String of Pearls: The Tricky Succulent

It looks like a delicate necklace and grows like a weed in the wild, but inside a home, the String of Pearls is often a source of heartbreak. One day it’s lush and spilling over the pot; the next, the pearls are shriveled or turning to mush. It is a plant that demands a very specific balance of light and water, with very little margin for error. It took me three dead plants to finally understand what this succulent actually wants.

String of Pearls (Senecio rowleyanus) has this reputation for being an easy succulent, but honestly, I think it is one of the harder ones to keep alive indoors. It looks so carefree in photos, spilling out of hanging pots with those perfect little spheres. But in real life, it can shrivel up, rot, or just slowly decline for reasons that are not immediately obvious.

I am going to walk you through the specific things that tripped me up and how I finally got it right. This is not a general care guide. This is about the weird, counterintuitive stuff that nobody tells you until you have already lost a plant or two.

Why you must water the top of the pot

When I first got String of Pearls, I treated it like my other trailing plants. I would lift the pot, check if it felt light, and then water it by pouring water around the edges. Sometimes I would even bottom water because I read somewhere that succulents prefer that method.

This was a mistake.

String of Pearls grows differently than most houseplants. In its native habitat in South Africa, it spreads along the ground as a groundcover. The stems touch the soil and put down roots at multiple points, not just at the base of the plant. When you grow it in a hanging pot, those trailing stems are just hanging in the air. They are not getting any support from the soil, and they are not putting down new roots.

The only part of the plant that is actually rooted is at the top of the pot, right where the stems emerge. If you water around the edges or use bottom watering, the moisture might not even reach that critical zone where the roots are concentrated. I learned this from a horticulture extension article from North Carolina State University, which pointed out that many people underwater String of Pearls without realizing it because they are not getting water to the root zone.

Now I water directly at the top center of the pot. I use a watering can with a narrow spout and aim right where the stems come out of the soil. I water thoroughly until it drains out the bottom, but I make sure that top portion gets completely soaked. Then I let it dry out before watering again.

The difference was immediate. My plant stopped looking stressed and started putting out new growth within a few weeks of changing my watering method.

Preventing crown rot

Here is where it gets tricky, though. You need to water the top of the pot, but you also need to avoid crown rot. These two things seem contradictory, but they are not.

Crown rot happens when the base of the stems stays wet for too long. This is especially common if the soil stays damp or if water sits on top of the soil surface without draining properly. I lost my second String of Pearls to crown rot, and I didn’t even realize what was happening until the stems turned mushy and brown right at the soil line.

The key is drainage and airflow. When I repotted my current plant, I mixed regular succulent soil with extra perlite, probably a 50-50 ratio. Some people add coarse sand. The goal is to create a mix that drains fast. According to research published in HortScience journal, succulents in general require a substrate that allows for rapid drainage while still providing some water retention, which is a narrow window to hit.

I also changed my pot. I used to use a plastic hanging pot because it was light and easy to hang. But plastic holds moisture longer than terracotta. Now I use an unglazed terracotta pot, which lets the soil dry out faster through evaporation. It is heavier, so I had to get a sturdier hook for my ceiling, but it was worth it.

Another thing I do now is water in the morning. This gives the plant all day to dry out a bit before the cooler night temperatures set in. If you water at night, the soil stays damp longer, and that is when rot can take hold.

One more tip that helped me: I gently press the pearls aside when I water so I can see the soil surface. I want the water to go into the soil, not just sit on top of the stems. After watering, I make sure the stems are not buried in wet soil. They should rest on top of it.

Above: A closer look at this plant.

Why the pearls shrivel up

Shriveled pearls were my biggest frustration. I would look at my plant and see these sad, deflated spheres, and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Was I overwatering? Underwatering? Too much sun? Not enough?

It turns out shriveling can mean different things depending on the pattern.

If the pearls closest to the soil are shriveling first, you are probably underwatering. This was my problem with my third plant in the beginning. I was so terrified of overwatering after losing the previous two that I was letting it get bone dry for too long. The plant would pull moisture from the oldest pearls first, the ones closest to the base, to keep the newer growth alive.

