Propagating Chain of Hearts.

Propagating Chain of Heart Plant
What we know and what we are trying.

So you want to propagate your plant?

We have had different levels of success with three different ways of propagating this plant.

Using the balls/tubers!

Some tubers growing on the vine.

This tuber was growing under the soil. Each vine is connected to at least one of these and the roots grow out of them.

Potatoes, balls, spuds, tubers or tubercles.
Different people call them different things but these balls that grow on the chain of hearts are the quickest and easiest way to propagate the plant. These balls grow in the soil and hold onto the water to help the plant grow. Sometimes you will find them growing above the soil and down on the strings. If you spot these balls growing on the strings grab them quick because they will be the easiest bits to propagate with.
These balls can be directly planted into soil to create a new plant. Yep! It is that simple.

So you have a plant with lots of long growth and you want to grow some more BUT you can't see any balls on your plant. You are going to need to take a cutting and grow it in either water or soil.

Growing cuttings in water

Simply cut a string off the plant and pop the end into water. Make sure there are some leaves attached but none sitting directly in the water. Then wait for it to grow some roots. The disavantage with this way is it can take along time for roots to grow. Months!! Change the water regularly and watch out for the plants going mushy. When roots have grown stick the roots into the soil.

Growing cuttings in soil

This option skips the step of rooting in water first and avoids the risk of the plant going mushy. However, the plant can look a little sad for awhile. It is important to keep the soil a little moist while the plant is trying to grow new roots. You can normally tell when it has grown roots as the plant will perk up a bit and you will start to see new growth. A tuber will eventually form under the soil where you have poked the plant in.

We potted these chain of heart cuttings that were going mushy in water. We removed the mushy parts and popped the end into the soil. Then we curled it around the top of the soil. Two weeks later you can see it is growing a new shoot!

While rooting in water works it just seems like an unnessary step that can definitely be skipped. Some people pop their cutting in water for a couple of days before putting it in water. This might help but we dont know for sure.

Grooming

Your plant doesn't look so good. It is getting longer but not bigger or thicker. What can you do?

This plant below was a little sad it was growing longer but wasn't getting any new shoots.
It needed repotting so we found a good draining pot and filled it with premium potting mix.

We pulled the plant out of its old pot and untangled it. We found a few potatoes that were hiding in the soil.

Then we separated the tubers from each other and covered them in soil.

It looks quite sparse with only five places that the vine is growing and really only three spots with substanial growth.

We then wrapped the three strands around the top of the soil. Then popped this guy near a bright north facing window with lots of bright indirect light. Looking forward to see how well she grows.

After a week you can see that it is growing nicely.

This varigated Chain of Hearts was growing in the black pot with terrible drainage. It also was getting growth in length but no new shoots.

First thing we did was change it to a pot with drainage. We actually prefer the look of the black but the plant was instantly happier in its new pot and it is much easier to figure out when it needs to be watered.