Peperomia plants are beautiful and come in many different varieties. These plants are popular houseplants due to their low maintenance care.
However, they can have some issues that affect their growth. So, why is your Peperomia not growing?
There are several reasons this problem could be occurring in your Peperomia plant. Some of the issues include improper lighting conditions, a lack of humidity, overwatering your plant, over-pruning your plant, exposure to extreme temperatures, and more! You need to identify the issue and fix it.
How do you identify which problem is affecting your Peperomia plant? How do you fix all these problems that cause your plant to stop growing?
We will find the answers and go through these great questions in more detail to help you get your Peperomia plant back to full health!
Why Would Peperomia Plants Stop Growing?
Peperomia plants are gorgeous ornamental and succulent-type plants with quite thick leaves. These plants are relatively low maintenance, making them perfect for people with busy lives or beginners.
Peperomia plants are evergreen perennials that will always keep your home looking fresh and bright no matter the season, as they add a lovely pop of color to any room you keep them in.
Peperomia plants have beautiful and bright green-colored leaves with whiteish-yellow borders around the edges. The plant’s leaves are thicker than most other houseplants as they retain water. This is to help the plant survive through low water or dry conditions.
Peperomia plants are kept for ornamental purposes due to their stunning appearance of the plants. These plants can flower, but the flowers they produce are not showy and are often depicted as insignificant compared to the plant’s appearance.
Peperomia plants have a slow growth rate and take around two years to mature fully. As these plants are small and grow slowly, you might not notice their growth, but this doesn’t mean there is a problem with the plant.
However, even though this is true, there are some problems that can cause your Peperomia plant to slow down its growth or even stop growing altogether. These problems include:
- Improper lighting of the plant
- A lack of humidity around the plant
- Overwatering your Peperomia plant
- A lack of nutrients in the soil
- Extreme temperatures
- Over pruning your Peperomia plant
- Or a disease-causing the plant to slow its growth
These problems can be alarming to most Peperomia owners, but if you catch them in time, you can fix them and save your plant. Let’s take an in-depth look at these problems, so you can identify the one affecting your Peperomias growth and solve it before it affects the plant’s health further.
1 – Improper Lighting
If your Peperomia plant does not receive the ideal lighting to sustain its growth, the plant will slow its growth or stop growing altogether.
Peperomia plants prefer to be kept in medium indirect sunlight. If you keep your Peperomia plant in these conditions, your plant will grow well and stay healthy. The ideal locations in your home to ensure your Peperomia plant receives this sunlight are on an east or south-facing windowsill or your porch.
These locations of your home will provide the perfect sunlight conditions for this plant. However, if you keep your Peperomia plant on a windowsill, you need to ensure the plant does not sit in direct sunlight at any time during the day, especially during the summer months.
If your plant experiences this type of sunlight, it can burn its leaves. If your plant doesn’t receive enough sunlight, this is what stops the plant’s growth. Some other signs of your plant not receiving enough sunlight include yellowing leaves, the leaves wilting, and slow growth.
If you notice any of these signs in your Peperomia plant, you need to move your plant to a new location with the best sunlight conditions. This should get your plant back to full health.
2 – Lack of Humidity
Peperomia plants are indigenous to tropical and subtropical locations, which means these plants prefer hot climates with high humidity levels. If Peperomia plants are not kept in high humidity, this can affect their growth, as their growth will slow down drastically due to the low humidity in the area.
In most homes, the humidity levels are between 20% and 25%, which is generally fine for most Peperomia plants. This humidity level could still slow the plant’s growth, but not drastically to the point where it would worry you.
However, if you live in a climate with low humidity levels and the humidity in your home is lower than 20%, this will stop the growth of your Peperomia plant. You can purchase a humidifier and run it in the room with your Peperomia for at least 3 hours a day to help fix this problem.
Alternatively, you can mist your plant daily with clean, fresh water to increase the humidity around the plant or place your plant on a humidity tray.
