Table of Contents
The Peperomia Family:
According to research, there are nearly 1,000 plants in the Peperomia family. The different kinds of plants that belong to the Peperomia family tend to share some common characteristics among themselves; some of which are, they all are small and are easy to grow.
Numerous gardeners evolve contrasting variations of peperomia consecutively since each diversity of plant has a contrasting and distinctive aspect.
Examples of members of the Peperomia family are Teardrop Peperomia, Rainbow Peperomia, Peperomia prostrata, Theresa Peperomia, Watermelon Peperomia.
Peperomia plants are the resources of many important oils and other botanical beneficial features. Peperomia is grown not for food but decoration purposes as they are fleshy, juicy, full of moistness, colorful, adaptable with low maintenance. Peperomia bear spikes with drupe fruits.
HEIGHT AND SPREAD:
Though there are a lot of species of peperomia plant, all the species are slow-growing and small in size. Most peperomia plants are not developing up to 2 feet (30 cm) when they grow up they spread relatively 8-12 inches(20-30 cm).
Usually, the peperomia plants are slow-developing together with various cultivators only to attain a comprehensive height of 10-12 inches high. They do not thrive to extend larger than 8-12 inches tall and wide.
The watermelon peperomia is a species of the peperomia family which is unique in their own look.
Watermelon peperomia gets this name because of its appearance like watermelon. Its leaves are white and green striped and exactly look like the ring on a watermelon. This is the only similarity between watermelon peperomia plant and watermelon.
As the title recommended, watermelon peperomia is a member of the Peperomia family, which acquired this family title because of their aspect like black pepper plants.
Characteristics features of watermelon peperomia:
Peperomia argyreia is the scientific name of watermelon peperomia; while the common name of this plant is watermelon begonia.
Watermelon Peperomia is a small plant, which grows up to 9 inches and has unique leaves of about 3.5 inch and it gets features like silver and green striped pattern which resembles a watermelon rind. This plant is native to South America particularly Brazil.
Foliage: As per the size and shape of the watermelon peperomia plant as a complete, the leaves appear big in size. Leaves that are connected to the stem at the center are kind of having an oval shape and represent a great mixture of greeny and silvery gray stripes. The foliage appears as fleshy and it connects to thin red stems.
Watermelon peperomia plants are small-sized plants. Watermelon peperomia has ovoid shaped leaves with silver gray bands. It can evolve up to eight inches in height and width, but only if implanted in a big vessel that permits for the development of the roots. Watermelon peperomia has a three-dimensional appearance of leaves and a heaping habit.
There are many ways to grow peperomia but these basics can only help as the need for water, light, type of potting medium, humidity level, etc.
Soil:
The soil provides attachment, water, and supplements. An equal mixture of peat moss and perlite is a great choice. Peperomia plants have a small root system making them ideal for indoor plants. Mixing small gravels will help roots to get the air they need for their growth. Soil plays an essential role in potting the peperomia. Use a well-drained soil that gets a huge amount of air.
When repotting the peperomia be assured the new mixture is well-drained and aerated, holding capacity of soil for water and supplements well and the pH of soil ranges between 5.0-6.5.
Watering:
Watermelon peperomia is not the type of plant that needs to wet all day for a long duration.
To water properly let the soil lose its moisture in between equal intervals of waterings. In actual fact, abandoning the soil regularly full of moisture will harm the plant. To get the watering done, permit the soil to lose moisture to the sense of touch at above and then water completely. The type of soil used to implant Watermelon peperomia will illustrate in controlling the comprehensive health and welfare of the watermelon peperomia. Generally, utilizing a mix restrains a great quantity of perlite and sand in a potting medium, as long as it drains out easily. The vessel in which the plant is set should have a minimum one drainage hole, to permit excess water to drain out completely. Even though water obligations are low, it is essential to observe the watermelon peperomia plant. If the semi-succulent leaves sink, it may be notified to water the watermelon plant again.
It is significant not to overwater watermelon peperomia plants or underwater them. Overwatering will result in decomposed roots and the death of plants and under-watering will make them sick or induce them to catch any disease through parasites.
But during winter, water the plant slightly in a low quantity.
Light:
Watermelon peperomia will live in inadequate light conditions. The plants are known for maintaining the level in dark surroundings without ventilation or passage for light, considering there is a sufficient quantity of artificial setup of fluorescent light throughout the daytime.
In their natural habitats plants live in shrouded inside forests with a little bit of sunlight and shade so it is needed to attempt and reproduce this.
Make sure to put watermelon peperomia in a place where direct sunlight is restricted. Overlight, specifically direct light, is normally terrible news for peperomia plants. Straight, enormous sunlight will scorch the leaves.
Temperatures:
Warm moderate temperatures range between 60°F – 80°F (c. 15°C – 27°C) supply the finest developing temperatures for these members of the plant family. Temperatures below the ranges of 50°F – 55°F (c. 10°C – 13°C). will destroy the leaves of the Peperomia plant.
Peperomia plants change the requirements of temperature to either minimize the temperature ranges or maximize the temperature ranges.
