Silver Glory String of Hearts: Ultimate Care Tips with Buying Guide

Silver Glory String of Hearts is popular for its silvery tinted leaves and symbol of the couple’s bond of love.

But, before getting one, you need to know about its care tips so they will not die through recklessness.

Read about its care tips, common problems, solutions, and propagation methods.

Overview of Silver Glory String of Hearts

Ceropegia woodii Silver Glory, aka Silver Glory String of Hearts, is an evergreen, tuberous, trailing, succulent plant.

You might also find purple or burgundy flushing on the undersides of its leaves.

A table shows additional information about the Silver Glory String of Hearts.

Silver Glory String of Hearts for Sale

If you wish for Silver Glory String of Hearts in your House, you can quickly get one through propagation or buy one.

Here is a table containing detailed information about the plant on sale.

Silver Glory String of Hearts – Ultimate Grow & Care Guide

Silver Glory String of Hearts does not require a high level of maintenance.

Here is a summarized table containing the basic care requirements of Silver Glory String of Hearts.

1. Sunlight & Temperature

Silver Glory String of Hearts loves to stay near an eastern-facing window reflecting morning sunlight.

Low light causes the loss of silvery patches resulting in green leaves. Also, low light leads to leggy, stunted growth, curling, limping, yellowing, and falling off the foliage.

Similarly, you should also avoid high-intensity light. It causes drying of leaves, excessive moisture loss from leaves, browning, and burning of leaf edges.

Temperature extremities cause yellowing, drooping, limping of foliage, and stunted growth.

However, exposure to freezing temperatures results in the death of inner cell components, and the plant growth will be checked.

Tips to Provide Proper Light & Temperature 

• You can grow them outdoors in USDA Growth Zone 9-10. Ensure to provide 30-40% of the total outdoor light intensity.
• The distance between the light source and the plant should be about 20-30cm.
• If your place has low light intensity, use full-spectrum artificial lights, as light is crucial to the plant. Also, consider using grow lights during winter.
• Increase the surrounding humidity of plants during hot days or use a room humidifier.
• Use frost blankets or heaters during the cold months.

2. Watering & Humidity

In fact, like succulents, Silver Glory String of Hearts plants store water in their leaves. Hence, do not water them too often.

However, improper humidity leads to yellowing, limping, drooping, wilting, and foliage discoloration.

Watering is the most common and detrimental issue in Silver Glory String of Hearts.

Under and over-watering signs are yellowing, limping, drooping, wilting, and foliage discoloring.

Similarly, if the humidity drops below 40%, its leaf might curl, and the tip might turn brown.

Tips to Provide Watering & Humidity Properly

• While watering, water the plant thoroughly until the water does not drain out of the drainage holes.
• Avoid using harsh water containing excessive salts.
• Do not mist the plant in the evening.
• Reduce the watering frequency to half during winter.
• For correct soil moisture measurement, use a moisture meter.

3. Soil & Fertilization

Silver Glory String of Hearts detests soggy soil. Since it is semi-succulent, it is prone to waterlogged soil that causes root rot.

The best soil mix for the plant is a combination of succulents mix, pumice or perlite, coconut coir, and organic compost in a ratio of 1:1:1/3:1/3, or you can use Fertilome Mix and Dr. Earth Pot of Gold.

Moreover, use nitrogen-rich NPK fertilizer in the ratio of 20-5-5 for your plant.

Improper fertilization results in yellowing, wilting, browning, and weakening of stem and foliage.

Tips to Provide Proper Soil & Fertilization

• Always water the plant thoroughly before fertilizing them to enhance the nutrient absorption rate.
• Avoid contact with leaves and stems while adding fertilizers to the soil.
• Fertilize them only in the growing season, i.e., spring and summer.
• Avoid fertilizing in the winter season as the plants go dormant.
• Use Miracle-Gro fertilizer & Dr. Earth Nitro fertilizer to feed your plants appropriately.

4. Potting and Re-potting

A terracotta pot that is 1-2 inches larger in diameter than the plant’s root ball is ideal for Silver Glory String of Hearts. 

Your plant is root-bound if you see roots poking out of the drainage holes and signs of yellowing, drooping, limping of foliage, and stunted growth.

Likewise, you might need to repot them if the soil is highly compacted.

The best time to repot them is when the plant is actively growing during spring and summer. It is easier for plants to adapt to new environments in the growing season.

You need some sterilized equipment for potting and re-potting, such as gardening gloves, pruning shears, garden trowel, and garden fork.

