If you are a house plant lover, some people may have proposed Pilea peperomoides, famously known as the Chinese money plant, because it is easy to take care of.
When you buy this plant to beautify your home, you do not anticipate encountering problems; unfortunately, issues are bound to arise with your plant sooner or later.
A few of the most common Pilea peperomioides problems include damaged plants, plants infested by bugs, turning yellow, or their leaves cab curl. Fortunately, the most common issues you are likely to encounter can easily be solved within a short period.
If you have a pile plant that seems sickly, continue reading the list below to establish what could be the issue. In addition, this article discusses symptoms of potential problems and how you can nurse your plant to recover.
If your Pilea’s Leaves Are Turning Yellow, I encourage you to read this article: Are Your Pilea Leaves Turning Yellow? (Here’s why and how to fix them!)
1- Pilea Peperomioides Problems: Leaves Are Droopy
If you notice that your Chinese money plant looks limp or its leaves appear droopy, there is a problem. The primary culprit for droopiness includes thirst, overwatering, or shock.
Reasons Why Pilea’s Leaves Are Droopy:
Let’s discuss possible causes of Pilea’s droopy leaves to help you diagnose what is happening.
Shock: Your plant can exhibit droopy leaves if you recently moved it or it was recently shipped to your place. House plants do not love change; they can exhibit shock for a few days or weeks when moved or replanted into a different pot. You may be forced to change the mixing pot to drain excess water or change to a bigger pot that can accommodate plant growth.
How To Fix Pilea Shock Issues:
- If the leaves of your Pilea plant are droopy, give them some time, and they will recover, provided you meet the other requirements.
Thirst: When last did you water your plant? Since plants lose water through their leaves, if they are thirsty, the leaves will lose their stiffness, thus causing a droopy appearance.
Check the soil to establish moisture content if you recognize this problem in your plant. If the soil seems very dry, water the plant. Additionally, you can improve air circulation in the soil by pricking it with a toothpick to allow water to penetrate the roots properly.
How To Fix Pilea’s Thirst Issues:
- Avoid using a lot of peat or coffee ground in your soil mix to prevent the soil from becoming compacted and hindering water absorption.
Overwatering: Overwatering can also cause droopy leaves in a Pilea plant. If you have not moved your plant for a while and it is not thirsty, examine the soil and the roots.
If the soil feels overly wet, it could be that the excess water is rotting the roots, thus causing droopy leaves. Excess water saps out oxygen from the root, resulting in the formation of molds and root decay.
How To Fix Pilea’s Overwatering Problems:
- You can change the tides and salvage your plant by draining excess water in the potting mix.
- Add drainage holes at the bottom of the pot or remove the plant from the overwatered pot to a new one. This action could shock the plant, but it will recover after a while.
See also: Pilea Light Requirements: How Much Sun Does a Pilea Need?
2- Pilea Peperomioides Problems: Leaves Are Curling
You expect Pilea’s beautiful coin-shaped green leaves to show their splendor and enhance your décor. However, the leaves can start curling outward or inward when something is wrong, making the plant lose its beauty.
Reasons Why Pilea’s Leaves Are Curling:
It can be challenging to establish what is causing leave curling since it has many causes. But common culprits include overfertilization, excess light, and overwatering.
Overfertilization: House plants need fertilizers to grow, but if you overdo it, you cause more harm than good. The common rule is to apply fertilizer once a month for your Pilea plant. However, adding anything special or mixing too many fertilizers will change the soil’s pH value and cause droopy leaves.
How To Fix Pilea’s Overfertilization Problems:
- You can correct this mess by applying fertilizers moderately since the potting mix comes with its slow-release fertilizer.
Excess lighting: Pilea thrives in bright indirect light, not direct light. Therefore, if the window where you have your plant gets direct sunlight, the leaves will scorch from the sun’s heat.
How To Prevent Excess Lighting:
- You can correct this problem by using sheer curtains to filter the sun rays reaching your plant or place them further away from the sun rays.
Overwatering: Although Pilea plants enjoy adequate water, they are not aquatic, and overwatering will only contribute to problems. The excess moisture in the soil will stifle oxygen circulation and contribute to root rot. If the roots are rotten, the plant will not absorb water or nutrients, hence droopy leaves.
How To Fix Pilea Overwatering Issues:
- You can fix this problem by draining the excess water or repotting the plant before all the roots have decayed.
3- Pilea Peperomioides Problems: Leaf Loss
If your Pilea plant is losing leaves, there may be nothing to worry about when it is a normal process where old leaves die off. However, losing leaves can be a problem if they drop off too early.
