How to Plant, Grow, and Care for Baby Tears (Soleirolia Soleirolii)

The dense, lush, and rich green leaves of the baby tears look incredible when falling from a hanging basket. However, the thought of maintaining these delicate-leaved plants can be intimidating! Do they look difficult to grow and care for to you as well?

Well, you don’t have to worry about planting or caring for these charming baby tears. They are easy to maintain and can serve as an excellent houseplant.

Scientifically, they’re known as Soleirolia soleirolii or Helxine soleirolii, baby tears is delicate looking, featuring bright yellow leaves with tiny white flowers. Outdoors, you’ll usually find them as a ground cover or in ornamental gardens.

If you’re looking for a plant to enhance the appeal of your home’s interior décor, Soleirolia soleirolii is a great option to choose. Read on to learn more about how to plant dwarf baby tears and properly care for them.

What is Baby Tears?

They are low-growing plants that give off a moss-like look. Belonging to the Urticaceae family, Soleirolia soleirolii grows vigorously and is likely to outgrow its container. It has many other common names including angel’s tears, peace in the home, bits and pieces, bread and cheese, Corsican creeper, Corsican curse, friendship plant, mind-your-own-business, and pollyanna vine. It can be easily grown indoors near bright sunlight windows, patios, or even in shady spots.

Native Area

Baby tears originate in the Mediterranean. They’re native to southern Europe, mainly Italy, Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Islands. These moss-looking plants are often regarded as environmental weed in Western Europe and California. Today, baby tears are common in many other parts of the world.

Characteristics

Baby tears have small round leaves in lush green and yellow leaves on rather fleshy stems. If you are looking for an alternative to grass, this is an excellent option, especially because it’s an evergreen. This mat-forming creeping member of the nettle family is perfect for subtropical and temperate areas.

Baby tears are similar to other members of the nettle family and even share a common name with Sagina subulata, called Irish moss. However, the baby tears plants have a completely different botanical structure and belong to another family.

Baby Tears Plant Look-Alikes

It must be mentioned that there is another plant called baby tears that is very similar to Soleirolia soleirolii, and also belongs to the Urticaceae family. This plant is Pilea depressa, native to the Caribbean. Though both types are not closely related, they can be confused with each other. Pilea has leaves smaller than a fingernail and are round in shape.

Pilea is best for containers and terrariums. With their small and delicate structure, they look beautiful hanging from the containers or draped on the wall.

Varieties

Aurea is another variety of Soleirolia soleirolii. It is commonly known as golden baby tears. Aurea has broad leaves and is golden in color. They can grow as high as two inches and as broad as eighteen inches. The growing conditions golden baby tears remain the same.

How to Grow

Looking at the delicate, tiny leaves and trailing stems of a growing baby tears can trick you into thinking they are tough to care for! That couldn’t be further from the truth! Baby tears are easy to grow in your home and require little maintenance.

Light

Baby tears grown as a houseplant, can grow well in shady areas with marginal light. However, if you want optimal results, place in a moderate amount of daylight. Keep them away from direct light as it may hinder their growth. Bright indirect light is best.

Outdoors baby tears prefer partial to full shade. Direct sunlight can scorch its delicate leaves. It thrives in areas with filtered light, such as under trees, along shaded garden beds, or beside walls that block harsh afternoon sun. Morning sun or dappled light works well, but exposure to intense midday or afternoon rays should be minimized, especially in a warm climate.

Water

It’s best to keep your baby tears container or bed full of consistently moist soil for optimal growth. However, they should never be soggy. The first rule of baby tears care is to give it a moist soil environment, but the level of water must not go overboard. Overly damp soil will cause the root rot.

Usually watering every five to seven days during the growing season is enough. Provide a daily misting with distilled water or a plant humidifier to keep it at about 60%. A nearby pebble tray will suffice for your baby tears indoors.

Soil

When planting outdoors, choose a spot with well-drained, loamy soil that retains moisture but doesn’t become waterlogged.

