 Hi everybody, let's talk about the pepperoniaca perrata. Okay, coming up. What I love about this plant is the color of the leaves. The pepperoniaca perrata has hard-shaped leaves with a dark, deep green color. The green becomes even darker and deeper as we go to the interior part of the leaf, almost black. And as you go more to the exterior part of the leaf, we have a lighter green. We also get an undertone of purple, really dark purple, which I think is really pretty. This plant usually flowers between the summer and the fall. So if it flowers for us, of course I will show you. But I found some pictures and it looks like this. When it has fully grown, the pepperoniaca perrata measures about 25 centimeters. So it is on the smaller side of the spectrum. Oh, and pepperonias have succulent leaves. So they retain lots of water in the leaves, which we will come back to when we are talking about watering. Okay, so now let's see how we can keep this plant healthy and happy at home. The pepperoniaca perrata will be happy with normal household temperatures. Just make sure that you don't leave them in a room that is lower than 13 degrees Celsius because this is too cold for them. Although they're closer to the succulent side of the spectrum, these plants love humidity. So we want to keep humidity levels high. I have this one in our bedroom, but we have two humidifiers at the moment. So the humidity levels are about 50 to 60%. And she seems to be very happy there. So a humidifier should be really good. Just don't put her so close to the humidifier because we don't want the leaves to be really wet. We just want humidity around her. The pepperoniaca perrata is darker and it needs less sunlight than her variegated cousins. I have seen that this one likes lower light conditions. I have her in a room with a north facing window and granted I have some grow lights there, but the light is not on her so much. So I would say that this one gets low light and she seems to like it. With this plant, we really want to prevent over watering. And as I said, this plant is closer to the succulent side of the spectrum, which means that the leaves really retain lots of water. As you can see, the leaves of the pepperomia are very thick. This is because they retain water and moisture inside. So when we think about water, we really want to make sure that we let the soil dry in between watering. So in order to prevent over watering, I would strongly recommend to check the soil with our finger. Once you feel that the soil has dried out, then you can water. One pretty telling sign that you're over watering your plant is if it is losing the leaves, especially if they become yellow before dropping. This is a very good sign that you're over watering your plant. So remember, always let the soil dry in between waterings and then you can water. Now, also more rare, we can also underwater this plant, in which case you will see that the leaves are gonna lose the color and become thinner and more soft. If you see this, first check the soil to make sure that it is dry. And if it is too dry, you may be under watering your plant, so just provide some water for her. And if you know me, you know that I love the bottom watering method. This method is also perfect for this plant because we make sure that the water gets into the roots from below. But then once I'm done, I take the plant out of the water and I let the excess water drain down through the drainage holes. That way I make sure that the pouring mix is moist but not super wet, which is very important for this plant. And it helps us prevent root rot. Only fertilize your plant during the growing season which usually is from spring to fall. I try to use organic fertilizers because these come more diluted than synthetic fertilizers. And they help me prevent over fertilizing my plant. Make sure that you always read the instructions and always observe your plant. That way you will know if she's happy or she's not so happy with the fertilizer. I have read that some signs that we're over fertilizing our peperomia caperata is if you see that the leaves are getting softer, so not so solid like this one. Or if you see some abnormal growths, this will cause the plant to collapse. So always observe your plant and make sure that she's happy with the fertilizer that you're providing to her, which usually should be in the growing season every two weeks or every month even, depending on the fertilizer that you provide. Potting mix is a very important factor when it comes to the care of this plant. Remember, we want to prevent over watering. So for our potting mix, we wanna provide one that has good drainage. This can be an all-purpose house plant potting mix but always make sure that it comes with perlite. This will increase the drainage. You can also add it yourself or add pumice. And another thing that you can do to increase drainage is to add some rocks at the bottom of the pot. This will help the excess water drain down even further. Do you have any other tips for this beautiful plant? Make sure to comment below so we can all learn together. And as always, I will see you in the next video. Okay, ciao.