I received a small (2") HUERNIA SCHNEIDERINA from my daughter for Mother's Day from a reputable plant source. I read about it online and saw that it didn't like too much sun or water, so it's on a plant stand in my backyard under an awning--gets only filtered sunlight for a few hours a day. I also didn't water it too much after I planted it. Philadelphia summers can be brutal!

The bud at the bottom looks healthy, but the top is growing yellow and shriveling, so I must be doing something wrong. Can you suggest what I should do to save it? Should I cut off the bud and repot? Cut off the top of the primary shoot? Water more or less?

THANKS!
Devadasi (Judith)

Hi Judith, Welcome to All Things Plants!

Your little Huernia (Ceropegia 'Red Dragon Flower') doesn't look too happy. The soil looks dry, but the color of the plant looks unusually pale in color and I'm not sure what would cause that.


I've been growing this plant for many years and at one time had a very large pot of it with long "arms" traveling and hanging over the sides of the pot but I've lost most of my big plant by giving a lot of it away and then the remainder got left out in the cold one winter when we had some hard freezes. I managed to save a bit of it but then last year I made the mistake of leaving it out in the direct summer sun and it got very pale in color. I'm babying mine along and have moved it to full shade in hopes of the color returning to normal.

I hope someone who is knowledgeable with succulents will pop in to offer advice.

Hi & welcome!

Knowing your location would be helpful. At higher latitudes, some plants that prefer mostly shade in their native habitat can need more sun. It can be difficult when reading advice/anecdotes, to compare the info to your conditions, if you don't know the origin of the anecdote. I'm in AL near FL border and put Huernia where it will get about 3-4 hours of sun in the morning. Mine looks OK, but not a plant I know well or have had for very long.

Maybe @Tarev could help with rehabilitation advice. I'm not sure what to do about the particular plant from your pic either.

Best vibes for its' recovery!

I am in Philadelphia and I have it on a mostly shaded back porch. (After reading several of the posts, I moved it out of the indirect sun it was getting--maybe it was getting bleached)? And I cut off the yellowed part and gave it a bit of water.

Now just watching and waiting! Thanks for all your suggestions.

Oh for goodness' sake, IDK why I left that question there, sorry. I meant to erase it because I did read your location in the body of your post. I typed it initially before reading the post because I guess I've trained myself to look for the location/zone info by people's names.

We don't always know the right different thing to do when a plant is struggling, but not changing *something* can never help. Good for you for soliciting anecdotes & trying something different. I hope your plant improves!