Plants
String of turtles
Peperomia prostrata
EasyFine in a closed jar
Tiny patterned leaves on trailing strings. Slow, and rots if kept wet.
What the simulation uses
- Light
- 5,000 to 15,000 lux
- The brightness it grows well in.
- Humidity
- 50 to 80 % RH
- Air moisture it is happy in; below the lower end it dries out.
- Temperature
- 20 to 24 °C
- Comfortable range; outside it growth slows.
- Dies at
- below 10 or above 32 °C
- Days beyond these temperatures kill it.
- Soil pH
- 6 to 7 pH
- Soil acidity it prefers.
- Grows up
- 0.4 cm/month
- How fast it gains height in good conditions.
- Spreads
- 1 cm/month
- How fast its edge creeps outwards.
- Copes with wet
- poor
- How well it stands soggy soil; poor means rot comes quickly.
- Copes with still air
- fair
- Sealed jars have still air; poor means grey mould finds it.
- Copes with shade
- fair
- How well it holds on in dim light.
- Copes with drying
- fair
- How well it survives the jar drying out.
- Water use
- 0.08 ml/cm²/day
- Water drawn up from its roots per cm² of leaves in room air; a sealed jar cuts this to a fraction and returns it down the glass.
- Leaf drop
- 3 %/month
- Share of its leaves it sheds each month as litter for the cleanup crew.
- Soft leaves
- yes
- Soft new growth that hungry isopods will nibble.
- Full size
- 7.5 cm tall, 19 cm wide
- Its size when grown, before the lid stops it.
Care
- Day length
- 12 to 14 h
- Substrate
- Moist
What kills it
- overwatering and root rot
- cold drafts
- mealybugs
Description
Originally from Ecuador, this trailing plant has slightly fleshy leaves that store a little water. It likes soil that stays evenly moist but drains freely. Root rot is the main risk, so a vented jar is safer than a soaked sealed one.
Also called turtle vine.
Estimated, where sources were thin: temp_lethal_c; growth rates; humidity upper bound.