Othonna Capensis: Your Ruby Necklace Plant Care Guide

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.

Othonna capensis, or the Ruby Necklace plant, is one of my favorite hanging succulents to grow indoors. It also goes by the name String of Pickles, or Little Pickles, and you can see from the photos in this post exactly how it has gotten these names!

If you are looking for an easy to grow, trailing succulent, look no further than the Ruby Necklace Plant! Keep reading to learn all about how to care for this remarkable succulent.

Othonna Capensis Care Indoors

I’ve read some sources online that say that these plants are harder to keep indoors, but honestly, it has been just fine for me (as long as you provide the conditions that it likes)!

Ruby Necklace is a native of South Africa and is a member of the Asteraceae (or Aster) family. If you are familiar at all with Aster flowers, you will see that their flower are very typical of that plant family.

LIGHT

Othonna capensis likes to grow in full sun to partial shade outdoors. What does this translate to indoors? It means that you should provide as much light as you can indoors.

This succulent MUST be grown right in front of a window. Aim for the sunniest one that you have, and if you don’t have one, it will best be grown right under a good grow light.

Depending on the light that this plant gets, the leaves will be a different color.

In relatively lower light, the leaves will be greener. With more and more direct sun (or even under a stronger grow light), the leaves will become a deeper reddish purple color, hence the name Ruby Necklace!

When I had my own plant just a few inches below a very bright LED grow light, it was a beautiful red color. Since I moved it, the leaves are more green, but the stems maintained a beautiful purplish color.

The plant will also turn more red if it is stressed by drought or cooler temperatures (around 50F but don’t go any lower than this if you ever move your plant outdoors). It will survive lower than 50F, but is not frost tolerant.

(Just remember that cold and wet will spell death for succulents so always keep this in mind so that they don’t rot!)

WATERING

Standard succulent watering applies!

Water thoroughly and let excess water drain away completely. Water again only when the soil has completely dried out.

SOIL

A standard soil appropriate for succulents is perfect for Ruby Necklace.

I like to mix 2 parts of a good succulent soil with 1 part of 1/4″ pumice. This creates a really sharply draining mix for your succulents. Excellent drainage is really important for the health of any succulent.

You can use perlite instead of the pumice, but I prefer pumice for succulents.

FERTILIZING

This plant is not a heavy feeder, but you should fertilize at least a couple times during the growing season.

Use a fertilizer low in Nitrogen, such as Schultz Cactus Plus.

FLOWERS

Small yellow flowers can appear throughout the year, and they look very typical of any flower in the Aster family. The daisy-like flowers will appear on long, thin stems.

Here is what the plump flower bud looks like (look in between my fingers in the photo below) before it opens.

PROPAGATION

“Little Pickles” is easy to propagate. Simply take stem cuttings, let them air dry for a few days (this allows the cut to callous over and prevent rotting), and then insert the cuttings in a pot of soil.

The more cuttings you add to your pot, the better so that you can have a nice, full plant from the start.

Keep your pot in bright indirect light, but a little direct sun is OK as long as it’s not mid-day sun.

Keep the soil barely moist as the cuttings are rooting. This only applies to when you’re trying to root succulent cuttings. When you have rooted plants, you’ll want to let the soil dry out completely before soaking again.

Once the cuttings have rooted and growth has started, place the plant in the brighter light that it enjoys.