How to Grow and Care for Ghost Plant

The ghost plant is a small evergreen succulent, a perennial that can be grown as a garden plant in warmer regions but is more often grown as a potted houseplant. Ghost plants are known to improve air quality and bring balance and positivity to a space.

With grayish-white pointed leaves and trailing rosette form, ghost plants add a modern touch to container and rock gardens. The rosettes are typically about 4 inches in diameter and take on a blue-gray hue in partial shade or a pinkish-yellow tone in hot, full sun. Like many succulents, it is a slow grower (a few inches per year) and can live for decades.

Read on to learn about what this unique plant needs to thrive.

Ghost Plant Care

Like many succulents, the ghost plant is a low-maintenance specimen when you meet its basic growing requirements, including the following:

• Provide a potting mix for cacti that has sharp drainage.
• Place in a cool spot that has abundant sunlight.
• Give the ghost plant scant water and always water at the soil level, never from above the plant.
• Plant in soil that is formulated for succulents partially sandy.

Light

Ghost plants will be at their most handsome in full sun or partial sun. Plants that don’t receive enough light will become leggy and might experience leaf drop. Keep a ghost plant grown indoors in a south or east-facing window.

The amount of light a ghost plant receives can affect its typical grayish-white coloration. A shadier locale will result in foliage with a blue-gray tinge, while hot and dry conditions cause the grayish-white leaves to take on a pinkish-yellow hint of color.

Soil

Like the majority of succulents, the ghost plant needs good drainage to maintain a healthy root system. The more rainfall your area receives, the more drainage you must provide for ghost plants. If your garden has clay soil, plant them in raised beds at least 6 inches tall and a planting mix comprised of half grit, gravel, or sand, and half organic material like peat, coco coir, or commercial potting soil.

Potted plants do well in a potting mix designed for cacti or in a standard potting mix blended with 50 percent sand.

Water

In the absence of natural rain, ghost plants only need occasional irrigation. Plants growing outdoors in full sun and summer temperatures will appreciate a weekly drink, while houseplants may only need watering every other week. Water indoor ghost plants at the soil level to prevent water from stagnating in the rosettes.

Temperature and Humidity

Ghost plants are reliably hardy in USDA cold hardiness zones 9 to 11, but they will often survive temperatures as low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit if they are covered over for winter. Gardeners in zones 7 and 8 may grow them outdoors successfully if they are willing to offer some winter protection. These plants will do well in hot weather, but their most active growth will occur in the relatively cool periods of spring and fall.

Excess humidity can be a problem in areas with poorly draining soil. Planting your ghost plants in containers or raised beds, as well as spacing them away from each other and away from other plants to increase air circulation, will keep plants healthy.

Fertilizer

All plants need some form of nutrients to grow and flower, but most succulents grow pretty well in low-nutrient soil. They might even react badly to too much fertilizer, which can burn the leaves. Use a soil-enriching approach like manure tea or a side-dressing of compost to keep your ghost plants vigorous. A very light annual feeding with a diluted cactus fertilizer will suffice at most.

Types of Ghost Plant

The Graptopetalum paraguayense species has a couple of naturally occurring forms that are popular, especially a variegated type (Graptopetalum paraguayense f. variegata). A ‘Purple Haze’ cultivar is also quite popular. Many hybrids offer unique color variations:

• Graptopetalum x graptosedum ‘Bronze’: Has reddish-bronze foliage and grows 6 inches tall
• Graptopetalum x graptosedum ‘California Sunset’: Grows unique orange-pink leaves
• Graptopetalum x graptoveria ‘Douglas Huth’: Has stunning pink to blue leaves and pink flowers bloom in spring
• Graptopetalum x graptoveria ‘Fred Ives’: Has bronze to blue-green leaves with pale yellow flowers
• Graptopetalum x graptoveria ‘Tibutans’: Grows especially thick leaves with pink or apricot tips in cooler weather

Pruning

Pruning is generally unnecessary with these plants, but if they become leggy and scraggly, you can trim the wandering stems back to the center rosette. These cut stems can be used to propagate new plants.

Propagating Ghost Plant

The ghost plant is an extremely easy plant to propagate. A healthy leaf that falls might even root where it lays if conditions are right. But the quickest way to achieve full-sized plants is to clip off and root one of the many offset “pups” at the end of the stems growing from the parent rosette. Here’s how:

1. Wait until the offset is about 1/4 the size of the parent plant. Use clean pruners to clip it off, leaving about 1 1/2 inches of stem below the rosette.
2. Allow the stem to sit to callus over for two or three days, then replant it in a new pot filled with cactus potting mix.
3. Wait about five days until the plant is established, then water thoroughly.
4. Continue to grow in bright filtered sun, watering every four or five days until well established. Then, reduce watering to no more than every two weeks.