The soil you’re using in your baby tears pot must have enough peat moss to encourage the healthy growth of the plant while maintaining good soil moisture. A basic commercial potting soil can take care of this. However, too much and your baby tears soil won’t drain well, so add perlite to increase drainage. Ideal pH for growing baby’s tear is between 5.0 and 6.0.

Temperature

The ideal daytime temperatures for Soleirolia soleirolii is between 60 and 65°F (16-18°C), and the nighttime ideal temps are between 50 and 55°F (10-13°C). Keep the baby tears out of frost, as they have no tolerance for it and will take on damage or die.

Fertilizer

When you decide to plant baby tears seeds, it is important that you feed them with a balanced, water-soluble fertilizer once they start growing. Fertilize these and mature plants every two weeks in the spring and summer. This is the time when the baby tears is growing at the highest rate, and needs additional nutrients. Cut back on fertilizing in dormancy, during winter and fall.

Adequate baby tears plant nourishment ensures that you have a healthy plant. You can use a balanced liquid house plant fertilizer that is diluted by about half.

Maintenance

Once the baby tears start to overgrow and crowd out the existing pot, up-pot by about one inch. Carefully remove the baby tears plant from its old pot and gently separate the root mass. Then, place it in the new pot with a good-sized drainage hole and some of your preferred potting soil.

Fill in the areas around the original baby tears plant root ball and lightly water. Then put the new pot somewhere it receives indirect light. You can try using mixed containers to see what works best for you too.

Baby tears plants can be rather invasive, especially when grown outdoors in areas like Southern California, which mimic its native habitat of the Mediterranean. Prune frequently to ensure they’re not overgrowing their container or spilling onto your pathways outside. Use a pair of sharp scissors or pruning shears and don’t be afraid to aggressively prune the stems and leaves of the baby tears.

Propagation

You can propagate baby tears by division pretty easily. All you have to do is divide the root ball and foliage into small clusters, then gently compress their roots and pot them into smaller pots or a flat tray. A shallow pot is totally acceptable. Water the baby tears into their new pot, and affix either a plastic bag or lid over the top of the pot to increase humidity. You can do this when you repot your parent baby tears and multiply your collection.

Common Problems

Although baby tears are pretty darn easy to take care of, you can still encounter pests, diseases, and growing problems. Let’s examine each of these issues and discuss ways to combat them.

Growing Problems

If your baby tears are growing slowly or don’t look healthy, revisit the care section of this guide. Chances are you are either overwatering, underwatering, or having an issue with the light requirements for baby tears. Yellowing lower leaves are a sign of overwatering and curling; brown leaves are a sign it is getting too much sunlight or in an area that’s too warm.

To remedy these issues, remember to water your baby tears appropriately, keep the humidity up, and only expose to bright, indirect light.

Pests

Whiteflies are small insects covered with white powdery wax that resemble fungus gnats. They feed on sap and weaken the plant, causing the leaves to drop. They also lay eggs on the top of the leaves. What you can do to control this pest is to spray neem oil on the baby tears plant in a light mist.

Scale Insects are common on baby tears houseplants. They are small, brown, slimy-looking bumps that feed on the leaves and stems. They consume the plant’s sap and create a sticky substance known as honeydew. Manually wipe off the bumps caused by the scale with rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs.

Aphids are also known as plant lice. They are pear-shaped insects that form large colonies on plants. They can cause damage by sucking their sap and ruining their leaves and flowers. To get rid of this pest, spray neem oil.

Diseases

As mentioned, for the optimal growth of Soleirolia soleirolii plants, you have to be careful about the conditions in which they are grown. Baby tears can experience root rot if they are overwatered. Keep the soil just moist enough to ensure proper watering but not too moist to waterlog the roots.

Botrytis and southern blight are also common when baby tears growing conditions are off, and foliage sits in moisture for too long. If this is due to overwatering, cut back for a while and allow the soil to completely dry. Meanwhile, prune away foliage that has gray mold or lesions. This should remedy the issue, but if it doesn’t, you may need to dispose of the baby tears.

Powdery mildew occurs in the same conditions as the previous two diseases. Prune away damaged foliage and cut back on watering. If you’d like to prevent the issue altogether, try a light mist of neem oil.

Frequently Asked Questions