my poor purple heart...:(

a storm came through last nite and it all but killed my very nice purple heart plant....i need to know if i can do anything with the broken stems...i almost had a fit when i saw what the storm had done....please help as what to do with the broken stems and will the plant be ok from where the stems were broken?....thanks

If you're talking about setcreasea your plant will be fine, it will resprout from the broken ends. You can root the broken pieces in moist sand. They root relatively easily.

dumb question.........does it have to be wet sand?....will they root in a glass of water...please dont laugh...my hand at propogation is not that good....i can get them started, like donkeys tail, but then they die after they get about an inch or so......and the same happens with my jade plants, when i take a single leaf that has been knocked off, i can get it started but thats about as far as i can get them......thanks for all the help

The sand should be damp at all times but not wet. I don't recommend rooting most plants in water. Roots that form in water are of a different structure than roots that are formed in soil. Sometimes when "transplanted" from water to soil there is a set back until such time new "soil" roots form. That being said, any member of the wandering jew family root easily in water so like anything else there are exceptions. I would transplant to soil as soon as the roots are about inch long.

Setcresea will LIVE for YEARS in a glass of water. I have some that's been in a vase since before I bought my house, and that was in '95. I never change the water, just top it up now and then.

Sorry about your plant damage, but take heart all is not lost. I break off peices of mine and just stick them back in the pot. They never even slow down and the pot gets fuller and fuller. I never put them in water and don't always water them when I stick them back in the pot. Just don't overwater as it can cause them to rot.
Good luck!

I really don't think you CAN kill this plant. As I said before, I have one that's been in water for several years. And I have one that gets watered about once every two or three months. (It's in a hard-to-reach place.) They seem equally happy either place. You can even grow them in the dark---I was pulling some weeds and broke off a piece of setcresea that had gotten up under the siding. It was about a foot long and pale, PALE green!