Description

Commonly found around low light environments, this Peperomia makes a great addition to your home in those low light corners, tight spaces and guest rooms. They are known for their drought tolerance, low light tolerance and bug resistance. If you find you struggle with Succulents, this may be the perfect succulent for you to try growing, you may want to give this Peperomia a shot. Peperomia Japonica has a slightly thicker, succulent leaf than most Peperomia. With small delicate leaves similar to a Portulacaria. With over 1,000 different plants in the Genus, most Peperomia come with thick fleshy, semi-succulent foliage with a wide array of textures and patterns; from soft and green to textured and marbled. Most tropical Peperomia grown in North America can make great shelf and tabletop plants, but there are a few trailing Peps to seek out for shelf edges and ceiling hangers. Due to their drought resistance and low light requirement these make excellent gifts for your new-to-plants friends.

Sizing

This Peperomia is an excellent hanging or shelf plant, as it has delicate small leaves that range from 1/4" - 1/2" wide that grow in the hundreds, covering the entire plant with long trailing stems and delicate teardropped foliage. If you have grown a Portulacaria Elephant Bush, the leaf size is very similar in both size and texture.

Care

This Peperomia thrives on neglect, so we recommend growing this Pep away from direct sunlight, but if direct sun is necessary based on the spot you have available for it, try keeping the direct sun to less than 3 hours a day. This should make a room with North or East lighting preferred. You can grow this Pep in a West or South facing room if you have it away from the windows and direct sun. Depending on which sunlight environment you have your Peperomia in, it should be able to go up to 3 weeks before requiring water and showing signs of shriveling or drought stress. If your Pep is getting any direct sun, you can expect to need to water your Pep weekly. You will notice some wrinkling or loss of stiffness in the foliage when experiencing drought. 

You can prune your plant back by no more than 30% to encourage your Pep to branch out and force your plant to grow thicker rather than longer. Grow lights are no needed for most Peperomia, but if you do decide to use supplementary lighting, we would not recommend LED's, but rather a T5 or a standard Grow CFL.

Fertilizer

This Peperomia will do excellent with a high dose 20-20-20 fertilizer every second watering throughout the grow season. In Northern Canada this grow season is March - late October. 

__________________________________________________________________

See also: Peperomia Hope

See also: Peperomia Axillaris