Fertilizers:
Species of the peperomia family turn out to be slow developers and Watermelon peperomia is no anomaly. Hold on to the plant well by only fertilizing it once or twice a year.
Fertilize in the season of spring or the summer, not in the dormancy or winter.
In actual fact during the spring span, the plant is developing utilize a less strengthened water-based fertilizer for one time every 2 – 4 weeks till the summer season lasts. A 20-20-20 fertilizer used daily to grow the peperomia vigorously. As with most houseplants, it’s best to under fertilize and not over-fertilized. Feed one time every two or three months during the dormancy phase.
Use The fertilizer diluted to half the approved strength.
Humidity:
The relative humidity is a measure of moisture contained in the environment. Remarked relative humidity as an essential reason for indoor plants like peperomia; 40%-50% relative humidity considered as a medium need.
Peperomia plants must have high humidity levels and love this environment. Because of the small root system, peperomia collects water from their leaves.
During summer mist the leaves and group plants together may help to create a humid environment for better growth. To boost the misting, set the peperomia on a baking tray and fill the baking tray with water and scatter some pebbles into the water and place the peperomia just above the pebbles. This will increase the moisture level in the environment around the plant. Rise the level of relative humidity higher during the spring and summer developing seasons by placing the plant on a baking tray full of pebbles and water under pebbles or keep a humidifier in the surrounding environment of the plant to regulate the air movements.
Repotting:
The watermelon peperomia plants do not require to be repotted frequently. They are repotted after 2or 3 years into a bigger vessel because of the enlargement of roots. The repotting is done in the following steps:
Materials Required:
- New pot
- New potting mix
- Large bowl
- Scissors
Step 1. Prepare the material required for a new pot.
use a new potting mixture in a large bowl and mix it with hot burning watering. Maintain the temperature in the surrounding, drain the potting medium. Sterilize each and everything.
Step 2. Remove the peperomia from its recent pot.
Be careful towards roots while removing from the pot. Cautious while unlocking each root separately using scissors to help.
Step 3. Clear out the roots.
Use fingers and a pair of clean scissors to clear out the roots. Mild ease separates the tangled roots that are dead or rotten.
Step 4. Set the peperomia in new pots.
The new developing peperomia will appear in the level.
Step 5. Add potting medium
Add sufficient potting medium to the base of the pot so that the new development of peperomia will be in level with the top of the pot.
Step 6. Care the new growth
Assemble the peperomia flowers so that they stand above.
PRUNING:
To improvise the ornamental appearance of foliage of peperomia plants we do pruning because the flowers are not attractive.
Peperomia plants tolerate pruning really well at a great level. There is no need for showing too delicate care while pruning.
It requires to pinch out stem tips once the peperomia plant matures. Pinching the stem tips will help to hold up the peperomia plant at the accurate size and make its appearance look full and not leggy.
Remove the dead and decomposed growth and leaves before the peperomia plants show any signs of disease or damage. It will help to encourage new better growth by removing damaged parts of peperomia plants.
Watermelon peperomia is graceful and appealing with leaves of dark green colored assembled in a circular shape and silvery gray zones extending from the center of the leaf. The leaf blades are in the shape of a cup and they are sustained from long reddish stalks that attach leaves to stem.
Propagation:
Peperomia plants are easy to propagate. The best season to propagate peperomia is late spring and early summer.
It is an easy procedure and a good way too to enlarge the plats. It requires a soil medium to propagate. There are 2 essential ways for propagating peperomia plants:
- Leaf-cutting.
- Stem cutting
Watermelon peperomia is propagated through the “leaf cutting method”.
Leaf cutting method:
- Prepare propagation tray or pots earlier than planned. Use an equal mix of potting mix and perlite.
- Be sure of cleanliness, propagation pot, or tray, and all equipment in use is clean, and perfectly sterile, as the fungal disease is the severe issue that can put a stop in propagating Peperomia.
- Cut off the leaf of the plant together with a bit of stem.
- Dip the cutting leaf into root powder. This will promote new roots to thrive.
- Create a small channel in the potting medium, so insert leaf cutting can easily 1-2 cm into the new potting mix.
- Firm the potting mix around the cutting of the leaf. Water the potting media entirely.
- Cover the cuttings. Either use a polythene bag or a propagation tray over the top of the plant pot.
- Keep the newly propagated plants in bright indirect light at a normal indoor temperature of the surrounding environment.
- Remove the covering for a few hours every few days to stop the excessive humidity which carries a risk of severe fungal disease.
- Firstly notice, is the growth of new roots from the cut edge of the leaf. Following a new shoot and then leaves start to grow.
References
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.5941/MYCO.2014.42.2.203
http://protan.studentjournal.ub.ac.id/index.php/protan/article/view/1220
http://npj.uwpress.org/content/20/1/25.short
Hi there! My name is Constance and I am a professional botanist. My enthusiasm for organic farming has led me to start this blog about gardening for beginners!
I write articles and tips on improving your home and garden with less work. I also share my own advice from the perspective of someone who loves all things green – like how to grow vegetables in containers or how to make compost out of kitchen scraps.