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Hi everyone! NEW PLANT NEED ADVICE I just got what I believe is a… | Anything about plants | Communauté Planta

Owen

Hi everyone! NEW PLANT NEED ADVICE I just got what I believe is a tree philodendron from a friend. It hasn’t been repotted in years and is in severe need of repotting and a tidy trim. It’s a bit overwhelming right now and don’t even know where to begin. It’s currently in a terracotta pot and is so tight it’s not budging. I’ve bought a bigger pot for it which is the black one in the photo, but may need an even bigger one. I use silver bonsai wire to try and pull all the stems together for easier management. It’s also overgrown a wire cage which I’ll likely need to cut out with wire cutters. Essentially where do I begin? Do I cut these overgrown roots, some stems? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

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6 commentaires

  1. Liz

    omg I totally get why you're looking at that and feeling stressed, that sounds like an absolute monster of a project 😭 tree philodendrons are total tanks though, so it's definitely gonna survive! if I were you, here's how I'd tackle it: first off do NOT try to yank it out by the stems or you're gonna snap them! run a dull butter knife all the way down the inside edge of the terracotta to break the suction. honestly if it's still stuck solid and you don't care about the pot, sometimes you just have to smash the terracotta to save your sanity lol. or soak the whole thing in a tub for like half an hour to loosen it up. leave your bonsai wire on for now to keep everything contained, but grab your wire cutters and snip that old cage out piece by piece. just watch your fingers and be super careful not to snap any leaves! for the roots, don't butcher them, but since it's a tight brick you'll wanna use your fingers or a chopstick to gently tease and loosen the outer roots so they know they can grow out. you can trim off like the bottom 10% if it's super matted, but don't go crazy. and for stems, only cut off stuff that's already dead or totally in the way! just make sure that new black pot is only like 1-2 inches wider than the root ball. if you go way too big, the extra soil will hold too much water and rot the roots. you've totally got this tho!! just take it one step at a time 🌿✨

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  2. plantgeek

    never cut the roots! for something this dire, i would venture to say maybe even a 4" increase is needed. those roots need somewhere to go! this doesn't look like a tree philodendron (thaumatophyllum bipinnatifidum), this looks like thaumatophyllum Xanadu, but care needs are similar. i would start by repotting, then removing all of the wires and mesh. they want to spread out and will only keep growing around the wire until they succeed lol

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  3. Liz

    looking at those bottom roots spilling everywhere over the edge in that black pot (wait, is that the terracotta one you mentioned or did you already get it in the black one? either way!), it is choking so hard. honestly seeing how massive and wide the canopy is, that black pot you got looks like it might actually be a bit too small once you untangle all those roots? like it's pretty wide up top with all those giant leaves, so you might genuinely need something a size bigger than that black one so it doesn't just tip right over from the weight! keep using that bonsai wire to keep the chaos contained while you snip out that old cage, but wow.

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    • Owen

      Thank you for the advice!! The black pot is a new plastic one I bought today but soon realized it’s also too small. The terracotta is a decent bit smaller inside of the black pot. I think I’m going to need to go to the store for a whole toolkit tomorrow (wire cutters, chunky soil mix, perlite, an even bigger pot) to begin this project. The base it’s in is super heavy but yet the canopy is so wide it basically tips over without support. I have chopsticks I’ll use to gently untangle the roots

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  4. iBenchbuses

    I have the same plant although not as big. There are two types of split leaf philodendrons one a tree the other stays forever bushel type of growth. Which I believe what this is. If you’ve ever grown monsteras, think of yours kind of like 3-4 smaller monsteras in that pot. So it will need lots of water. Which is why it has those roots (like aerial roots). As it grows like that I angle the point of the root into the dirt to start growing down into the soil. Then when it’s time to repot, cover all the roots you can in terms of depth of burying. Roots always stay. It’s the plant saying it wants more water and to grow bigger. Again, like a monstera soil should be chunkier soil with drainage and lots of nutrients. Depending on where it is light wise will dictate watering. Mine is outside and is an absolute water hog. It also likes water splashed on the new growths sheaths (I notice philodendrons often do) to help prevent leaves from getting stuck.

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  5. Sydnei

    those are aerial roots growing from the bottom so i’d suggest leaving it. however is it falling over in the black pot? may need to size up to something heavier. it’s been flourishing in a smaller pot so i’d only go up two inches gradually as to not shock it. but it’s beautiful!

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