Tips to Repot Silver Glory String of Hearts

• Water the plant thoroughly on the last day earlier to re-potting.
• Get a clean planter 1-2 inches larger than the previous pot.
• Loosen the top 25% of the soil using the garden trowel and fork.
• Gently tap around the perimeters and bottom of the pot to detach soil from the pot.
• Now, hold a tight grip on the base of the stem and take it off the pot.
• Inspect for signs of root rot, and remove such affected parts if you find any.
• Similarly, you can also prune your plant at this point.
• Then, fill the 2/3rd portion with fresh potting mix. Place the plant at the center and fill the remaining space with soil.
• Water the plant thoroughly and leave it in a bright space.

5. Timely Pruning

Prune dead and damaged foliage and stems of Silver Glory String of Hearts once a year at the end of the fall or the beginning of the spring.

Prune if the plant is leggy, dull, and infected by pests and diseases. Pruning enhances new healthier growth and side growth, making your plant bushier.

The major pests irritating the plant are Mealybugs, Aphids, and Spider Mites, which cause yellowing, limping, and discoloring symptoms.

Similarly, the most prevalent pathogens in Silver Glory String of Hearts are Pythium & Phytophthora spp.

These pathogens result in drooping foliage, mushy stems and roots, and rot of all the plant parts.

Tips to Prune Silver Glory String of Hearts Properly

• Clean all of your pruning materials using rubbing alcohol. Also, ensure to sterilize the instruments in between pruning.
• Avoid trimming off healthy foliage. Trim only dead, damaged foliage and stunted stems.
• Prune them before the growing season, as spring will soon fill your plant with newer growths.
• Over-pruning stresses the plant, and the plant might even die.

Pro Tip: Avoid pruning more than 25% of the plant at a time.

• Use Isopropyl alcohol to get rid of the pests.
• Use Copper fungicides or spray with Neem oil.

Silver Glory String of Hearts: All About Growth

Silver Glory String of Hearts produces tiny delicate heart-shaped foliage tinted with silver variegation and darker green edges.

Moreover, it takes about 4 -6 years for a plant to mature fully.

Your Silver Glory String of Hearts will reach its full potential during spring and summer.

But, once the winter marks its beginning, your plant will go dormant.

Similarly, Silver Glory String of Hearts also produces lantern-shaped small pinkish-purple flowers.

These 2 cm long flowers bloom from the end of summer to the beginning of October.

Toxicity of Silver Glory String of Hearts

You might let your pets and children wander around Silver Glory String of Hearts without fear, as it is non-toxic to humans and pets.

However, I suggest keeping it slightly off the reach of pets and children as they might nibble your plant.

And if your children & pets get symptomized due to overconsumption of the plant, contact:

• Animal Poison Control Center at 888-426-4435.
• National Capital Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222.

Propagation Methods for Silver Glory String of Hearts

Stem cutting is the most common method of propagating Silver Glory String of Hearts.

However, you can also propagate them through seed germination and air layering.

You need pots, pruning shears, rubbing alcohol, and rooting hormones for propagation.

Propagating Via Stem Cuttings

Stem cutting is the faster, easier, and highly successful propagation method.

So, now, let us hop into the steps for propagating a string of hearts without delay.

• Make a 3 inches incision at a 45° angle just below the node of the healthy plant.
• Next, leave the stem for callous formation for a couple of hours and apply the rooting hormone or the cinnamon powder.
• Fill the clean pot halfway with soil, poke a hole in the center, insert the cutting, and carefully press the soil around it.
• Water the plant and level it in a bright space. The cutting will preferably start rooting within 3-6 weeks.
• Fill a clean container with salt-free water and place the stem inside for water propagation. Remember to submerge one of the plant’s nodes entirely in the water.
• Also, ensure to change the water within 3-4 days.

Propagating via Air Layering

You can easily propagate strings of hearts via air layering. Follow the steps mentioned below for propagation via Air layering.

• First, inspect for healthy, sturdy stems and wrap a plastic bag filled with sphagnum moss around the stems near a node.
• Ensure the plastic bags contains a few holes around them.
• Sprinkle some water on the moss regularly, and continue to look after the mother plant.
• You will likely see roots poking out of the plastic bag within 2-5 weeks.

Silver Glory String of Hearts Vs. String of Hearts

The growth habits, care requirements, and growth rate of Silver Glory String of Hearts and String of Hearts are similar. So, it is easy to get baffled by these two varieties.

However, you can easily differentiate between them meticulously by inspecting their leaves.

A String of Hearts has pronounced heart-shaped leaves with slightly pointed tips, whereas the silver glory string of the heart’s leaves is round, resembling an apple’s shape.

It has lily pad-shaped leaves with little rounder and softer tips, unlike strings of hearts.

Besides, you can also differentiate them through variegation.

A string of hearts has less silver variegation with more green patches, whereas a Silver Glory String of Hearts has a more silver variation with deep green edges.