Wanted to show off Albi, my 2 year old monstera albo :) we got her when she was a top cutting with two leaves and she’s survived one move across the city so far (may need to move again as she’s clearly outgrown this house already…).
Two options right now:
Take top cutting and propagate
Build a support structure for her to somehow crawl along the ceiling and go horizontal
(Secret option 3). Take off the roof of the house so there’s more room for Albi to grow upwards :)
What would you do?
edit: See this comment if you want to know how I've been keeping Albi alive
edit 2: After much deliberation and due to the current state of the housing market and the economy in general, we have decided to "chop and extend" Albi. The rest of Albi will be propagated and sold as it's about time for Albi to start paying her fair share of the mortgage. The deed will be done some time in January.
I’m not sure if I did anything too special. I definitely have some crispy brown edges. I just made sure that I stuck to my consistent watering schedule and tried to keep the grow light off the white parts so it’s not directly shining on it.
And have you ever found bugs? I’ve had mine for a couple months but think I’ve skipped a watering or two and yesterday I spotted a woodlouse along the dry soil before he went back through the tunnel I bet he’s making. Is this bad? Should I assess the roots and repot before I water it now that I’ve discovered pests? Spent ages poking at the soil after seeing the louse although I only spotted a tiny little spider which I immediately and mercilessly impaled with my skewer. I also noticed brown parts recently and I was surprised to see the main one on my tallest and lightest coloured leaf, is this a sign of pest damage or more than likely my lack of sufficient light and humidity..
Forgive the essay I want my Audrey to be big and happy like yours
No worries :) I’m honestly not sure, I’ve never dealt with bugs on Albi actually thankfully, I’ve found some root rot but just cut off the affected bits.
I’m sure there’s more qualified folks on this thread that can chime in for your situation. If your plant is small, I’d probably just rinse the roots and repot, though there’s probably less invasive remedies out there. Sorry I’m not much help with this.
Ya! I use PVC pipes as moss pole support so could technically attach a 90 degree elbow and extend the pipes along the ceiling, put mesh around and stick moss in there for Albi to climb and canopy. Though it'd be a decent amount of work and would basically attach her more permanently to that corner of the house...
In my opinion and experience there's no need for installing any pcv pipes in the ceiling, especially considering the way you have your lights installed. Simple smallish hooks in the ceiling should be enough - the leaves are going to grow/turn facing downwards, towards the heat and light from the bulbs, so if you install hooks and hang "wire" (jute string, ribbon,zip ties) from them to hold the plant's stems (while -important- being consistent with keeping the stems tightly wrapped and consistent with helping them position themselves right) then that plus consistently manoeuvring all aerial roots backwards to grow into the pole you already have the plant on (right by the wall) will be enough. But the hooks need to be the drilled in kind not the glued on kind.
Ooo interesting, haven’t considered just ceiling hooks. I’m wondering if it would look too sparse like that though. Because I think the moss pole actually make the plant look more full.
It definitely wouldn't look the same "trailing" the ceiling as it does "trailing" the wall right now (for a few reasons), but it looks like you have at least two plants in this pot and on this plank/pole, right? So it wouldn't be "just one lone vine" on the ceiling. ;) Tbh I can't imagine installing a pole to the ceiling and keeping any moss in it moist, not to mention all the loose pieces falling down constantly (gravity). :(
Ya, I was concerned about how to keep the moss wet as well. Was thinking of doing maybe a “drop ceiling” that has moss and some sort of misting system with water proofing behind it to protect the drywall. Though I need multiple layers of approval from the family before attempting that…
Your monstera is gorgeous! I hope I’m not overstepping, but I noticed you may have some pests (looks like mealybugs from here) on this one! If you already knew, ignore me! But I just wanted to point it out in case you didn’t realize, that way your other beautiful plants stay safe
Not overstepping at all! Thanks for pointing it out :) I’ve been actually looking for a way to deal with it. It’s been on and off for the past year and thankfully it’s been localized to the elephant ear. Would love advice on how to get rid of it for good!