3 – Overwatering Your Peperomia Plant
Peperomia plants are succulent-type plants that will store water in their leaves. This allows the plant to survive in low water conditions, meaning the plant is quite drought-tolerant and doesn’t need much water to thrive in your care.
This does make it extremely easy to overwater a Peperomia plant. When a Peperomia plant is overwatered, it will not grow as the plant’s overall health is affected.
When a Peperomia plant is overwatered, the soil will be oversaturated with water, preventing the roots from accessing needed oxygen and absorbing nutrients. The plant’s foliage will also become mushy to the touch and start turning yellow. The plant will also develop root rot.
As the Peperomia plant’s health is declining due to this, the plant will stop growing as it will focus its energy on survival instead of growth. Overwatering your Peperomia for extended periods will kill your plant.
You need to wait until the first two inches of the plant’s soil is dry before you water the plant again. Then you water your Peperomia; you should water it thoroughly until all the soil is wet.
Then wait until the water drains from the soil into the saucer under the pot and empty the saucer. If you follow this watering process, you should get into a good watering schedule for your Peperomia plant.
4 – Lack of Nutrients in the Soil
If there is a lack of nutrients in your Peperomias soil, your Peperomia plant will slow down its growth or stop its growth entirely. Peperomias are succulent-type plants, but this doesn’t mean they don’t require nutrients to thrive in your care.
If the soil lacks nutrients, your plant will begin to decline in health. The leaves will start drooping and discoloring, and the plant will have an overall unhealthy appearance. If this problem persists, your plant will die, as it has no nutrients to carry out its cellular functions correctly.
If you suspect this is causing your Peperomia plant to stop growing, you need to fertilize your plant. You should use a liquid fertilizer for houseplants, diluted to half strength to ensure the fertilizer doesn’t burn the plant’s roots.
You should only fertilize your Peperomia plant once every 3 to 4 months, during the plant’s active growing seasons. This should help your plant bounce back and recover fast.
5 – Extreme Temperatures
Extreme temperature changes can affect the growth of your Peperomia plant. As mentioned, these plants are accustomed to hotter climates, which means cold temperatures can affect this plant substantially.
This plant favors temperatures of 60° to 80°F. This is the temperature range your plant will be the happiest in. If the temperature in the home falls under 55°F, your plant will begin to suffer, and its growth will stop.
If you let the temperature in the home reach above 85°F, this can also affect the health of your Peperomia plant, but not to the same extent as the cold temperatures. You need to keep your plant away from drafts, ACs, and heating vents to ensure your plant isn’t exposed to extreme temperature changes.
6 – Over Pruning Your Peperomia Plant
Peperomia plants will require some pruning to keep the plant at a manageable size in your home. Even though these plants don’t require much pruning as they are pretty slow growers, you will need to prune them at least once per year.
It’s important to know how to prune your Peperomia plant, as it can be easy to over-prune them. Over pruning your plant can damage the plant and cause scarring on the stems. This will stop plant growth in that area and cause your Peperomia to grow even slower than usual. This damage is irreversible.
7 – A Disease Could Decrease Growth of Peperomias
There are some diseases that can affect the growth of your Peperomia plant. One disease is root rot, caused by overwatering the plant, but other fungal diseases can have the same effect.
These diseases will be visible on your plant’s foliage and can slow your plant’s growth to varying degrees. You will need to treat these diseases with a fungicide to help your plant get back to full health.
If you are dealing with root rot, you need to repot your plant and trim off the affected roots to stop the rot from spreading. This will help your plant get back to full health.
Final Thoughts
Peperomia plants are stunning and are great additions to any home. These plants are slow-growing by nature, but there are many problems that can affect their growth or make them stop growing altogether.
If you notice the signs of these problems, you need to act fast to save your plant and get it back to full health. The guidelines in this article should help you identify the issue and fix it before your plant suffers even more. Good luck with your Peperomia plant!
Growing up with a mom who filled her home (inside and out) with all sorts of plants, Lisa got her start in gardening at a young age. Living now on her own with a home and yard full of plants (including an indoor greenhouse), she shares all the gardening tips she’s gained over the years.