Growing plants at your home is a fascinating and interesting hobby. Many people also do it to grow vegetables, fruits, or flowers that they can further consume or sell in the local market.
It cannot be discarded that although having houseplants is fun and adds to the beauty of your home, it comes with a lot of its problems. One of the many problems involved in growing houseplants is selecting the right soil.
Many people think that soil can be easily bought from the market and is simply needed to be set up at the home. However, it is obvious that due to the several types of plants, the requirement of soil is also different for each of them.
Often, even after selecting the right soil, the plant fails to grow as expected because people often fail to understand its watering requirements and the type of light it needs to grow.
One of the most popular houseplants is the Chinese Money Plant.
In this article, we would understand more about this fortune plant and also look at the best soil for your Chinese Money Plant.
We would also discuss other factors that can help grow it best.
What Is the Chinese Money Plant
Chinese Money Plant, whose scientific name is Pilea Peperomiodes, is also known as a UFO plant or a Coin plant because of its unique shape and style of leaves.
It is most commonly found in the South Western regions of China like Sichuan or Yunnan. Although these days, it can be found almost anywhere in the world due to its growing popularity.
You simply need to check on the E-commerce store in your region or check with your local plant seller.
This plant can easily go up to a height of 12-14 inches, however, it has been observed that few mature plants have even reached the height of 20 inches.
Being a flowering plant, you can easily expect small flowers of white colour on the plant after it has started to grow considerably.
Talking about the leaves, they are not too big and not too small. Going by its other name, ‘Coin Plant’, they really look like large-sized coins placed on thin stems.
The Chinese Money Plant is popular because it is significantly easy to take care of and brings good fortune as well. Many people also place this plant in their homes for the purpose of home decor as well.
How to Choose the Best Soil for Chinese Money Plant
Let us now talk about how to choose the best soil for the Chinese Money Plant.
In case you are too confused with the options available and don’t know if you should grow your own soil, keep reading.
Ideally, you must keep a few factors in your mind before opting for soil for your Chinese Money Plant.
The most crucial factor is that the soil should be well-draining and must allow the plant to maintain its intake of oxygen with ease.
Chinese Money plants usually require more water in warmer weather, and also since the ideal soil for this plant allows it to dry itself out completely, you must keep in mind that your soil should absorb water well and help to reach it to the roots well.
The last factor to keep in mind for a Chinese Money Plant is the pH level.
Please remember that although this plant requires a certain acidic content in the soil, it is still advisable to keep the pH levels around 7 so that there is a balance of nutrients and acidity.
The soil should be loamy and fibrous, allowing it to hold the moisture for a prolonged period of time. Hence, do not look for tough and grainy soil, as it might not be suitable for a Chinese Money Plant.
Chinese Money Plant can grow well in almost all kinds of soil usually available in the market, but if you wish to look at other options and want to grow your own soil, you must ensure mixing a few substances for its ideal growth.
Out of these, pumice, coconut fiber, worm poop, and perlite/vermiculite are some ingredients that will be suitable for Chinese Money Plants and create a healthy environment for them.
Usually, most high-fibrous soil is affordable and easy to find in the market, so you do not need to worry.
Other Factors to Help Your Chinese Money Plant Grow
There are several other factors apart from choosing the right soil that can go a long way in helping your Chinese Money Plant grow well. Let us have a look at each one of them.
Pot
Firstly, the pot that you choose for growing your Chinese Money Plant in is absolutely crucial. You must first ensure that the size of the pot is not too small or big.
It should be suited for an indoor plant and be of small-medium size.
Keep in mind that it is important to select a pot that does not dry out too quickly.
Chinese Money Plants thrive in moisture and hence are not friendly with pots or soil types that dry out too quickly. In case the pot dries out quickly, you would need to water it more often, which is not an ideal condition.
Whenever you go to buy pots for your Chinese Money Plant, you should consider buying them in bulk as Chinese Money Plants are very easy to propagate and you can utilise economies of scale at the right time.
Lastly, it is advisable that your pot should allow a proper inflow of oxygen that can retain itself and help the plant grow better.
Hence, make sure that the water can be easily passed through the pot.
Light
Chinese Money Plants do not need much direct light, but it is suited to grow outdoors, in minimal sunlight or partial shade.
Although there is no plain formula to understand the amount of light required, we recommend observing your plant and also speaking with a houseplant expert who can help you with them.