Leaf Loss issues can be caused by overwatering or under-fertilizing.
Many house plant owners panic when they encounter dying Pilea peperomiodes leaves; however, it is good to remember that plants shed their lower leaves when they become too old or are away from the light source.
However, it can be a cause of concern if your Pilea plant loses leaves at an exponential rate. If there is no balance between lost leaves and new ones growing, it could signify something wrong going on.
It is sometimes difficult to determine what is causing this problem because almost every Pilea plant issue leads to the shedding of leaves. Nevertheless, some common culprits are overwatering and under-fertilizing.
Overwatering: It seems that overwatering is Pilea’s main problem. Many households do not know how much water their plants need and the frequency at which they should water.
Before watering your Pilea plant, ensure the top of the soil is dry, which means you will have to reduce watering frequency during winter.
Underfertilizing: If the leaf shedding is not caused by excess water, turn your attention to food. When was the last time you repotted your Pilea plant to apply fertilizer? Your plant could be sending a malnutrition message by shedding off its leaves. You will know the plant needs fertilizer when the leaves turn yellow before dropping off.
You might also enjoy reading: Pilea Plant Watering Requirements: How Often Do You Water a Pilea?
4- Pilea Peperomioides Problems: Leaves Turning Brown
Healthy Pilea should be green and succulent; anything different signifies a problem. If you notice several leaves with brown spots, you could be staring at sunburn, overfertilization, or cold problems.
Reasons Why Pilea’s Leaves Are Turning Brown:
We are not discussing a situation where the leaves completely turn brown and die; rather, our focus is on splotches that suddenly appear on leaves.
Sunburn: Pilea leaves can be affected severely by direct sunlight. For instance, if you forgot your plant in the west-facing window for a whole afternoon in the scorching heat, you may notice brown scarring or yellow spots on the Pilea leaves. You can move the plant to a suitable location to avoid excess lighting.
Overfertilization: If you recently repotted your Pilea plant but went overboard with the fertilizer, you may see this in the browning of leaves. Next time you apply fertilizer, ensure you dilute them before feeding your plants to prevent fertilizer burn.
Cold damage: Placing your Pilea plant next to a single pane window during winter could lead to cold damage. You may see cold damage on scarring leaves and brownish lesions.
5- Pilea Peperomioides Problems: White Grains On The Leaves
It could be mineral deposits if you notice little white sand-like grains on your Pilea’s leaves, especially on the underside. You have no reason to worry about these deposits since they are harmless.
The plant can secrete excess minerals through its leaves, which you can gently wipe or leave as they are.
See also: Watermelon Peperomia Care: A helpful guide.
6- Pilea Peperomioides Problems: Bugs Infestation
Pilea plants are prone to bug infestation, including attacks from spider mites, aphids, and mealybugs. Although you should have nothing to worry about if you see one crawling organism on your plant, action is needed in case of severe bug infestation.
Regularly check the underside of your Pilea leaves because tinny bugs use them as a hideout. Furthermore, you should carefully examine the new plants you bring to the house; they may carry bugs.
Potential signs of bug infestation include fuzzy white dots on the leaf bases (caused by mealybugs), curled leaves that web on the underside (caused by spider mites), and tinny flies over the plant (caused by fungus gnats).
If you realize bugs infest your Pilea plant, take action and spray insecticides before they spread to all leaves.
7- Pilea Peperomioides Problems: Plant Rotting
Pilea plant plants can also have rotten roots, often seen on leaves. The rot can be caused by bacterial or fungal infections and overwatering. And in severe cases, you may not salvage the plant.
What Can You Do If You Suspect Plant Rot?
- You can resort to propagation, where you behead the plant and allow its branches to grow if the mother plant is going to die.
- Root trimming is another way of dealing with plant rot, especially if part of the root is rotten while the other part is whole. You can cut off the rotten roots to prevent them from affecting the best interests.
- If the stem is also rotten, there is little you can do to salvage the situation. You can only hope some plant tissues are alive to keep the plant growing.
See also: 11 Most Popular Peperomia Varieties (With Characteristics of each!)
Conclusion
Pilea peperomiodes is a delightful and easy-to-grow plant, but it also has its issues that you should know before you settle on it. But as we have seen in this article, these problems are preventable if you implement good houseplant practices.
Remember, Plea plants have overwatering, direct lighting, overfertilizing, and bugs. Therefore, do everything in moderation to keep your plants healthy.
