Thursday, February 9, 2017

How My Monstera Evolved

Good evening and I hope that everyone has had a great week so far. This weather has been very unusually warm in my area for this time of the year. I have been noticing some new growth on some of my house plants as if it is near the growing season. One plant, my Monstera Deliciosa, has been transforming completely lately. In April of last year (2016), I acquired some Monstera Deliciosa cuttings:
I placed the cuttings in a vase of water. You also can place Monstera cuttings directly into soil without rooting them in water first. I personally just prefer to allow them to root in water and I like to watch the process of the roots forming. A few weeks later, the roots grew in plentiful amounts:

This photo was taken at the beginning of May 2016. Shortly after this photo was taken, I planted the cuttings in soil. I wish that I had taken photos of the process of planting the rooted cuttings. I do have a photo that I took on May 19, 2016, when the plant started to sprout new leaves:
I love the shiny, crisp look of new leaves! In this growing location, I had the plant growing in my kitchen window that faced west and it seemed to enjoy the light conditions. Here is a photo of the plant on the right along with some of my other plants, taken on June 1, 2016:

At the beginning of June I did move and my Monstera Deliciosa did unfortunately get sunburned on several leaves as a result of the process of moving. The plant was accidentally left in the direct sun  on a hot day for about 15 minutes which did cause some leaves to turn a blackish color which eventually turned brown. Here is a photo of the plant, recovering in an east facing window taken on June 12, 2016:
Here is a photo taken a few days later on June 16, 2016:
Over time, the Monstera Deliciosa did recover from being sunburned pretty well. Two months later in August, I placed the plant on my balcony that faces east that also gets a little exposure from the south. These were taken on August 3, 2016:

I was very happy to see these results as the plant was putting out larger leaves. Here is the plant's progress about a month later on September 1, 2016:
Here is a photo of the plant taken on September 28, 2016:
At this point, the Monstera had a more full and lush appearance and it love the lighting situation. At the end of September, I brought the plant indoors since the temperatures outdoors were starting to plunge significantly. Here is a photo of the Monstera taken on October 10, 2016:

I was very excited when I noticed the split in this leaf. This is a sign that the plant is getting mature. Since this is really my first Monstera Deliciosa, beforehand I was not completely sure as of how long it would take for split leaves to form. From what I know now, it seems to be that the more light that your plant is exposed to is directly correlated to how many splits in the leaves that your plant will produce. Here is a photo of the plant taken on November 25, 2016 alongside with my Peace Lily:

This was another exciting thing for this plant, another leaf but with two splits this time! Here is a photo of the plant taken on January 11, 2017:
My plant is putting out more leaves with splits on them at this point. Here is how my plant is doing today:
I just love these leaves! This plant is an awesome sight to look at and sometimes I cannot believe that I have one of these growing in my indoor garden. Even though it is winter, this plant is still continuing to put out more new/mature leaves and increase in size. Thank you for exploring this journey of my Monstera Deliciosa plant with me. Have a great evening!