Shes a beaut!

Hi
What a great plant. It looks like a great size to start training it. My personal plant is out of control; the leaves are massive. It spent the summer out-of doors and went to town. I think the roots are what u need to train. Once it starts growing, the roots will come out of the vine every where! They add a nice exotic appearance. The best time to start training it is when the plant is actively growing...looks like yours is growing. My personal plant tends to grow slowly all winter in enough light tho only leaves I've noticed. Not much in the way of air roots. Mine is propped up against the window now as I haven't found a appeasing way to support it. I dont really like the moss pole idea for this plant as I gets very top heavy and makes it difficult to move. The moss pole is a great idea just not for this plant in my opinion. Unfortunately can't help with what to support I with. There was a thread on GW where someone made a cage type support and it looked great! My kind of support. I priced the copper pipes for the support and yikes! Expensive! I hope you can get some better help and good growing on the Monstera! Kyle

Thanks Larry

Plantsaremylife I am concerned about using a moss pole because I have asthma & I am not sure what I would attach it to or what kind of pot I would use. I tend to think a square pot might be best if this is the route I am going to take. I am thinking maybe I could attach the plant pot & the pole onto something with wheels so I could move it easily. But I am concerned about using the moss. Is this the moss that comes in a bag at big box stores? Does it give off a musty kind of smell?
My plant was outside all summer also. I believe I bought it in the spring. It was maybe a ft tall. They really do get big and turn into little monsters. LOL

You're right about them getting big. How high did you say your ceilings are? LOL.

Polly, I thinks yours looks GREAT compared to mine.

Mine is a lllooonnnggg stem, or trunk, with a couple of leaves at the end. It looks horrendous. I feel like chopping it off at where the leaves start and rerooting the thing. Yours is beautiful.

Mike

Hmmmm. Well I have asthma as well. I don't grow mine on a moss pole btw... I have some orchids in moss and dont really notice any musty smell. I suppose if it was kept wet it would. If you chose the moss pole route i think the heater and dry air in the house would keep the moss from gettting too smelly. If uou go that route you have to mist the moss i believe to encourage roots! What kind of pole were you looking at attaching it to? This is definately a plant that I'm not sure the best way to support it. Kyle

They're difficult to contain...but if you have something strong enough to support it,
then start at any ol' time. I pruned mine back this Summer to make it easier to manage.

Josh

Thanks everyone for the responses and compliments.

Tropic breeze, that is some plant. My ceilings arent that high. LOL I coul always let it grow across the beams.

Like I said, I am not sure what to use. I never considered it might need something to support it. I buy plants and research later. I guess its a bad habit, I should really research then I would know what I'm getting into. I am more of a impulse plant buyer.

I have a Monstera friedrichsthalii (has much smaller leaves then monstera deliciosa), and it came with piece of plain wood for climbing support, and I was studying it trying to figure out how in the world it was 'climbing' just a piece of wood stick and noticed that somehow the roots had managed to grab on to the wood (the roots where actally really hard and seemed to somehow cement themselves to the wood). So I'm thinking that maybe you dont need moss.

I'm sure their's alot of ways to make climbing supports without moss, people are really creative and so are plants.

-fpt

Flowerpot, thanks for letting me know that they will grow up wood. I could probably get a slab or rough cut wood and that would probably do the job as long as its mounted to be stable and not fall over. I also want to try to mount it so I can move the whole thing as a unit,

Aerial roots are made to attach to things, and I've had heart-leaf Philo roots attach to various wood (alive and dead,) aluminum, the painted wood of the front of the house, painted metal.

With a malleable vine, it's easy to drape them over/around whatever support. The trick with yours would be positioning it and holding it in position in relation to whatever support. Maybe it's still more bendy than it looks?

You could use something soft like pantyhose for tying if that's necessary but in case they're able to attach to whatever you use, I would try to keep the roots from contacting the tie material.

purple, do you think it would help them to grab hold if I kept the surface of the wood damp? Yes good idea, I have used panty hose outside to tie things up. It works great.

Id love to see one in the wild someday!

Tropic, guess dh has to cut holes in the ceiling and roof..lol.

Polly, Home Depot sells plastic, wood and bamboo poles. Prices go by size.
Plants tend to cling on moss, but since you have Asthma, and problems using moss, go with a different material.

BTW, your Monstera is a beaut. Toni

Polly, the rough cut wood would be perfect. Dampen it and the Monster will find it and attach itself. You could tie the stem to it with a bit of fishing line. Once it's not needed you can cut and remove it without any damage or disturbance to the plant.

Larry, they're native to South and Central America. And you would see a lot of other aroids whilst there.

Ok I think I will do the cut rough wood. Now I have to plan it out. I want it on rollers attached to the platform the plant pot is on. Dont you think fishing line will cut into it?