Hi everyone! New to this site as I mainly deal with outdoor plants but have a small collection of indoor plants. So far they have been growing well with very little maintenance. Just watering and that's about it. I have some pilea, they have been doing well for quite a few months, but all of a sudden the lower leaves have started curling inwards on the edges, that are new shoots on the top of the plant so it seems to be doing fine otherwise. It was in quite a small pot so I decided to repot with adequate houseplants soil with seramis, clay balls for drainage and have invested in some houseplant spray mist. Does anyone know what might be causing this? After doing some internet research, underwatering seems to be the main trigger. Though I have a water moisture metre and it has been fine for quite a while within the moist markers and once it's dried I top up and let it drain out. My place it on my window seal where it gets light but not much as I know they aren't supposed to have direct light. It is quite warm in the room that I keep it in so not cold. I have decided to put a drip feeder in to see if that helps. I don't know whether I should cut the lower leaves off or leave them. It's a bit of a shame as it was looking really good but all of a sudden it started curling and looking not so good. It's been like this for a few days now. Is there anything I can do other than what I have already done? Thank you in advance 🙏🏻

I let mine dry out between waterings. I never mist it. You changed several things at once. Just leave it alone for a while and let it try to settle.

jvdubb said: I let mine dry out between waterings. I never mist it. You changed several things at once. Just leave it alone for a while and let it try to settle.

Thanks for the info and advice. I'll leave it for now and let it dry out. What I don't understand is that the leaves were curling even when it was very dry before repotting, so don't know if it's also something to do with the internal environment. I won't bother missing and I will just let it try out and see what happens. Going by the photo and if I let it dry out and recover is it of your opinion it should spring back or once the leaves start doing this for those likely to fall off? Thanks again for your help

If the soil is literally drying all the way out, I would put that at the top of the list of so many things you mentioned that might have upset your plant, if anything did. Individual leaves don't last forever. Don't stress when a leaf goes bad. Just remove it and enjoy the new ones as they grow. The yellow leaves can't recover.

There is a lot of mystery around Pilea peperomioides. I suspect no one really knows how to grow them or what they should look like. After reading this article:
http://www.wildchicken.com/nat...
I think they are probably epiphytic and rambling, maybe a good candidate for a hanging basket in an orchid house as they also get a lot of water in their native habitat. Mine is growing in leca and is watered daily. I haven't put a cutting in an orchid pot yet but its on my to do list.

Hello James 698, and welcome to the forum.
There is a lot of conflicting information about caring for this plant. For starters, I don't think it's an epiphyte.
Is that a self watering (semi-hydro) pot? Remember that those moisture meters are not very reliable, and the bottom soil will be almost constantly wet.
A friend gave me a pilea cutting about two years ago. It didn't do well at first, always a little droopy and chlorotic. I decided to change my care regime, see if it would do better.
I repotted in a ceramic pot with good drainage. I used a fast draining houseplant soil.
I started treating it like I do my Phalaenopsis orchids.
It's under a grow light, 16 hours out of 24.
Once a week I soak it in water with orchid food, for 20 minutes or so. Then drain well. While it's at the sink I occasionally rinse off the leaves. If I don't have time for the soak, I water well.
I let it dry out until the next week. The soil is almost completely dry in a week.
It greened up, started putting out pups, and is getting too tall for my space.
I've left the pups on so far. They help keep the main stem supported and straight. I'll be repotting and dividing soon. I plan to start over with one of the smaller pups in the same pot. I'll give away the rest.
It does still drop leaves from time to time. I just pull them off when they're loose. The new pups are filling in, and the mother plant is steadily growing upwards.
This has worked well for me. I suggest you experiment a bit, see what makes your plant happier. Maybe try it out of the self-watering pot, more light, lots of water and regular feeding.

@Lucy68 What a fun article! Thanks for posting.

@MsDoe Thanks for the info. You've validated my decision to give away a small specimen I received as a gift. I was certain I'd kill it. No way would I have nurtured it like that!

Lucy68 said: There is a lot of mystery around Pilea peperomioides. I suspect no one really knows how to grow them or what they should look like.
…

Well, I was one of the of the first American growers of this about 13 years ago. At first, no one really did know what they preferred, but they weren't that hard to grow and lots of people in Scandinavia were successful. I got my first tiny ones from there and treated them like a succulent; they lived but hardly grew at all. The pictures of the ones in Europe at that time were skinny single-stemmed plants. Eventually we saw that their natural form was a multi-stemmed trailing plant.

Lucy68 said:
After reading this article:
http://www.wildchicken.com/nat...
I think they are probably epiphytic and rambling, …

That British article is great, isn't it? Lots of insights there. The key hints are that it naturally occurs at high elevations on humus-covered rocks. Not mentioned are that it was found in steep vallies on cliffs and rocks but rarely on flat ground, and there are deciduous trees that drop lots of leaves on them every fall. Also the climate is odd: rain falls 8 or 9 months of the year and the area is like a rainforest getting 90 in. (230 cm.) or more; then in winter it is mostly dry and very cold. This gives one some clues for care. Give them a winter dry rest, and be generous in summer.
I have grown and sold thousands of them by now, and heard lots of stories about their adaptability. They can take a bit of freezing if the are dry, and in fact, they usually only flower if they get really cold in winter.
I read a biography of its discoverer: George Forrest. A great read if you like plants and adventure.

Here's one of my big ones. It is more than 4 x 3 ft. and is in a self-watering pot.
You can see some cupped leaves and some slightly chlorotic spots; these are seasonal appearances and I don't worry about either.

My apologies. Ignore my advice. I don't actually have this plant. Mine is Peperomia. I often get confused on these two. Sorry!

Hortica, very good information. Thank you!

jvdubb said: You changed several things at once. Just leave it alone for a while and let it try to settle.

That was very good advice,

Thanks everyone. Hopefully it will spring back to life. I was reading a care sheet online about potential root rot issues. It said about washing off the route ball to check for any rotten or damage routes. Snip back with clean snips and remove some top gross. Mainly the curled and yellow leaves as they are too far gone. Repot in a well draining cactus and succulent compost. Leave in the shade for a week with no feed due to the shock and go from there. I have some compost with me now. Should I do this process or should I just leave it and see what happens?. I have a moisture metre and it still says moist and wet in certain areas despite not being watered for over a week. So don't know whether I should rinse off the roots paper towel, dry them out and repot to get rid of the excess moisture. I've got lots of babies from this plant but didn't really want to lose it. There are new leaves coming out the top but the bottom leaves are still curling and cracking and browning. As I haven't worted since repotting over a week ago, I thought maybe it could be root rot and I'd rather act now If so. Thanks!

The route rot care sheet also said about watering a little with lukewarm chamomile water with which I have to help with the bacterial issues

jvdubb said: I let mine dry out between waterings. I never mist it. You changed several things at once. Just leave it alone for a while and let it try to settle.

I don't see any drainage in pot...thats bad

Unless the current pot has no drainage hole, I would wait on repotting.