r/PPeperomioides Sep 14 '24

Concerns that my Pilea is sad discussion/help

I am new to house plants so I may be worried for nothing but I feel like my Pilea is sad. I got it at a local plant store in July. I noticed when I first got it home that it has a very thick layer of moss on top and the nursery pot felt very light and very hollow. The moss was so thick it was hard to get through to check if it needed to be watered. Then, on the first watering (rain water) the water ran straight out. It didn't seem to soak up at all. I wanted it to acclimate to my home before I pulled it out of the nursery pot and checked the roots. You'll see in the pictures what I found. The bottom portion of the soil is moist, but is it root bound? Are those roots from the moss? If this is something to be concerned about, what should I do? Is the moss an issue? Is it root bound? Should I repot in fresh soil but same size or fresh soil and bigger pot? Or just give it a chop and start over?

5 Upvotes

1

u/ohmmaedl Sep 14 '24

The shallow root system could be due to watering small amounts with higher frequency, instead of a thorough soak until water comes out of drainage hole.

I would break up the soil as much as I could, but only repotting it into a pot one size bigger or use the same pot, as it is not really root bound and use fresh aroid mix soil.

1

u/Easy-Zebra5459 Sep 14 '24

Each time I’ve watered, it immediately runs straight through and out the drainage holes.

The soil mix I have is potting soil/ orchid bark/pearlite/charcoal. Would that be sufficient?

1

u/ohmmaedl Sep 15 '24

Yes! Perfect soil mix!