How to Trim String of Hearts for Bushier Plants: 9 Pruning Tips

String of hearts (Ceropegia woodii) is a wonderful addition to your indoor plant collection. This evergreen houseplant gives you stunning foliage and wispy vines that flow over your home surfaces. It’s a popular ornamental houseplant for hanging gardens, countertops, and bookshelves. 

It’s native to South Africa and grows in dry mountain environments away from high humidity and low temperatures. You can even grow it outside in climate zones above 10. Its heart-shaped green and grey patterned leaves are semi-succulent, so you won’t have to water it more than once per month. 

As easy as it is to grow, there are a few things you can do to help it grow fuller and bushier. Besides basic upkeep, trimming your plant is key for vigorous growth that will fill your indoor spaces. Below are 9 pruning tips for a fuller and livelier string of hearts succulent. 

Start in Spring or Early Summer

Spring and early summer are times of active growth. During this time, your plant is moving its stored nutrients toward its stems. 

After trimming, the extra energy heals the plant quickly. It can rebuild its plant tissue and heal its wounds before becoming infected. Your succulent will also have enough energy to start new growth around the nodes of the trimmed vines. 

Whatever you do, avoid trimming in winter. This is the dormant season when your string of hearts is storing nutrients. It won’t heal as quickly or put on new growth where you trim. You probably won’t see new leaves forming until spring. 

Use Disinfected Shears or Scissors

This may seem like a strange pruning tip, but introducing a nasty bug or disease is the last thing you need for a bushy string of hearts. One of the easiest ways to prevent infections that can kill off healthy leaves and vines is disinfecting your shears or scissors. 

The best practice is to clean them after every use. Remove rust and lather the blades with antibacterial soap and water. Get all the grime and soil off with a brush or steel wool before rinsing with clean water. Don’t forget to dry your sheers completely after using them! 

With clean shears, you can trim away without worrying about introducing bad germs and killing your succulent. This way, you’re one step closer to maintaining full and vibrant growth. 

Detangle the Stems

The vine-like stems of a string of hearts tangle quickly. Healthy plants can become a tangled mess and the longer you leave them like that, the harder it is to separate them. They will also make your vibrant succulent top-heavy and hard to control. 

Before trimming, carefully pull each vine apart. Take your time not to rip the delicate stems or damage the leaves. Once you detangled all the vines, you’re ready to trim. 

To make your life easier, detangle the stems regularly, especially during the spring and summer during peak growth. This wavy succulent grows quickly and without regular attention, you’ll end up with a tangled mess of adorable heart-shaped foliage. 

Cut the Vines Back

Now that you detangled the vines, it’s time for the fun part! Find the longer stems and trim them back so they’re equal to the length of the other vines. Cut the stems at the nodes. Don’t be afraid to cut too much. This succulent can take a heavy-handed trimming. 

Keep cutting one section at a time to make each cut even. You should get the vines to about half their original size. Check for any diseased or broken vines and remove them with your disinfected sheers. 

After cutting your vines, don’t throw away your trimmings! If they’re healthy, you can propagate them by following the steps below. 

Make Clean Cuts

One important practice when trimming a houseplant or garden plant is making clean cuts. When you cut cleanly, you’re limiting the amount of tissue damage. String of hearts are delicate succulents that can become infected if too much tissue is exposed. 

That’s why keeping your pruning shears and scissors sharp and disinfected is important. Sharp shears make clean incisions without bruising or ripping your succulent. Clean cuts heal quickly, with less chance of infection or attracting pests. The quicker your succulent vine heals from trimming, the quicker it will put out healthy, new growth. 

Sharpening pruning sheers is easy. Simply remove the soil and plant debris, wash with soap and water, let dry, and sharpen. File in one direction along the beveled edge. When you’re done, cover your pruners in oil such as linseed oil. 

Remove Leggy Growth

Leggy growth happens when the stems stretch wide and leaves space far apart. This is a sign that your string of hearts is not getting enough light. This subtropical to tropical perennial needs lots of sunlight. When growing indoors, bright and indirect light works best. 

Start by trimming the leggy parts of the plant. Remove the elongated stems and keep the healthier-looking foliage closer to its base. Trim below the nodes until the leggy growth is gone. 

Next, move your string of hearts closer to a light source. The extra light will encourage it to grow vigorous new growth. It may take a while to see improvement, so be patient. Your plant will end up looking healthier than ever. 

Remove Discolored Foliage

As your succulent grows, you may see brown or yellow leaves. Stress from changes such as repotting, temperature swings, or over-watering can cause this. A string of hearts doesn’t need much watering, being a succulent. It also cannot handle huge temperature swings or cold weather. 

When you see discolored foliage, try to find out the reason. Check the soil for root rot or over-watering and monitor the temperatures around your succulent. Remove its discolored foliage and check for pests and diseases just in case. 

After removing the discolored leaves and changing its environment, watch for changes. Your string of hearts’ condition should improve. Once it’s healthy, it can start producing healthier and bushier foliage. 

Loop Your Vines

After trimming, try looping the vines back into the pot. This simple technique encourages new growth to form from the stems. The new stems will create an even fuller plant, adding layers of healthy vines to work with. 

Use simple wooden pins to pin them onto the soil surface. With consistent watering and care, roots will develop from the nodes on the vines and take root in the soil. Within a few weeks or months, you’ll see new growth appear. 

After the looped vine ends take root, trim the ends connected to the plant. The newly formed branches will hang down and grow into new vines. Repeat every year as your plant grows to make it look full and bushy. 

Continue Pruning Every Growing Season

With healthy trimming during its growing season, your string of hearts will grow full and beautiful. However, your work doesn’t stop there! This lovely succulent is a perennial and can live for several years if cared for. 

Continue a regular trimming routine each year. Aside from cleaning dead leaves, only trim during the spring and summer. If your string of hearts is healthy, you can trim it twice in one season. 

The more you prune your plant, the more consistent and bushier its growth becomes. As it gets fuller and healthier, it will fill your space with bright green foliage and pink, horn-shaped flowers in summer and fall. The fuller it is, the more colorful foliage you’ll enjoy in your home.