The Sharing Plant | Pilea Propagation
Pilea Peperomioides, also known as Chinese Money Plant, Pancake Plant, UFO Plant, Missionary Plant, Sharing Plant, Pass it On Plant and Friendship Plant, (this is possibly the plant with the most nick names due to its interesting shape and fast propagation), is a beautiful and very easy to grow plant that have become quite popular in the last couple of years.
I purchased my first Pilea almost a year ago and I have been captivated by its growth rate and extremely easy and effective way to propagate it. In-fact, in the 10 months I’ve had my Pilea, not only it has grown significantly, (see picture below), it gave me 11 pups and is about to become a Grandma! Her first pup has significantly grown and is about to sprout its first off-shoot!
If it wasn’t for the 4 I gave to my friends, I would have 12 Pileas in our house by now!
This is my Pilea when I took it home in October, 2018
This is my Pilea in August, 2019, after producing 11 pups!
BRIEF HISTORY WORTH MENTIONING
But, where do Pileas come from and why are they so popular?!?
Pilea Peperomioides originates from China. It made its way to Europe in 1946, when Norwegian missionary Agnar Espegren took it back to his Scandinavian country after his mission to China. Here, Mr. Espegren started giving Pileas off-shoots to his friends, slowly spreading the plant throughout the country. This is why Pileas became widespread windowsill plants in Norway well before they became popular in North America. This also explains why the Pileas are know as “Missionary Plants” in Europe.
Back in 2016, it was almost impossible to find these plants on the North American market and novelty driven social media platforms, such as Instagram, made the Pilea the most wanted plant! You can now buy Pileas at Home Depot and Walmart in the U.S.
Its unique leaves and stems are perfect for a modern and minimalistic environment. Its low maintenance requirements make it a perfect plant for busy people or black thumbs, (once they find the right spot for it).
THE CASE OF THE FOMO
I have to admit; I myself, bought a Pilea because I was intrigued by its popularity and felt I didn’t want to miss out. Yes, I had a case of the FOMO!
However, I don’t regret it one bit! My Pilea is one of my favourite plants in the house. It has been extremely easy to care for and I’ve only seen it grow and produce pups! All I do is watering it once a week, (and periodically cut-off its pups!)
BASIC CARE AND NEEDS
Before I get into the actual plant propagation, I think it’s worth mentioning the basic care requirement for this awesome plant. As always, there are universal care tips for each plant and then, there are the subjective environmental experiences.
- LIGHT: Universally, Pileas require indirect bright light, with no direct exposure to sun! My Mother Pilea thrives in front of a North facing window! Growing pups and other smaller Pileas are scattered in bright spots throughout the house with no direct sun exposure.
- SOIL: They enjoy a well drained soil, with plenty of perlite. Make sure you plant and re-pot your Pilea into a planter with draining holes. In case you decide to plant your Pilea in a beautiful pot without any draining holes, you NEED to provide drainage to the roots by adding a good layer of draining rocks and ideally, a layer of activated charcoal to prevent roots rot.
- HUMIDITY: Pileas favour dry conditions and that’s why they do so well into our heated and air conditioned homes! They are not big fans of humid environments!
- WATERING: I water my mature Pilea once a week and the freshly repotted pups with developing roots twice a week. It is not recommended to overwater your Pileas. Let your plant thoroughly dry in between waterings.
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PILEA PROPAGATION
The first time I propagated my Pilea, I cut off three off-shoots, (pups). I potted two of them right away and I placed one in water to observe any difference between the two methods. As of now, I haven’t noticed a significant difference in the plant growth by using one method versus the other.
There are two main different ways to propagate your Pilea:
- ROOT PLANTLETS
- STEM PLANTLETS
Cutting root plantlets is the most common way to propagate as even the youngest Pilea shoots off pups from its rhizomic root system.
Cutting stem plantlets is not as common as it takes a while for a mature plant to off-shoot from the main stem.
In this picture you can clearly see a root plantlet ready to be cut off.
In this picture you can see a stem plantlet attached to the main stem of mama Pilea.
Here are the simple steps to propagate your Pilea root plantlet:
1.identify the off-shoots you want to cut
The first thing you need to do is to determine if your off-shoots are ready to be cut. Even though Pileas are very hardy plants, it is best is the off-shoot are at least 5-7cm, (2-3″) in height before you cut them.
