Hi all,

My watermelon peperomia was going really well for a month or so and now the stems are starting to droop. The soil mixture 50/50 perlite/soil and it drains well. I may have watered it a little bit earlier than normal as I went away for a 5 days and the weather was hot so watered it when I got home.

Any suggestions? I moisture metered the soil and it was fairly wet so just let it dry out completely and the stems should come back alright?

Cheers for any help!!!

I honestly don't think it looks bad, and you have a new leaf emerging so it must be fairly happy. If you left it for 5 days in hot weather its response may be to droop a bit until it gets right again under your regular care

The moisture meter is leading you astray. Water it thoroughly as soon as the surface of the soil feels dry to the touch.

So update on this...

Lost 1 stem/leaf. Both new leaves have died. I was just concerned with overwatering it as the soil in the bottom of the pot is fairly moist even though the top inch is dry.

The soil in the bottom three-quarters of the pot should never dry out. Even the surface of the soil should just barely dry out.

Last update...unfortunately it didn't survive all of the leaves/stems drooped and came out of the soil. Not really sure what happened as it was fine up until I left for a few days and came back and watered it like I said in the original post, will possibly buy another if I came across it again.

I suspect you were keeping it too dry. It takes a while before the effects of underwatering begin to show up.