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Creciendo en la oscuridad, ojalá la suculenta no se pudra.

Creciendo en la oscuridad, ojalá la suculenta no se pudra.
If it grows in the dark, hopefully the succulent does not rot.
From Lesson 480:Conditions with gerunds (-ando, -iendo)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Creciendo en la oscuridad, ojalá la suculenta no se pudra.

Why does creciendo mean "If it grows" here instead of "Growing"?
In Spanish, a gerund (an -ndo form) at the beginning of a phrase can express a condition. It acts as a shortcut for an si (if) clause. So, Creciendo en la oscuridad is just a shorter, slightly more advanced way of saying Si crece en la oscuridad (If it grows in the dark).
Why is the verb pudrirse in the subjunctive (pudra)?
The word ojalá (hopefully / let's hope) strongly expresses a wish or desire, which always triggers the subjunctive mood for the verb that follows it.
Why do we need the pronoun se in no se pudra?
The verb pudrirse is used pronominally here because the succulent is undergoing the rotting process itself ("to go bad" or "to decay"). If you drop the se, the verb pudrir means to rot or spoil something else (for example, if too much water rotted the plant).
The verb uses a u (pudra), but isn't the adjective for "rotten" podrido with an o?
Good catch! The infinitive of the verb is pudrir, so its present tense forms (like the subjunctive pudra) use a u. However, the past participle (podrido) is an irregular holdover from older Spanish that kept the o. You just have to memorize this slight vowel mismatch.

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