The Acorn Peperomia ‘Peperomia Hope’ (Peperomia Tetraphylla)

Peperomia Hope is a plant of the genus Piperaceae. It is a lovely hybrid cultivar between Peperomia Deppeana and Peperomia Quadifolia. The two parents are low-growing vining epiphytes with small green round leaves on thin stems. If you want to grow Peperomia Hope in your garden, the first challenge you’ll face is identification. The plant closely resembles many of its cousins. 

The arrangement of the leaves along the stem in groups of four is very similar to Peperomia Tetraphylla. The leaf venation or the light oblong stripes along the leaves are similar to the popular watermelon peperomia. The plant’s parents are commonly found in the tropical forests of central and South America.

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Morphological characteristics of Peperomia Hope

The small round shape of its leaves is similar to that of Peperomia quadrangular. These similarities make it hard for a novice to distinguish it from its cousins. Peperomia Hope is not a full succulent but you can treat it like a succulent.
It is actually an epiphyte meaning that they grow on the surface of other plants.
Peperomia Hope plants are a flowering tropical plant species. It can form tiny flowers on long spikes that grow on the ends of stems. The flowers on Peperomia hope plants are insignificant, and the plant rarely blooms indoors.

Peperomia ‘Hope’ has succulent-like oval leaves growing on trailing stems. The small leaves grow as whorls in groups of three or four on stems. The Peperomia leaf colors range from light green to dark green. The fleshy leaves store moisture similar to many succulents.

Toxicity

You will be happy to know that this plant is not toxic to pets or humans. Therefore, you don’t need to keep them out of reach of children or pets.

Uses

It is a popular houseplant and ideal for a hanging basket due to its compact growth trailing stems and evergreen foliage.

Peperomia Hope Care

Lighting and Placement

This plant requires bright but indirect sunlight. A lack of sunlight causes leggy growth and an unkempt appearance. Placing the Peperomia in bright indirect sunlight ensures compact and healthy growth. The best place for this plant is in the west or south-facing window. When placing it in an east-facing window, ensure that the light is filtered and a shade is provided. If the plant is exposed to sunlight, the lovely disc-shaped leaves look dull and washed out.

Temperature

The ideal temperature for this plant to grow is between 67^oF and 78^oF (18^oC – 26^oC). This range shows that the plant is not cold-hardy. You should avoid growing it outdoors if your area experiences freezing winters. Alternatively, you can grow it in a pot, keep it outdoors and move it into the house in winter.

Watering

This plant stores most of its water in its succulent leaves. Thus regular watering is not required. The plant should be watered every two to four weeks to be safe and to avoid under-watering. How does one know when the plant is dehydrated? If the plant goes without water for too long, the leaves will start to curl inward to reduce the surface area through which moisture escapes.

Its stem might also start to sag and have a yellowish color. You can also use the soil test, which is objectively more recommended. It involves poking your fingers into the potting mix to determine whether the top two inches of the soil are dry or not. Underwatering this plant is a relatively easy fix.

Soak the plant in a container filled with room temperature water for thirty minutes or until the soil expands and appears moist. After that, remove the pot from the container and allow the excess water to drain through the drainage holes for another thirty minutes. Your Peperomia plant should recover in twenty hours if you have done everything correctly. If the process fails, your soil may be hydrophobic, in which case water drains quickly without wetting it. You will need to repot.

Overwatering

Similarly, overwatering this plant can cause the leaves to curl. There are several causes for over-watering, such as too frequent watering or using heavy and poorly draining soil.

This will cause the roots to remain wet in waterlogged soil and develop root rot for too long. Rotting roots prevent plants from absorbing water and nutrients from the soil properly. Thus, overwatered Peperomia displays similar signs to droughts and mineral deficiencies.

How do you identify a waterlogged peperomia hope? In the early stages of overwatering, the leaves curl upward and develop brown tips. These leaves may also feel soft, limp, and start turning yellow. If you test your soil, you will discover that the soil does not dry out even after two weeks.

Lastly, inspect your plant’s roots; once it has been removed from their pot, you will notice they have turned black and are mushy. In such a scenario, the only solution for you is to stop watering the plant and consider improving drainage and air spaces. For example, you can use a pair of sticks to make air spaces around the roots.

Humidity

The plant is well adapted to the household environment. Humidity in the house typically falls between 40 and 50%. The plant can still grow in higher humidity environments, but too much water on the leaves can lead to leaf rot

Soil for Peperomia Hope

Aside from watering, a good soil mix will do wonders to improve the plant to grow compactly. Well-drained soil or any reliable potting mix keeps the roots of this plant happy and healthy. For this plant, I would recommend any houseplant potting mix with some added bark perlite and horticultural grit mixed to create the perfect condition for growth.

Fertilizer

Fertilizing the plant helps to keep it strong and healthy. Fertilize once every four weeks using a recommended fertilizer. Dilute the fertilizer in water to avoid overwhelming the soil mix with too many salts. You should fertilize this plant during its growing periods from the spring to summer months. It is usually dormant in the cold months. You can tell that the plant is over-fertilized when white crusts start forming at the top of the soil. This shows a buildup of salts.

