How not to look after your Pilea peperomioides

Pilea peperomiodes aka Chinese Money Plant

I was really happy when Barbara gave me an unusual looking Pilea peperomiodes aka Chinese Money Plant last summer. Little did I know then just how cool and trendy they are, being at the forefront of the houseplant revival. They even have a dedicated Pilea Lovers page on Instagram with over 21,000 Followers - it's not often you'll find me amongst the hipsters!

I nearly wrote an article on my new treasure back then, but Jane beat me to it with a far more comprehensive guide than I could have managed with loads of links to further information. Jack's written a great blog post on how to divide them too.

When I noticed my plant wasn't looking quite as happy as it should as you can see above photo, I knew just the right people to consult on Twitter, along with Andrew who's acquired quite a houseplant collection recently.

Roots emerging from the bottom of the pot


From their replies it's clear I am a perfect example of how not to look after a Pilea as follows:
  • Place it on your sunniest windowsill - south facing is NOT ideal
  • Don't feed it - the strong veination you can see in the top photos is a big clue, even if it does look quite pretty like that
  • Let it become pot bound - see above photo
  • Under or over water it - underwatering in my case as evidenced by the compost coming away from the sides of the pot
To correct my mistakes I've repotted my Pilea and placed it on our bathroom window ledge, where it's more shady. It may get moved again in the spring when the tree cover next to our house closes in as it does get quite gloomy there in the summer months. I've also watered it with a tiny amount of fertiliser on Jack's advice and it's looking a lot happier already.

The great thing about asking on Twitter is you not only get great advice, your friends cheer you up by quoting the Little Shop of Horrors at you. Thanks Andrew and Lou for making me feel better about my houseplant faux pas.


If the embedded video doesn't work, try this link instead.

Comments

  1. Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax!8 January 2018 at 10:39

    Oh!

    (There's one bit I don't understand . . you said 'don't feed' - then add fertiliser.

    https://looseandleafyinhalifax.blogspot.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP8 January 2018 at 10:43

      Ah, I see your confusion Lucy. It's because I'm writing about how NOT to look after the plant i.e. all the mistakes I've made and then what I've done to correct them i.e. give the plant a little bit of fertiliser to help its recovery. I'll edit my post to make it a bit clearer...

      Delete
  2. Sarah Shoesmith10 January 2018 at 11:52

    I can only admire the way in which this little plant has kept going despite your best efforts to kill it off. With that kind of resilience, it could give the spider plant a run for its money.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP10 January 2018 at 12:01

      I'm so good at doing that Sarah. I often say plants thrive despite me rather than because of me ;)

      Delete
  3. Sara V10 January 2018 at 12:53

    I could write exactly the same post about Senecio rowleyanus which I have managed to kill through complete overwater despite being told not to love it!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP10 January 2018 at 13:29

      It's easily done Sara!

      Delete
    2. Diana Studer23 January 2018 at 16:29

      I am helping to rescue a virtual Senecio way down south too. Killing with kindness when they are labelled waterwise.

      Delete
  4. June10 January 2018 at 13:34

    I’m glad I read this, I need to move my plant into a less sunny area.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP10 January 2018 at 14:18

      It seems to be the story of my houseplant life at the mo', June - my bathroom windowsill's groaning with them!

      Delete
  5. Helen10 January 2018 at 13:47

    Thanks for the tips on how to kill another kind of houseplant, VP. In fact, this is something I can do quite instinctively. :^\

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP10 January 2018 at 14:19

      It comes naturally to me too, Helen ;)

      Delete
    2. Margaret10 January 2018 at 21:24

      Ditto! Only in the past year have I figured out how to keep indoor succulents (read: the EASIEST of houseplants) alive :)

      Delete
    3. VP14 January 2018 at 18:08

      I have indoor succulents very much at death's door Margaret!

      Delete
  6. Helen14 January 2018 at 16:24

    And guess what? To my peril, I just bought myself a tiny Pilea peperomioides.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP14 January 2018 at 18:08

      I don't blame you Helen, they are soooooo cute!

      Delete
  7. Caro2 March 2018 at 20:50

    Aha! all becomes clear. I have a tiny plant, bought in the autumn last year. It's survived so far, more through luck than judgement but the advice here will ensure it's still with me in a year's time!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Gary McGeown19 March 2018 at 12:39

    tending houseplants is a skill that comes with practice. Unfortunately, there will be some casualties along the way.

    Gary

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP31 March 2018 at 12:05

      Indeed Gary - I've been practising since the 1980s! There's always something new to learn and fab new plants to try :)

      Delete
  9. www.ravenscourtgardens. com5 February 2019 at 16:38

    Thank you for the great info and links. I to succumb to having to own this trendy plant. Mine is a happy camper. I treat it like i do my African Violets...filtered light and don't over water. Mine is having babies like crazy. I am finding my style of taking care of plants is great for everything but succulents. I still can't get it right with them. I think it is our humidity and A/C : )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP11 February 2019 at 11:05

      Hi Laurin - glad you found it useful :) One year on and my plant is looking a lot happier!

      Delete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more