String of pearls are one of my favorite house plants. Just like most succulents, they're very forgiving to neglect, They almost prefer if you forget to water them. With two kids, a dog, a cat and several chickens... they thrive in my house.
Propagating them just takes a little soil, sun, a mother plant and time.
For the soil, you can make your own.
For the purpose of this blog I picked up some premixed Succulent soil aka Cactus Soil. You want to stay away from anything not made for desert plants as you want the water to wick away. String of Pearls are very susceptible to root rot in short time.
When propagating I use small mason jars for potting just because I have a surplus of them around from work. You can use any shallow container when starting them. It will be a while before they need to moved into something larger.
Fill each container you chose with a couple inches of Cactus Soil in each one.
Taking your cuttings from the mother plant doesn't require a degree in botany. String of pearls do not "need" to be cut above any part of the stem or below any leaves like other species of plants. Just cut a piece off that's 4 or more inches long. This gives you plenty of length to grow from.
Now you can start these one of two ways. The first is to lay the whole string on the top of the soil. The idea is that over time when it begins to reroot, it will send off shoots and pull it's self into the soil. In natural, this is likely how they re propagate themselves.
Now the faster way (in my opinion), is to take the end where you made your cut and carefully push a few centimeters into the top of the soil using a skewer or even a butter knife. With this method, you are more likely to risk cutting the string by accident but they reroot much faster.
If you want to be on the side of caution and you're only doing one or two pots, you can do both. I usually have a ton of extras and load up the new pots.
How long this takes depends on a few things. Proper watering, warmth and light.
This particular succulent LOVES light. But if you are doing this in the winter in a cold drafty window, it's going to take longer. It should only take a couple of weeks to start rooting though. Remember, this plant hates being over watered. Only water when the top inch of the soil is dry. Over watering can kill the plant or worse, cause a gnat infestation. I just had to toss one for this reason.
But that's it! Super easy and frugal, right?
What You Need:
Scissors
Cactus Soil
a small pot
spoon
water
a cutting from a mother plant
Instructions:
1. Fill your small pots with your cactus potting soil, approx 1-2 inches.
2. Cut 4+ inches from your mother plant, the longer the better.
3. Carefully push 1/4-1/2 inch of the cut end into the soil or alternatively you can place the cutting on the top of the soil.
4. Water just enough to wet the top half inch of the soil.
5. Place in a warm and sunny window and wait for new roots to start, this can take a few weeks.
6. Repot once new roots have formed.
Ta-da! After a few weeks you have a new baby String of pearls!
Note: You can add small potting rocks or pebbles on the bottom of the pot to help with draining.
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