How to Grow Ghost Plant From Seed

Although it’s fastest to propagate ghost plants from offset pups, you can also start numerous plants from seed to fill a large area of the garden. Here’s how:

1. Collect the tiny seeds from seed pods that form after flowers wither or purchase seed from a commercial source.
2. Sow the seed on sterile potting mix.
3. Water with a plant mister to avoid displacing the seeds.
4. Keep the seed tray in bright light at 70 degrees Fahrenheit; germination will happen in about three weeks.

Potting and Repotting

Growing ghost plants in containers is a great way to bring the attributes of this succulent up to eye level. Choose a gritty or lightweight potting soil mix and a pot with good drainage. The root system is shallow, so a low, saucer-shaped clay pot with good drainage makes a perfect container. Keep the ghost plant at the container’s edge in mixed plantings so it won’t get lost behind taller specimens. The pale whitish-gray leaves of ghost plants contrast pleasingly with purple-leafed plants that have similar growing requirements, such as sedum ‘Firecracker’.

Ghost plants are slow-growing and don’t need frequent repotting. When your specimen has outgrown its container, be sure to handle the plant carefully to avoid damaging the powdery pruinose coating on the leaves, which is delicate. Grasp plants at the base of the crown rather than by the leaves, and repot it in a light potting mix or cactus mix.

Overwintering

No overwintering routine is necessary within its hardiness range, where winters stay relatively warm. In colder zones where the plant dies back for the winter, cover it with dry mulch over the coldest months, but remove it promptly when the weather climbs back above freezing.

Indoor plants (or outdoor container plants brought indoors for the winter) will do best in a bright, sunny window but at relatively moderate-to-cool temperatures (65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit). Keep the plant away from radiators and heat vents. Watering can be slightly reduced during winter because the plant naturally wants to go dormant.

Common Pests & Plant Diseases

These plants are marvelously free of most pests and diseases, but indoor plants can be more susceptible to a handful of problems common to many houseplants.

As your ghost plant grows, remove dead leaves at the base of the plant. Decomposing leaves provide a habitat for pests like the mealybug. If your ghost plant has mealybugs, spot treats with a dab of isopropyl alcohol on a cotton swab or smother them with horticultural oil.

The most common disease of a ghost plant is root rot, which is usually the result of too much watering or soil that doesn’t drain well. Leaves that begin to drop are often a sign the plant is being overwatered.

How to Get Ghost Plant to Bloom

Bloom Months

Flowers appear in spring for outdoor ghost plants but might bloom at random times when the plant is grown indoors.

What Do Ghost Plant Flowers Look and Smell Like?

The ghost plant’s dainty, tiny, star-shaped white, yellow, or pinkish flowers do not have any scent.

How to Encourage More Blooms

These plants are grown mainly for the foliage, so gardeners generally aren’t too concerned if they don’t bloom much. If you’re disappointed by the lack of blooms (because you want to experiment with collecting seeds for propagation), make sure the plant is receiving plenty of sunlight. Extra feeding generally doesn’t help prompt blooming; excess fertilizer can reduce flowering because the plant uses the food to put its energy into stem and leaf growth.

Caring for Ghost Plant After It Blooms

After the blooms fade, it’s fine to carefully cut the stems off the plant and try to harvest seeds before disposing of the flowers. Cutting off the faded flowers redirects the plant’s energy back to foliage growth.

Common Problems With Ghost Plant

The ghost plant is famous for thriving even when treated with neglect, but there are some common problems to watch for.

Shriveling Leaves

It’s not a frequent problem, but shriveled leaves on a ghost plant (or most succulents) usually indicate that it needs more water. Water the plant every four or five days until the plant’s succulent leaves are once again full and plump, then reduce watering to every couple of weeks.

Dropping Leaves

A common and serious problem is leaves dropping from the plant. This is often the start of root rot caused by excessive watering. A ghost plant watered weekly, like any standard houseplant, will often drown. If you catch this problem early, simply withholding water for a few weeks might halt the problem and restore your plant to health. But once root rot gets hold of the plant, it can destroy it.

Less commonly, leaf drop can be caused by a lack of sunlight. Ensure your plant receives plenty of bright light, including at least four to six hours of direct sunlight, if possible.

Burnt Leaves

The most common reason leaves look dried out and burned is that the plant is getting too much fertilizer. Less commonly, leaf burns occur if the plant is getting too much direct sun in a hot outdoor setting.

Plant Looks Leggy and Scraggly

If your ghost plant is sending out many long stems without much foliage on them, it’s usually a sign that it is not receiving enough sunlight. Move the plant to a location where it can get lots of bright light, including four to six hours of direct sunlight. Clip off the scraggly stems and use them to propagate new plants.