Chinese Money Plants can grow well indoors as well, with no sunlight. Although it is not actually a plant to grow in shade, it is observed that it grows just fine.
So, you do not need to worry if you live in a place where you do not have access to sunlight throughout the year.
Additionally, you should consider keeping the Chinese Money Plant near a window, where it can get a brief amount of morning sunlight.
With this decent lighting and placement, you can expect your plant to grow faster.
If you cannot keep your plant outside and even indoors cannot find a place with indirect sunlight, you can choose to keep it under an artificial lighting system as well.
Water
You should especially be very careful about watering the Chinese Money Plant as once it is in the growing stage, it requires constant care.
Once it has started to grow considerably, you can choose to water it less often.
The ideal watering technique is to water until the water flows outside the hole at the bottom of the pot.
With this, you ensure that the soil has enough water to hold and will not be dried out too soon.
Additionally, you should keep in mind that having a routine to water the plants is not ideal, as it always depends on the need and stage of growth the plant is at, to water the plants.
Other factors like temperature, and moisture is also to be taken into account.
You can easily check whether your plant has adequate water by pushing a finger inside the soil up to a few inches.
If your finger is dry, you should consider watering the plant. If not, you can wait for more time.
Fertilizing
Fertilizing is another crucial aspect when it comes to growing a Chinese Money Plant.
Most experts recommend doing it once or twice a year, depending on the health of the plant and its speed of growth.
You should consider talking to a houseplant expert in deciding when and how to put fertilizers in the plant.
They would also advise you on the type of fertilizer that is well-suited for your Chinese Money Plant.
Location
Another important factor for ensuring growth in your Chinese Money Plant is its location. Usually, plants are merely divided into two categories, indoor and outdoor.
However, in the case of a Chinese Money Plant, it can be a bit tricky,
It is such a plant that can be kept indoors as well as outdoors too. But, if you are keeping it indoors, it is ideal to rotate it halfway every other week so that it does not start tailing unexpectedly and looks imbalanced.
Usually, when kept indoors, the north-facing window in your house is the right place for the plant, so that it can get a bit of morning sunlight and would be protected from the extreme light and wind.
It must be kept in mind that, the Chinese Money Plants should not be kept in direct sunlight, as it can severely damage the plant and dry out its leaves and soil much faster than expected.
Humidity
Humidity is unexpectedly a deciding factor in the faster growth of the Chinese Money Plant. Usually, the suitable recommended humidity is moderate to high for Chinese Money Plants.
Although these plants can endure most average weather and surroundings, it is not advisable to keep them in extremely dry conditions.
As mentioned earlier, since the Chinese Money Plant needs to be moist at most times, you should not leave it to dry and must give it attention once you notice a few dry leaves or soil.
Consider placing several plants together with the Chinese Money Plant to increase the humidity level.
Another thing you can consider is misting the plant a bit so that the leaves can be fresh and moist.
Maintenance
Lastly, ensure proper and regular maintenance of your Chinese Money Plant to ensure that it does not get ruined after it starts to grow well and flourish.
Some of the basic things that you can do for maintenance include cutting out the dry leaves timely and repotting your plant as and when it is required.
Usually, repotting is suggested once a year for the best results. It is done because the soil in which the plant is grown may not always be ideal for growth and can become deficient in nutrients and oxygen with time.
To repot your plant, consider upgrading the soil nutrients or composition level to what it was last time, by observing the results on your plant and its growth.
Additionally, your plant may start to lean on one side and become prone to trailing. The decision to let your plant trail is crucial as in less time, it can start covering other areas of your space and it would definitely look shabby and unorganised.
Conclusion
In this article, you learned about the best soil that is suitable for growing your Chinese Money Plant. In case you have more doubts, do not forget to get in touch with a houseplant expert or your local plant seller or nursery. They will guide you more on how you can grow the Chinese Money Plant in your region in a hassle-free manner.
Remember that the Chinese Money Plant is an easy-to-propagate plant, hence, using the growing small leaves, as they start to develop roots, you can store them in another pot and further decorate your place or pass it on to your friends and family as a gift.
Nevertheless, always remember to be patient and calm while growing plants as they demand time, proper care, and nourishment.
Additionally, choosing the right soil is simply one of the many factors that are responsible for the ideal growth of the Chinese Money Plant.
Thus, do not forget to look into the other crucial factors like location, humidity, water, light, pot, maintenance, etc. All the best with your plant-growing journey and hope you love it!