2. Take mama pilea out of its planter
Gently remove Mama Pilea from its planter by holding the bottom of its stem while tipping the planter towards the ground so the whole root system comes out.
3. grab the plantlet with your fingers
Grab the off-shoot you intend to cut off with your fingers and wiggle it around to gently remove the dirt around it. Make sure you are gentle and don’t pull too hard on the already existing little roots of your plantlet.
4. cut the off-shoot off
Once you’ve got a grasp of your off-shoot, grab a sharp knife or scissors and cut the off-shoot off as close as possible to Mama’s stem.
5. gently pull the off-shoot off
Gently pull your off-shoot off by wiggling the dirt off its little roots. Once you have the off-shoot in your hands, keep shaking the dirt off of its roots.
6. gently rinse your baby pilea
Gently rinse your baby Pilea to clean as much of the existing dirt as possible from its tiny roots. I do this because I am going to put this baby in a tiny glass jar filled with water.
7. plant your baby pilea
Now you are all ready to plant your Baby Pilea!
You can either put it directly in a tiny pot with soil or in a jar with water to let its roots develop.
If you do pot it right away, make sure you keep an eye on it for a while until the plant has established its roots. Water it twice a week until it grows and you transplant it into a bigger container.
If you put it in a glass jar, make sure you top and replace the water once a week. Depending on how deep the roots are when you place it in the glass jar, you need to make sure the existing roots are in water at all times otherwise your baby plant will die!
growing your baby pilea
I love to experiment with my baby Pileas! I know I can do that because they are extremely hardy and versatile! The best part is that my kids get involved and love to observe the changes day after day.
The sealed jar experiment is one of my favourite as I see tangible results within a week!
Once my Pileas have established their roots in water for at least a couple of weeks, I plant them in small terracotta pots. As you can see from the picture on the far left here below, the two plants are pretty much the same size! I place one of the Pileas in a sealed glass jar after watering it and leave it undisturbed for a week. The plant in the sealed jar creates its own environment and produces humidity that translates into the moisture you see on the middle picture glass wall. This humidity keeps the soil moist and I don’t need to water the plant like I do with the one outside the jar. I open the jar lid after a week to give it some fresh air for half hour and I seal it again for another week. After the second week, I take the Pilea off the glass jar and observe the difference in growth with the Pilea that stayed outside the jar. As you can see from the far right picture below, the Pilea inside the jar has grown much faster than the one outside the jar.
I am always blown away by these results, (I have done this experiment more than once), as Pileas tend to favor drier environments…perhaps if you read this article and have an explanation for me you can shoot me a couple of lines…
One thing I have noticed though is that the plant coming out of the jar, will go through a day of environmental shock; as soon as the Pilea is pulled out of the jar its stems and leaves droop for approximately 24 hours and then will perk up again. This Pilea will also need more water for the following week compared to the one that was outside the jar!
Interesting, isn’t it?
decorating with pileas
Since I am all about a tasteful space and creating beautiful environments with plants, I cannot skip this part. The more Pileas you have, the more interesting compositions you can create within your home. Sometime I put all my Pileas together into a nice family portrait on a table top and sometime I just take the little ones and arrange them on my shelves with other compatible objects.
Even mature, bigger Pileas look amazing on their own on a nice stand!
Here below are some examples.
Hey Plant Loving Woman!
Are you a middle age mom?
Do you constantly feel overwhelmed and anxious?
Do you believe in the healing power of nature?
To reveal your #1 Personal Houseplant that best
helps you reduce your anxiety.
Thank you so much for all the great information.
great info. where did you get the glass jars??
Hi! Thank you!
It depends which glass jars…The tall skinny tube in the wood stand on Amazon.ca, the little jars in the wood cubes I bought them at the dollar store and my husband built me the wood cubes! Finally, the bigger glass jars with the flat wood lids came from Home Sense Canada!
I have tried many time to propagate these and I am not successful. The leaves whether I do soil or water to grow root brown within a week and don’t last to grow roots. Any tips on what I may be doing wrong?
Hello Beth, I assume you are not just trying to root a leaf and that you are cutting the pup deep enough into the soil, so that it comes with a decent amount of hard stem? Are the pups that you are cutting big enough?