Pilea Peperomiodes in Bad soil, should I change now?

[ToddBigEasy]

Hello, I purchased a nice Peperomiodes a few weeks ago, it's growing nicely, but the soil is a compact peaty, old yucky substrate. I will for sure change it out, is now, a bad time to do so? I would hate for it to get root rot or something, it holds moisture too long, and one of the babies already is losing mushy leaves. Also, there are 3 main plants in the pot, is keeping them together fine, or would you separate? I could wait until March but I really don't trust the soil it's in now. Thanks! Todd

 

[DirtMechanic]

Yes repot and Yes divide if possible unless you like the size of course. What soil will you be putting it into?

 

[ToddBigEasy]

Yes repot and Yes divide if possible unless you like the size of course. What soil will you be putting it into?

mix of coco coir, some peat potting mix which has some worm castings in it ( I read the label) , perlite, some bark, and a little cacti gritty mix. I was thinking the 3 plants kept together would make it bushier. would they crowd each other out?

 

[DirtMechanic]

mix of coco coir, some peat potting mix which has some worm castings in it ( I read the label) , perlite, some bark, and a little cacti gritty mix. I was thinking the 3 plants kept together would make it bushier. would they crowd each other out?

I dont like your mix but if you have a big enough pot and room crowding is no issue keep the plant because it is what one would call a specimen plant and the opposite of that idea would be grass. Ever heard about a baseball field product called turface? They use in in bonsai too basically a baked clay.

 

[ToddBigEasy]

I dont like your mix but if you have a big enough pot and room crowding is no issue keep the plant because it is what one would call a specimen plant and the opposite of that idea would be grass. Ever heard about a baseball field product called turface? They use in in bonsai too basically a baked clay.

not sure I follow about whether to separate into 3 pots and the reference to grass, but what would you change about the mix? I just wanted a better draining mix than what it's in now. the cactus gritty mix, is basically turface, was going to use just a little with the perlite to make it drain. I think I'll keep the 3 together, and see how it does.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Thats good about seperation as there are no rules except yours. As to roots, oxygen is key but once you have that well drained soil you are done. Not sure myself but where and in what conditions did that plant initially survive in historical time? Was it a swamper? Hillside?

 

[DirtMechanic]

The soil it came from will be neat to understand.

Pilea peperomioides - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[ToddBigEasy]

southern china. grows on shady, damp rocks in forests at altitudes from 1500 to 3000m.

 

[ToddBigEasy]

The soil it came from will be neat to understand.

[URL
unfurl="true"]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilea_peperomioides[/URL]

yes, I was reading just that myself! thanks for the discussion... I am looking forward to cultivating this plant!

 

[DirtMechanic]

moist drainage. a rock moss environment. very interesting. No wonder it suffers from a boggy soil as you have described.

Edit; I was thinking that could be an exceptionally cool presentation if you could recreate that small patch, and maybe have 1 or 2 other surface growers that like a moist rock? Bonsai growers water basically every day, but an aquarium bubbler and a aquarium pump on a wifi plug for a timer could be reaally cool. I bet the light levels of 300 or 400 foot candles would make it all grow great. My deep shade is 200FC. I say that because the leaf shape is so cool and some small grow lights would also cast some neat shadows and the right lighting could make it stand out as a real piece of green artwork. Without being a bonzai of course, but same idea.

 

[ToddBigEasy]

moist drainage. a rock moss environment. very interesting. No wonder it suffers from a boggy soil as you have described.

Edit; I was thinking that could be an exceptionally cool presentation if you could recreate that small patch, and maybe have 1 or 2 other surface growers that like a moist rock? Bonsai growers water basically every day, but an aquarium bubbler and a aquarium pump on a wifi plug for a timer could be reaally cool. I bet the light levels of 300 or 400 foot candles would make it all grow great. My deep shade is 200FC. I say that because the leaf shape is so cool and some small grow lights would also cast some neat shadows and the right lighting could make it stand out as a real piece of green artwork. Without being a bonzai of course, but same idea.

that's a wonderful idea. you can try it! ) maybe something for when I retire, too busy to play around that much right now...food for thought... today is the replant day. I will try and upload a photo somehow later.

 

[DirtMechanic]

that's a wonderful idea. you can try it! ) maybe something for when I retire, too busy to play around that much right now...food for thought... today is the replant day. I will try and upload a photo somehow later.

I am incredibly curious! It is a very cool plant!

 

[cpp gardener]

The thing is that it has been growing just fine in that soil for some time. I find that it's better to adjust your watering to fit the soil rather than remove the soil and damage the roots, unless you have a greenhouse to let it recover in. The stress of that kind of soil change is a little more than most new houseplant growers(or plants)can deal with. Remember, it's not growing in the same area it's native to and you can change your habits better than the plant can change it's tolerances. Hope it works out for you, I've got my fingers crossed.
Happy plant parenting!