The roots could have rotted. When you moved it did you increase the light/heat by a lot because it almost looks burned. I would cut off the healthy strings and lay then over succulent soil. The stings will re root and you will have a new plant in no time.

Thank, Ryan. When I moved the plant I would say the light actually decreased by a bit. However, being summer here, the plant did move from an air conditioned room to one that's been enduring humid New York summer conditions and probably more water than it wanted.

The soil shrank because it is full of peat that became hydrophobic. It is very difficult to rewet again, and you most likely overwatered it. So from one extreme to another. It has been underwatered, overwatered and maybe even burned if exposed to too much sunlight suddenly.

Unfortunately, it really doesn't make much difference what store you buy the plant from - they all most likely keep plants in soil it came in from the grower. Even if they repot plants, they use similar potting media.

I wonder about that hanging pot - usually, they have some drainage hole but it is raised. That creates shallow 'moat' that will keep excess soil, probably mucky if overwatered. Or there is no drainage, or there is a saucer attached that also slows down drainage. So all these combined will create bad conditions for plants.

Plant should be taken out, all old soil should be taken off the roots. You may have to rinse/blast it off with a hose. If any strings have roots, they should be planted in well draining mix. Any dead roots and parts of plant/stems should be cut off - they won't come back to life. Healthy pieces could be stuck in a well draining mix. They could also be laid over the mix, making sure part of stem is touching the mix - put a small rock on it or pin it down so it stays in contact. they will eventually root.

Do not use very deep pot, it holds too much soil/mix and if it is water retaining, makes things bad again. Hanging pots are best for these plants, but make sure there is good drainage. I use many of those pots, but drill extra holes all over the bottom - it will drain and drip water, so either keep somewhere where it doesn't matter, or use some kind of tray to catch it. You could also take it to the sink, water, let all excess water to drain for a while and then put in its place.

If using Cactus&Succulent soil, get a bag of perlite. Sift or rinse it, and mix at least 50/50 with C&S soil. And please, fill up the pot - as it is, I can't see any soil there...Mix should come up no lower than 1" or less from the top of container.

Rina, you're right usually those pots have an insert which raises the media and allows water better flow out. I also still drill about 3 extra holes in my hanging pots which are identical to the one pictures to help with drainage. It does help!

Yes Ryan, they do but some water will still sit there if watered often enough. Especially for newbies, it is better to drill extra holes. Even for more experienced growers - good drainage = less worries about when and how much to water. It also helps if keeping plants outdoors where they get rained on. These pots are just fine for annuals, but not so much for succulents without extra holes. I use them a lot for trailing succulents. And other plants too...

Thanks guys. The pot does have pretty good drainage holes. I water it just the way Rina suggests, shower in the sink and let it drain before hanging back up.

I'm curious about this re-rooting and want to make sure I fully understand.

#1. If one of the dried out strings still has a healthy/active root, it's still ok to re-plant, or is it a better idea to clip off the dried out brown parts and start a new root from a healthy section?

#2. When getting a clipping to root, I shouldn't bury any of the string at all? Just lay it there with something holding it down? Is there any way to know when it's rooted, or do you have any idea approx how long that takes?

#3. Thanks for the cactus succulent soil + perlite mixture suggestion. Do other agree that this is a good mixture, and or has anyone had any luck with others? I'm only asking because I'm not sure what my local plant shop will have available and want to have a plan b if needed.

Thanks again!!

#1 - yes to cut off dead/damaged parts (mentioned that in previous post

#2 - try both ways (I had success either way). Don't disturb, let them be. New growth starts usually when roots started to grow

#3 - mixture suggested is easiest to make; perlite is sold in many stores from garden centers/greenhouses to Wallmart and such...you could use pumice instead (many prefer it), could be more difficult to find and perhaps more $. There are many different mixes to use (for example, many of us use mix of gravel+perlite+turface...some add small bark. And there are many other substrates to use.) Search this site for gritty mix, and if you read other posts, ppl often mention mix they use. I would stay away from peat ad fine sand...

On question #2 you can do it both ways. I always prefer just laying them on top and sometimes pinning them down. You will get lots of roots out of the nodes and more strings of pearls will start to grow out of the nodes too.

Like Rina mentioned I prefer pumice to perlite and since I know I'm heavy on the water I tend to use lots of pumice in my mix so I don't over water. Sometimes depending on the plant I also throw in horticulture charcoal. My lophophoras like a real alkalin soil so they get horticulture charcoals and my lithops mix is mostly all pumice with a little bit of charcoal, because I like the contrast of the black coal and the white pumice. Often times I'll take my left over pumice/coal mix and add it to EB stone cactus soil, so the horticulture charcoal ends up in other soil mixes too but not as much of it. I hate peat and try to avoid it IF I can. I've had problems with old bags of miracle grow cactus mix drying up and becoming hydrophobic so it doesn't drain.

There is a trick to peat, if you take a mix of a little bit of organic dish soap and add it to your water it will act as a wetting agent. The soap doesn't hurt the plants and it ends up leaching out pretty fast leaving the peat able to absorb water. Wet down the peat with the soap solution before you add the plant. I've often times had to use peat as a base to make large batches of media that are going for other plants other than succulents. Than I just add Pumice to it when I want to add succulents. I buy bails of peat, large bags of perlite, and pumice, mix it all up and add soapy water to let it absorb the water. It's cheaper for me to do it that way when I'm potting up hundreds of plants.

Sometimes I also add pea gravel or decomposed granite to my succulent mix. There are a few options when trying to improve drainage. I try to stay away from sand .

How did this work out?? I'm experiencing a bit of the same problem with my pearls.

I want to know, too! I need to do so thing similar with my string of bananas.

I would love to know how they're doing now. I'm experiencing the same problem with my SOP x