How To Care For A Pilea Peperomioides | Chinese Money Plant

If you’re looking for an unique but easy to care for plant, a pilea peperomioides is just for you. Known also as the chinese money plant, pancake plant, and UFO plant for its circular foliage, a pilea peperomioides plant is on every plant lover’s list and you can see why.

Soil

It requires a well airiated soil. Ideally, you can use regular potting soil, but it should mention moisture control to make sure it drains well. Also, you can always make your own with peat moss, perlite, and potting mix to ensure the soil drains well enough.

Light

bright, indirect light is ideal. The chinese money plant is very responsive to the sun and will send all of it’s leaves in that direction so I find that rotating the plant 3-4 times a week works best. This plant can take some lower light placement BUT it will become darker in color and suffer a little until it adapts completely.

Water

This plant is not a fan of soggy soil, so it’s best to water only when the soil is dry about 1 inch deep. Depending on your house’s temperature and humidity level, this can range from watering weekly or every 10 days. Watch the soil and monitor how long its wet and takes to dry out to determine what frequency you should water at. A good indication that water is needed is the leaves will sightly droop.

Propagation

This plant is very prolific and will “pop up” babies/pups through the soil during it’s growing season. Once large enough (about an 3 inches tall), you can disconnect the pup from the mother plant and place in soil or water. You can also propagate by removing a leaf with a piece of the stem attach and placing in water to take root.

Fertilizer

For best results, use a general liquid houseplant fertilizer at half strength twice during the spring and summer.

Troubleshooting

Curled bottom leaves can mean too much water and curled top leaves can mean too much sun. Curl leaves also can mean bugs so check under the leaves for spider mites and mealybugs.

Yellow bottom leaves are common and happens as the plant ages.

Brown spots can be over-fertilizing, over-watering, or sun burn. Check and make adjustments.

White spots under the leaves are pores that allow gas exchange. The white comes from mineral deposits and are harmless. Using distilled/filtered water usually gets rid of the white spots.