The Chinese money plant (or Pilea) is on my wish list plant to have for a very long time and now I’m happy to have it at my home added to my plant collection. I paid $30.00 plus tax on this plant, so far the most expensive plant in my collection but very happy to have it.
The leaves of this plant is bright green pancake-shaped, so adorable to look at. It seems that this plant is easy to take care of, when I bought this plant, there is no instructions on how to take care of and also I forgot to ask the owner of the shop since I am in a hurry to go and got excited. So, I just research online on how to take care of it. There’s nothing really special therefore, I treated the same way as the other plants.
Knowing more about this plant; The scientific name is Pilea Peperomioides. Commonly known as Chinese money plant, missionary plant, pancake plant, UFO plant or just Pilea. The plant is originally came from the southwestern part of Yunan, one of the province in China and spread throughout the world and one of the most wanted plant for every household.
Buying Pilea is really difficult because they are not sold in most plant shops, that’s why when I saw this plant in one of the plant shop in Sherbrooke, Montreal, I grabbed right away without thinking of the price. But for sure we can buy online but it can be too pricey.
Pilea or Chinese money plant loves bright light but not direct sunlight however I tried mine in the direct sunlight for 3 days and it seems that the plant likes it too, so now I put my plant near the window where the sunlight will hit the plants in the afternoon. So far, my Pilea is doing great. Let’s see what will happen for the next few weeks.
Learning how to taking care of Pilea and maintaining them:
Like other plants, Pilea prefers well-draining potting soil but to me personally, it depends because I have other plants that I put in no drainage but they survive like my African Violet. The soil needs to dry at the top between watering them. What I did to
most of my plants is to touch the soil and if it is really dry I water them. I also rotate the plant to evenly maintain the shaped of the leaves. Fertilize the Pilea with all purpose fertilizer during spring and summer. They said the leaves will accumulate dust so shower them regularly or wipe the dust off from the leaves. So far, my Pilea don’t have dust yet and I have this plant for 2 months now.
Propagating Chinese Money Tree or Pilea:
Chinese money plant is very easy to propagate because it will produce baby. So far, I have 5 babies of this plant and I re-pot 3 babies, one baby was accidentally cut by my youngest son, so I just re-pot the cut baby hoping that she will survive.
Watering – I water the plant once the soil is dry to touch approximately once every week but this summer I water it every 2 to 3 days.
Fertilizer – I fertilized once a month with all purpose plant fertilizer.
Picture below is my mother Pilea/Chinese Money Plant
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