Have you met the Pilea peperomioides plant? Maybe you have seen it on social media, maybe you already own one. This plant went from super obscure to suddenly being super popular.
Instagram exploded with Pileas growing tall and having lots of baby plants. Windowsills were showing off happy growing Pilea plants.
The Pilea peperomioides is also called a Chinese money plant or pancake plant for the flat, round leaves it grows.
If you take good care of your plant, it will mature and can grow many babies at the base. Seeing all those baby plants appear and grow is a wonderful thing to experience.
Related reading: Pilea peperomioides care – Common problems and easy fixes – Meaning and symbolism.
I sometimes worry that we will have an exuberant amount of Pilea plants to deal with soon. More than we can ever give away, or know what to do with.
You only have to look at a few plant-loving Instagram feeds, and you’ll notice #Pileapeperomioides is a hit. It has been on trend for a while now, and it doesn’t look like it’s going away soon.
Pilea babies and Instagram. Therein lies the current rise in popularity of the Pilea.
History of the Pilea peperomioides plant
The Pilea peperomioides is native to China where it grows in shady rock areas.
In 1945 there was a Norwegian missionary named Agnar Espegren, who took cuttings with him from China to his home country. From there and then on propagated cuttings and offshoots were spread throughout Scandinavia.
I own a lot of old plant care books. I like to learn from the knowledge of those who took care of plants before me. Now let me tell you this, there is not one of my old plant books with information about the Pilea peperomioides.
It wasn’t until the 1980s that this plant got officially classified and written about in botanical papers.
The Pass-it-on or Friendship Plant
The Pilea peperomioides used to be very hard to come by. People sometimes call it the pass-it-on-plant or friendship plant, because you had to know someone, who knew someone, who lived next door to someone who had a Pilea. And that someone had to like you enough to give you one of the babies.
No plant stores were selling them, because no plant growers were growing them, and no distributors distributing them.
Plant lovers who did have a pilea started posting pictures on social media and all of a sudden there’s this great demand for this obscure plant.
The lucky people who had one started selling their Pilea babies on sites like Amazon and Etsy, at that time for shocking amounts. Especially if you consider how easy to propagate these plants are.
I recently moved from New York to the Netherlands. Over here the chain stores are really quick to pick up on trends. I wish I had this great story to share of how I got my plant. But basically, all I did was walk into the garden center and purchase one.
A small, but mature Pilea peperomioides with two babies already popping up. It wasn’t long before those had grown to the point I could remove them from the mother plant, and put them in separate little pots.
Propagating Pilea babies is very easy and addictive. I was carefully examining the soil all the time, looking for new babies to come up.
Currently, six new Pilea babies are starting to grow.
But now what? For two, three, maybe four of them, I could find new plant parents to give them to. But not everyone is thrilled to receive a plant. I do realize not everybody is as enthusiastic about plants as I am.
So what to do with all the babies? I am not looking into going into the plant selling or shipping business.
A few days ago I came across a photo of an amazing giant Pilea plant. I felt immediate #pileagoals. Studying that photo I noticed that this plant consisted of multiple main stems.
Light bulb moment.
You don’t HAVE to remove the babies. You CAN also leave a few to grow together.
Leaving some of the babies to grow in the pot with the parent plant will slow down the Pilea wave in my house at least a little bit.
But what about all those other beautiful Pilea plants out there, growing all those new Pilea plants? If you own a mature Pilea peperomioides, please tell me, what do you do with all those little pilea babies?
albertje
Tuesday 6th of August 2019
can i cut of the top of my chinese pileas plant set it in water and get roots it has no babies anymore
Mod and Mint
Thursday 8th of August 2019
You can try, but let me ask why do you want to restart your plant like that? If it's healthy and growing just let it go. It will grow babies again when it's ready.
Wendy M
Sunday 31st of March 2019
Sadly I cannot keep these alive no matter what I try. I have 'successfully' killed four so far and my current one is heading the same way. I love them but the don't love me back (neither do string of pearls or maiden hairs). I'm in Brisbane, Australia so very hot/humid in Summer and cool mild winters. My pileas usually look lush for a while then the stems start to spread out and will drop off or go brown then drop. Happy for any suggestions... Thanks in advance.
Mod and Mint
Tuesday 2nd of April 2019
I'm sorry to hear your Pileas are not doing so well! How often do you water them? Are you letting the soil dry out before watering? It is easy to overwater. An occasional leaf drop on the bottom is normal though. When the plant ages, it loses old leaves. But I think this is not the case with your plants. Sounds more serious. See how the soil feels when you stick your finger in. Maybe they aren't getting enough light? It's hard to say without knowing your exact situation.
And the Maidenhair Fern... oh the heartache that one caused me. I love the look of a large hanging Maidenhair. But it just didn't like the conditions in our home. There was no way it was staying alive. I still dream of a huge one hanging from our high ceilings...
Louise
Tuesday 22nd of May 2018
Hi I have a pilea. It’s growing babies like crazy...I was worried that my original plant is not healthy therefore making babies? (Like when some plants go to seed if they’re about to die!) Is this true I worry that if I leave the babies in my original doesn’t get as much nutrients?
Mod and Mint
Tuesday 12th of June 2018
Hi Louise, I know what you are talking about. Like with Bromeliads, when they flower you know their end is near. That's not the case for Pileas. Yours sound perfectly healthy. Mature pileas will pop up babies. Some more than others. You can leave them with the mother plant or remove them. I tend to think too many will take away from the nutrients the mother gets, but i've seen some where the pots were filled completely and they were all happily growing. No worries. The mother pilea making babies is not a sign that your plant is dying.
Ashley
Friday 18th of May 2018
I purchased a small pilea from someone recently and it already had 3 babies growing when I received it. Since I am a newbie in my plant obsession, I am trying to figure out how I know when my plant it is safe to remove the baby plants. the main plant doesn't have the large brown stem yet. Should I wait until it does? I don't want to do it too early and harm the growth of the plant.
Mod and Mint
Tuesday 12th of June 2018
Hi Ashley. Congrats on the Pilea babies. Your mother plant might still be small, but apparently it is mature enough to have little ones. You can remove them carefully if you want. I would advice letting them grow a little before removing them. I was so excited when my Pilea mother got her first babies, i couldn't wait to remove and repot them. But they were still tiny. They survived, but i did notice that later babies, which i left growing with the mother a bit longer, started out stronger in their own pots. And they are growing stronger with more leaves. So wait a little if you can, let the babies become toddlers and then remove from the mother.
Vanessa
Friday 20th of April 2018
Can I adopt one? Lol. I love all my plants soo much! I'm in Phoenix AZ n can't find a Pilea. I've gone to so many nurserys. I'm a sad plant obsessed crazy green thumb lady. Lol.
Hannah
Saturday 23rd of June 2018
Hi Vanessa, I have a more pilea babies than I know what to do with. I just plucked some from my fertile mother plant earlier in the week. Let me know if you are still on the hunt and I can send you a baby once it has rooted a bit in the compostable pot. I’m on the east coast. Cheers, Hannah
Mod and Mint
Sunday 6th of May 2018
You could have one if you were closer! I know how it feels, hunting for that one particular plant. Aren't there any Phoenix based plant lovers on Instagram you could find? Maybe one of them has a Pilea with babies to Pass On.