When I started watering more consistently, aiming for that top root zone like I mentioned earlier, the shriveling stopped. I still let the soil dry out between waterings, but I don’t let it stay dry for weeks at a time anymore. I check the pearls themselves. If they start to look slightly wrinkled or feel soft when I gently squeeze them, I know it is time to water.

On the other hand, if the pearls at the tips of the stems are shriveling, that usually means the roots are damaged or the plant is not able to take up water properly. This can happen from overwatering and root rot, or from the plant being root-bound. I had to unpot my plant once to check, and sure enough, the roots were circling the bottom of the pot. After repotting into a slightly larger container, the tip shriveling stopped.

There is also a third cause that nobody talks about: temperature stress. According to the University of Wisconsin Extension, sudden temperature drops can cause succulents to shut down their water uptake temporarily. I had my String of Pearls near a window in winter, and I think the cold glass was chilling the stems at night. Once I moved it a few inches away from the window, the shriveling improved.

Bright light on the top soil

This is going to sound strange, but the top of the soil needs bright light just as much as the pearls do.

I used to think that as long as the trailing strands got light, the plant would be fine. I had my String of Pearls in an east-facing window, and the strands that hung down got nice morning sun. But the top of the pot, where the roots are, was shaded by the fullness of the plant itself.

The plant started to decline. New growth was weak and spaced far apart. The pearls were smaller than they should have been. I moved it to a south-facing window, but I also did something else. I trimmed back some of the strands so that light could reach the top of the pot.

This made a huge difference. String of Pearls needs strong light at the crown to push out healthy new growth. If the top is shaded, the plant will still survive, but it will not thrive. Research from the Department of Horticulture at Iowa State University explains that many succulents allocate resources based on light availability, so if the crown is in shade, the plant will focus energy on the parts that are getting light, which can lead to weak overall growth.

Now I rotate my pot every few weeks so that all sides of the crown get equal light exposure. I also make sure that the top of the soil is visible and not completely covered by a dense mat of stems.

If your apartment is too dark, String of Pearls might not be the plant for you. I know that is disappointing to hear, but I have tried growing it in lower light, and it just does not work. The pearls stretch out, the color fades, and the plant looks miserable. Save yourself the heartbreak and get a pothos instead. For more on understanding light requirements, check out bright indirect light explained.

Above: Getting started with care.

Propagating pearls

Propagating String of Pearls is easier than keeping the original plant alive, which is kind of ironic.

I take cuttings that are at least three to four inches long. I make sure each cutting has several pearls on it. Then I remove the bottom few pearls to expose the stem. This part is important. You want a section of bare stem to place in the soil.

I use the same fast-draining soil mix I use for the mother plant. I lay the cuttings on top of the soil in a shallow pot or tray, and I pin them down with small pieces of wire or bobby pins. The bare section of stem should be in contact with the soil. The pearls can rest on top.

Then I mist the soil lightly every few days. Not soaking, just misting. The goal is to keep the soil slightly damp until roots form. This usually takes two to three weeks. According to a propagation guide from the Royal Horticultural Society, stem contact with the soil is critical for adventitious root formation in many trailing succulents.

Once I see roots, I start watering normally and treat them like mature plants. I usually propagate a few strands every year just to have backups in case something happens to the main plant.

One thing I learned the hard way: do not propagate in winter. I tried once in January, and nothing happened for two months. The cuttings just sat there. When I tried again in late spring, they rooted in half the time. Temperature and daylight hours matter more than I thought.

String of Pearls is tricky, but it is not impossible. Once you figure out its quirks, it is actually pretty rewarding. If you’re looking for an easier trailing succulent, try String of Hearts instead. That said, I still check on mine more often than my other plants. Some succulents are forgiving. This one is not.

References

North Carolina State University Extension. “Senecio rowleyanus.” NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox.

Cai, X., et al. “Substrate Components for Succulent Plant Production.” HortScience, vol. 47, no. 9, 2012.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension. “Environmental Stress in Succulents.”

Iowa State University Department of Horticulture. “Light Requirements for Indoor Succulents.”

Royal Horticultural Society. “Propagating Succulents from Cuttings.”