---
title: String of turtles in a terrarium | Glass Jar Garden
description: String of turtles (Peperomia prostrata): Tiny patterned leaves on trailing strings. Slow, and rots if kept wet. Needs light 5,000 to 15,000 lux, humidity 50...
url: https://glassjar.garden/guide/plants/peperomia-prostrata/
---

Plants

# String of turtles
Peperomia prostrata

Easy · Fine 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.

## Sources

- [plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/peperomia-prostrata](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/peperomia-prostrata/)
- [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peperomia_prostrata](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peperomia_prostrata)

[Grow it in a jar](https://glassjar.garden/?guide=plants/peperomia-prostrata)

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