posted
I love plants and normally do pretty well, but I love this String of Hearts. I do not get any direct light in my window but I did buy a clip lamp with grow bulb and put it over the plant. Thats where I messed up. I set it a small bowl intending to let it absorb the water it needed and remove it. I left it maybe 2 days like that and it looked bad. When repotting it I found 3 small tubers but only 1 have a stem and leafs on it. The others don't have a stem at all but they are firm and white with maybe a tiny bit of root off of one side. Well I ran across someone who lives out west and she is willing to ship me a small start. Her plant is planted in sand. I was able one day on the web to find a site, and this was only one time that offered a small 2in pot for $5 but the shipping was $17.. My question is how hard is it to package a small start for this plant? $17 worth? I cannot find any sites that sell it now and I have looked. I told her it might be possible to place it in a small box with barely damp sand, and wrapped in paper and shipped priority? What depth should it be planted at? I did buy cactus potting soil and the one tuber with leaves is still growing but I want the rest of them to grow. How do I do that? Thank you so much for this forum.. It's been driving me crazy.
Plants: 6 | From: In Illinois but 20 miles from St. Louis, Mo | Registered: Jul 2003
| Seeded: 24.207.167.100
Will Creed
guest
posted
I am not an expert in shipping plants. However, I do know that sending well-wrappped plants throught the regular mail is very risky for several reasons: it takes too long; it may get thrown around; it may be exposed to very high or very low temps.
Thus, it is wise to ship plants overnight with special handling and that costs money.
I have had success rooting this plant in damp sphagnum moss. It works well because there are lots of air spaces in the moss. A very porous potting mix also works well. Push the tubers or stem cuttings slightly into the potting mix, just far enough that they will be in contact with a little moisture at all times.
It does best in bright natural light and only needs protecetion from direct midday sun. If you must use a grow light, be sure that it is not too hot for the plant.
posted
Thanks for the info. Are the flowers only decorative or do they produce seeds?
Plants: 6 | From: In Illinois but 20 miles from St. Louis, Mo | Registered: Jul 2003
| Seeded: 24.207.167.173
Will Creed
guest
posted
The flowers are decorative. However, this plant does produce small "growth buds" or tubers at the base of the leaves. These growth buds can be sown in moist potting mix just like seeds.
Seeded: 24.239.134.109
posted
I ordered that same plant online. My husband knew what it looked like since he's been looking for it for months for me also. When it arrived in the mail he opened the box and called me at work right away. It looked like they threw it in a box, added a little paper and sent it to UPS. The plant looked horrible. It looked like they just took a few cuttings from another plant and threw it over a little dirt. The leaves look like the one I have now and I didn't think it was even the right plant. The leaves were very big and thick and I have only seen my sister's plant which has very small bright green leaves. I don't think shipping it helped any but I would beware of ordering it online. Fortunately when I complained to the company they gave me a full refund. And after a few days, the entire plant was dead. I tried to save a few strands right from the beginning but there was no hope. I don't think there is any safe way to have a plant shipped.
Plants: 71 | From: New Jersey | Registered: Aug 2003
| Seeded: 64.12.96.70
posted
Thanks for the reply, but I did already put a order for small start.. so I will be out under 10.00 if it doesn't work. Will let you know. Love that plant.. I don't know what it is about this plant and string of beads.. Plants: 6 | From: In Illinois but 20 miles from St. Louis, Mo | Registered: Jul 2003
| Seeded: 24.207.167.173
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