Pruning and Grooming

If your plant has grown too leggy or sparse, you can prune any leggy stems to fix that look. When you want to encourage new growth, cut above a node. A node is where leaves and roots grow out of the stem. You can also pinch your Peperomia, which helps encourage branching. You can pinch your plant by literally pinching off the first set of leaves along with the end of the stem with your fingers. Try to prune and pinch only in the spring or summer. Also, try not to prune too much at a time as it can shock the plant. Peperomia is a slow grower.

Pest and Diseases

Being a fleshy succulent, you have to ensure that sap-sucking pests do not attack your plant like mealy bugs, which cause the leaves to turn yellow, wrinkled, and entirely wrapped in sheets of webbing. The best way to keep the plant free from infestation by these pests is to use a dump cloth and wipe both sides of the leaf. This allows for infestations to be detected early when done regularly. Spray your plant with neem oil at least once a week. It’s a great way to prevent your plant from disease. You can control these pests by spraying the plant with rubbing alcohol or liquid soap mixed with water.

Common Problems and Solutions

Besides pests and diseases, your plant may encounter the following other problems.

Yellow Leaves

If you don’t mitigate this problem, it may lead to the death of your plant. Yellow leaves show that it is either overwatered or underfed. It is easy to determine which problem is the cause through the elimination method. Dip your finger into the substrate; if the water is soggy, your plant is overwatered and could suffer from root rot. Stop watering and drain off the extra water from the pottage. On the other hand, if the soil is not soggy, your plan needs additional nutrients in the soil. Feed it using suitable fertilizer.

Curling Leaves

This plant’s leaves are its most attractive quality. If the leaves curl, assuming an unnatural position, your plant will lose its appeal. Leaves curl when your plant is overwatered or not getting adequate light. Check the amount of water in the soil and reduce it as necessary. You should move the plant to a window sill to get adequate sunlight. The leaves will return to normal soon as you change the conditions.

Propagation of Peperomia Hope

This plant can be propagated by leaf cuttings and stem cuttings in soil or water. You can also propagate it using seeds.

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You need the following things you need before you start.

1. A sharp cutting tool such as a knife or hand pruner
2. Alcohol wipes, methylated or surgical spirit, and cotton wool
3. Three-inch pots depending on the number of plants you want to propagate
4. Well-drained soil

Take the following steps for successful propagation.

1. Take your cutting tool, and wipe it with alcohol wipes or otherwise sterilize it. Sterilizing the instrument is an integral part of the process as it ensures neither the daughter nor mother plant gets infected with any disease that might be on the tool.
2. Cut one of the spreading branches at the base with your now sterilized tool. The cutting should have one or two nodes on it.
3. Wait a few days for it to be callous to reduce the cutting rotting possibility.
4. Plant the Peperomia hope in well-draining soil and water lightly. It would help if you were vigilant not to let the soil completely dry while avoiding overwatering.

Propagating Peperomia Hope in Water

1. Cut a part of your plant’s stem with a sharp, sterilized knife. The cutting should be two inches long with at least two leaves. If you want to use a leaf, pull out a leaf from your Peperomia hope plant at the base. You should remove the leaf with the stalk that connects it to the stem. The following steps apply equally whether you propagate by leaf or by stem.

2. Allow your leaf or stem cutting to dry by keeping it under a warm shaded place for two to three days.
3. Get a tight-necked bottle, vase, or test tube and fill it with water. Take the stem cutting or leaf and put it into the bottle without dipping it into the water, allowing a little space. The reason to allow the distance between the stem/leaf and water is that the roots will come out faster as the cutting tries to bridge the gap between itself and the water.

Keep the bottleneck thin to keep your cutting from getting submerged in water.

Before putting the plant in water, you might find that the lower section where you want the roots to appear has been hardened so much that water might find it hard to seep through due to dried-up sap. You can cut off a small section on the rooting side to make it more sensitive.

4. Ensure you change the water every two weeks to keep it fresh until the rooting is complete and the plant is ready to be moved. You can allow it to grow in water if you don’t want to move it.

Repotting

There are three main reasons for repotting: to improve porosity, increase the nutrients available to the plant, and increase the space available to your plant’s roots.

Your soil can lose its porosity after anchoring the plant for a while. Remember, the pot must have drainage holes on the underside to allow excess water to pass through the pot easily. The water will carry a little grit as it leaves the pot. Eventually, the particles will get depleted to the level where the soil is not as porous as it used to be. The soil will then expose your plant to the possibility of root rot.

When you notice that the leaves have started dropping, it could signify that the roots are rotting. It’s advisable to repot it immediately to prevent the plant from dying. You can also use a bigger pot if the plant becomes big.
The soil loses organic matter after feeding the plant for a while. You will need to report to keep it suitable for your plant, and of course, when the plant needs more space for its roots to spread due to overgrowing.

Before conclusion,…

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Final Thought

Like other plants in the Peperomia genus, this beautiful cultivar is easy to take care of. You can also plant a desk plant outdoors, provided you keep it under indirect sunlight.