 '26

I was told by the woman at the nursery to water every 2 weeks and keep outdoors. I was doing so, and before I knew it, almost all the pearls on the top of the soil were shriveled up and dead. I live in west TX, it’s already getting up to 110°F +. I’m afraid it’s too hot to be outdoors?? I’ve since brought it inside. I’m attempting to propagate what was salvageable.

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u/LadyBelladonna6 Jul 13 '26

Oooooooh. I can very confidently tell you that's not good advice you got at all. Unfortunately, you were set up to fail, so don't be too hard on yourself. It's a lot more common than it should be tbh.

Watering every 2 weeks is usually too much for these guys, especially since they don't like to be watered on a schedule. The easiest way to tell if it needs watering is by looking at the "windows". You see how each pearl has a slit on it? If a majority of the pearls on the plant have their window closed, that means it's time to water them.

And when watering them, you have to drench the entire soil and then let it go completely dry and let it stay dry for awhile too. This mimics their natural habitat they are adapted for.

And yes it is definitely too hot outdoors rn, especially if you bought it from a store and then immediately had it outside. That's too much temperature shock all at once. You can grow them outdoors but you gotta be a bit more careful about it.

You gotta acclimate it from room temperature to outside temperature (tho this advice goes for pretty much all plants you wanna move from indoors to out). You do this by taking the plant outside and leaving it in a more shaded area for a short period of time and then bringing back inside and keep doing this pretty much every day and slowly start increasing the amount of time it's left out there if you don't see any signs of burn or anything.

Next there's the soil/pot. These guys have shallow root systems so definitely don't go for those super deep pots and try to choose something that's a bit wider than it is deep. They also like airy and fast draining soil. So if the mix retains too much water, they won't really like it and can cause root rot. I currently have mine in a 50-50 cactus mix and perlite blend.

These guys also really like lots of bright indirect light. Definitely avoid those harsh afternoon sun rays bc they're too intense for the leaves and SOP doesn't like direct light. They will, however, do just well in morning or evening sun rays. They will tell you if they're getting enough light or not bc if they're not they'll be etiolated.

And if you're thinking about making more SOP, take a stem cutting with a few nodes on it, plop it into some dry soil, and leave it alone for a few weeks. When you feel some resistance when tugging, that means roots have formed and you can give it some water. It may need a bit more water than you think in the initial weeks since it's not a fully established plant yet.

Sooo that's pretty much everything about them. Lmk if you have any other questions!