Pilea Plant - The Pass It On Friendship Plant

The Pilea Plant (Pilea peperomioides) is a current popular houseplant that is easy to grow and propagate. It has the unique quality of sending up off-shoots making it perfect for sharing with your friends.

I have been a houseplant lover for my entire life. However, it has been during the last few years, when my daughter started really getting into gardening, that I have started collecting a few new plants. One of these that she said is very trendy is the Pilea plant or Pilea peperomioides. 

This cheery plant has several common names such as Chinese Money Plant, UFO plant, even Pancake plant. But, the one I like is the Friendship or Pass it On plant because it produces offshoots from the base that you can easily repot and share. Above is a photo of the plant I bought and there were three offshoots. I kept the mother plant and the smallest babies and gave the other two to my daughter.

Since the baby was so tiny I watered it well and placed it in a closed plastic bag for a few months. As you can see it's grown quite a bit and is ready to move out of the bag.

Here's a look of the plant sending up new growth in the center.

Pilea Plant FAQs

• Low maintenance  - like most houseplants likes bright indirect sun
• Water when it's dry. For me, about once a week, sometimes less. Pilea does not like wet feet so make sure it has good drainage.
• Since the leaves tend to reach for the light you may need to turn the pot occasionally. I usually do this when I water.
• Bonus Points  - This little guy is non-toxic to people and animals. 

What to do with a Stretched Pilea

Often indoor plants don't get enough sunlight and tend to stretch toward the light. Similar to my post about stretched succulents you can cut a tall stem to encourage growth and keep your plant nice and full.

After you cut the top of the plant you can repot the cut piece in another vessel. Then you will notice more plants will start to grow around the cut stalk.

And if you look closely you will see more stems growing from the stalk.

The result is a fuller lusher plant.

So if you're not already growing Pilea peperomioides, the friendship pass along plant, I'd say that it would be a great houseplant to add to your list.

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