The String of Hearts is a plant that can get very bare quickly if it isn’t given the ideal conditions. Not enough light will cause the plant to stretch towards the plant, and inconsistent watering will do this too.
There is no way to get the lower leaves back, so if your plant isn’t looking at its best, it’s time to do something about it!
The good news is that you can easily get this plant to fill out again, though it will take some patience to get there.
Interested in fixing a leggy String of Hearts, or maybe you want to grow the thickest String of Hearts possible? Here’s everything you need to know.
How To Make Your String Of Hearts Plant Denser
Give The Crown More Light
One of the mistakes many people make with trailing plants is that they only give the leaves that tumble over the sides of the pot enough light.
For the base or the crown of the plant – which is the part closest to the soil – this isn’t ideal. Over time, the plant will get leggy at the base, and then start to lose those leaves closest to the beginning of the vine.
The way to combat this is to make sure that all parts of the plant get enough light. Position the pot so that the base of the plant gets plenty of light.
If you can, put your String of Hearts in a window where it can get a couple of hours of direct sunlight, and this will stop the plant from getting leggy in the first place!
But maybe life has gotten in the way, and you’ve forgotten about your string of hearts for a while, or there aren’t many vines on your plant, to begin with.
In this case, the next two tips are for you.
Propagate The Plant And Put The Cuttings Back Into The Soil
Maybe your plant is completely healthy, but there are only a couple of vines on the plant, and it’s not looking like the waterfall of hearts you imagined.
If this sounds like your plant, it’s worth propagating some of the strands and putting them straight back into the soil.
This will form new growth points, which will eventually turn into brand-new vines. Give the plant consistent care and enough light, and your plant will be fuller in no time at all.
There are two main ways to propagate your string of hearts: by circling an existing vine onto the soil, or by taking cuttings.
If you don’t want to cut a vine from the plant, simply take a healthy vine and gently guide it into the compost.
Make sure that the nodes have good contact with the soil, as this is where new growth will emerge.
Use bent paper clips to pin the vines to the soil, and keep the compost damp. You’ll soon see new growth forming along the vines.
Another way to propagate your String of Hearts is to use the butterfly method. Take some sharp and clean scissors, and snip just above and below a leaf pair.
This will make a single cutting with two leaves, with a node attached. Each cutting you take will produce a brand-new vine, so it’s a worthwhile method.
Put the cuttings back into the compost, and keep the soil damp while they root.
Start A New Plant From The Tubers
If your String of Hearts is looking very straggly and a bit sorry for itself, it may be time to start again from scratch.
Mature String of Hearts plants produce tubers on the vines, which are perfect for propagation, but they won’t exactly fit into the soil of the same pot, as they can be rather large.
Instead, it’s easier to use the tuber, several if you can, and start a couple of new plants. You don’t even need to cut them from the vine to do this!
Simply grab a small container or two of soil, and put them next to your original plant. Put the tubers (still attached to their original stems) on top of the soil, making sure it has good contact with the compost.
You could use a paperclip to make sure the tuber stays in contact with the soil. Then simply keep the soil damp, and give the tubers a bright position.
Once you see new growth, the new plants are ready to be separated from the original.
Final Thoughts
While it’s easy to let a String of Hearts get leggy or somewhat bare, it’s equally simple to encourage denser growth through propagation and increasing the light levels.
Make sure to place your String of Hearts plant in brighter light, and give it plenty of water so you can prevent leggy or bare vines in the future.
