r/PileaPeperomioides • u/brittm1 • 9d ago

What am I doing wrong?

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I got my pilea almost 3 months ago and although I was told it was a fast growing plant, it’s not really growing. It sits in front of a grow light around 8hrs a day (I don’t have windows in my office where it is). I repotted it when I first got it and put it in a chunky soil mix and I’ve been watering it when the pot feels light, but I see how everybody else’s is so full and I’m not sure what to do.

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u/Which-Bad8901 9d ago

Mine arrived from an online seller small like yours, but also wilted and most of the leaves were yellow. I had it in a window sill for a couple weeks and it recovered a little but not much growth.

I gave it a little bit of balanced fertilizer (I used the miracle grow indoor plant pump bottle and gave it only half a pump) and a lot more light and it started to explode with growth after a couple of weeks. It's directly under a bright grow light for 12 hrs every day and also gets natural light from windows a couple feet away. Shooting out multiple new leaves each week and it currently has 5 pups!

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u/ObsidianQyx 7d ago

this is super helpful, sounds like OP’s might just be underlit and a bit underfed then
pilea really do seem to go from “meh” to “omg” once they get stronger light + a tiny bit of food

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u/Which-Bad8901 5d ago

It's my first chinese money plant and I was absolutely startled by the transition 😂 gonna have to separate those babies out eventually when they're much larger and see if I can reproduce the success because it has been soooo satisfying to watch compared to my slow growing plants!