Hiya all! I’ve adopted two monstera and looking for some advice! I’ve never had this plant before 😫 This large one is really pulling outwards and wondering if I should let it continue or if I’m supposed to offer more support? Secondly, this small one was going very yellow? What’s the likely problem? Completely new to this plant and just saved them from a friend! Any help appreciated 💙
Do you know what type of monstera? The big one looks from the stem like an adansonii but it’s hard to tell without a full plant photo. The little one looks like it’s in way too big a pot, and that’s a much denser potting medium than monstera ideally like. First thing to do for that one is wait to water until it’s dried out most or all the way, but long term you’ll probably want to move it into something smaller.
0 J'aime They prefer sparse soil then? Interesting! I’ll downsize him tomorrow, what do you think about the yellow colouration? My friend said it was a deliciosa?
0 J'aime If that’s a deliciosa then it’s likely a large form based on the picture, which is great because they’re way easier to size up and they crawl rather than climb. In that case you want to give it a larger pot so it can keep crawling. Don’t center it when you pot it; put the end of the stem with older leaves closer to the edge of the pot with the newer leaves more toward the center because it’ll keep crawling in the same direction.
0 J'aime So what I’m hearing is that he’s going to take up a lot of floor space? They grow horizontally?
0 J'aime I’ve seen a lot of others growing them vertically with moss poles? Why is mine just growing sideways haha
0 J'aime Small form are climbers. They have smaller leaves relative to their petiole length, larger internodal distance, and they need something for their aerial roots to grab or they’ll end up very sad. “Small form” is somewhat of a misnomer because the leaves can still get huge; they just have to climb to achieve that
0 J'aime Large form are crawlers rather than climbers. They don’t have to take a ton of horizontal space because they tend to have a much shorter internodal distance. Their leaves are generally bigger relative to petiole length, so they’re less leggy, and they’ll size up given time and light.
1 j'aime Thank you for all the help! I had no idea about the sizes! I’m downsizing him, loosen up the soil and good drainage? How do I know when they are ready to size up pot-wise? I’m upgrading the big boy, what’s your recommended substrate? I’ve got perlite, houseplant mix, coir, orchid bark, what would you recommend?
0 J'aime They like a very chunky, well draining soil and like to dry out quite a bit between watering
0 J'aime So this is a small form stem; you can see there’s about an inch between nodes and it clearly grows upwards
This is a large form of the same level of maturity (who will be getting a repot as soon as his newest leaf hardens off)
Those two are in the same window and have the same level of fenestrations but the small form leaves are slightly smaller and petioles are about 30% longer if I were to guess
0 J'aime