Care of Ceropegias

The important factors to remember are the following:

Lighting- Part or bright, broken sun is best for the leafy types, while the leafless ones prefer brighter or longer exposures. Most types will be perfectly happy in a Southeast or South facing window, while the leafless species will prefer South to Southwest exposure, or greenhouse conditions (with some shade perhaps).

Watering Basically, Ceropegias can be given ample water and fertilizer in the warm months, just as one might do with any average tropical. In winter, watering should be low, especially with the species that have thick, fleshy tubers. They do require occasional light watering during this period, just to insure the roots don’t die off.

Temperatures- Ceropegias like warm conditions and prefer a range between 70 – 100F for growth. In winter, temps should not be below 60-65, especially right after watering. In fact, it’s really best to move them to a warmer area for a few days after watering them. Be aware that windowsill temperatures are often quite a bit colder than the rest of your house.

Soil and potting- Any regular, good quality potting soil will do, as long as a fair amount of pumice or perlite is added. We prefer 8-12 inch, clay azalea pots for the Ceropegias as these help regulate possible overwatering. I suggest 3-5 plants per pot for the best display. It’s also nice to plant the twining types in a pot with a large tree, where the Ceropegias will be fairly inconspicuous except in bloom.

Pests- Ceropegias are generally free of pests. Occasionally, mites can be a problem, and mealy bugs and aphids sometimes show up on plants.

For mealy bugs- simply pick them off as there shouldn’t be very many. Large infestations can be dealt with by using systemic insecticides like Imidacloprid.

For aphids- Spray with insecticidal soap. If they are being transported by ants, put out ant traps.

For mites- see our comments on the ‘cultivation tips’ page.

How to root Ceropegia cuttings- A great deal of conversation has gone on about the difficulty of rooting Ceropegia cuts, complete with overly complicated methods for doing so. What we have found best follows, and with most species gives us about a 85-90% success rate.

The cuttings we send will have three or more nodes on them. Take the cutting, bend it slightly, and dust the center node with rooting hormone (available at your local garden center). Plant this node about 1 inch under pre-wetted, fresh soil. Keep this in a warm location (75-85) for about a month, watering lightly as needed, after which it should be rooted. In this manner, there is no contact between the soil and the cut ends of the cutting, and therefore very little chance of fungal infection.

Some of the dimorphic species from Madagascar will do better if the cut is simply dusted on one side and pressed onto moist soil. It often takes a bit longer to root, but the thickness of the stems makes it impossible to bend them. A few of the less-succulent species have stems that resent the bending, so it best to do these in a tray of some sort as that will allow for the rigidity of the stems. Also, the upright, ‘bush’ types, like dichotoma and fusca, must be planted as regular cuttings, i.e. with the cut ends in the soil. Rooting these in turface seems to work well.

Something else we’ve noticed is that cuttings tend to root progressively worse after the fall equinox and before spring equinox, so the best time to root them seems to be about May – September. The use of propagation mats seems to actually increase the rate of loss.