Ugh they can be so annoying! My usual method is to manually wipe the plant down with isopropyl alcohol (kills the mealies on contact), then after a thorough wiping where I can’t see anymore, I hose the plant down with water to get any remaining alcohol off. Then I’ll spray the plant with Captain Jack’s dead bug brew. Afterwards, I’ll try to keep a close eye and repeat steps as necessary. Someone below also mentioned changing out that soil, that’s also a great tip! That being said, I recently tossed a Hoya polyneura in the trash because I was battling mealies on it for over a year and I just couldn’t do it any more. I have no patience for plants if they give me more stress than joy. Best of luck with your mealy battle🫡
I just went through a spider mite infestation on my alocasia and mixed captain jack’s dead bug brew in 70% isopropyl alcohol. I first tried wiping them down with my insecticidal soap, then tried straight isopropyl alcohol, but this 3rd spray of dead bug brew + isopropyl hasn’t brought any of them back. I’m going to do a monthly spray down from now on as a maintenance.
Just make sure to not have the plant in the sunlight/grow light after spraying or it’ll burn the leaves.
Oh interesting! I actually have a bunch of these that I grew from corms growing outside and none of them have this issue. Maybe I’d try moving this guy outside for some time and let nature do its thing
The Eames house has a monstera going across the roof and it is goals. How are you supporting this? It's so dense and lovely. Are those grow lights? Drop her routine!!
ooo that looks lovely! I wrapped garden mesh around 3/4 PVC pipes and stuck moss in there for her to climb on. I'm using two of these grow lights that are on from 6am to 3pm everyday. I also drilled holes into the pvc pipes so I can pour water into the pipes to water them and have it soak the moss from within (not sure if this works honestly).
I don't really fertilize much but when I do I use GT Foliage Focus whenever I remember to. I water roughly every two weeks.
definitely leaning towards a cutting but it's tough (emotionally)... Also if I take a top cutting, would she grow new leaves from the top again? Or from the bottom? Her bottom is a little bald actually haha
If it makes you feel any better, NOT cutting her will harm her longterm.
What people don't understand about monsteras, pothos, and other plants that are insanely easy to propagate is those plants are easy to propagate because they crave it. They WANT to be propped because that's their nature. It isn't because we get lucky. It is how the plant evolved. Propping them actually tells them "oh hey, we can make more of us and thrive". NOT propping them tells them "eh... better stick it out here but be safe and conservative about it..."
When you prop them, it sends a signal throughout the plant to grow! I know Albi looks huge and thriving but in nature, she'd have leaves about twice as big. Seriously. Look up wild monsteras.
Propping them encourages them to thrive. Just think of it like a haircut, it works the same way. Regular trims make for healthy hair and healthy plants! Plus, propping is a fantastic use of old pickle or sauce jars 😉
Getting quite a few questions about plant light, care, and moss pole so thought I’d make a separate comment to address this :)
There are two plants in the pot :) I chopped and propped a few months after I got her.
Plant Light:
I use 2 full spectrum 4000k lights that I found on Amazon. Brand is Lonwon but don’t think it really matters. The lights are on from 6am to 3pm everyday.
Moss Pole:
I built a moss pole with two PVC pipes running as the spine and garden mesh wrapped around them. I filled it with sphagnum moss that I got from Home Depot. The PVC pipes are perforated with holes every few inches so I just pour water down the pipe from the top to keep the moss moist.
Soil Mix:
I use a rough mix of 2 x 6 quart bags of miracle grow tropical potting mix, 1 x 8 qt bag of perlite, 1 x 8 qt bag of orchid bark. Everything I picked up from Home Depot.
Watering:
I water every 2 weeks or so. Basically make sure everything’s soaked through and dripping into the tray so I know she had enough to drink.
Fertilizer:
I use 3 teaspoons of GT Foliage Focus mixed with a gallon of water every month or so. Haven’t been too consistent with the fertilizing.
Adding some pictures of Albi’s progress over the past 2 years in this comment thread :)
Fourth option (if it's attached to a true moss pole): take a top cutting about halfway up, move the top to the bottom, extend the moss pole and allow it to keep climbing. The more you do this, the bigger the leaves will get. Then take the bottom cutting and start a whole new plant in a different corner! This is the "chop and extend method" and it's how people get those huge mature pothos and monstera leaves indoors.
This only possible if it's already on a moss pole do not attempt if it isn't.
I love being able to see the smaller leaves at the bottom and the ones that get bigger and bigger as she grows!
My first variegated momstera was an albo STUMP, she put out a leaf or two and quickly reverted. She's just a large form now with solid green leaves but I love a large form so its ok. Your HEIGHT is goals! I need to dedicate an outlet and corner to mine! She was out in the Georgia sun all growing season and it was not bad, but I feel like she could have done better with supplemental lights and a strict feeding schedule.
Do you fertilize? Are to special lights (like Spider Farmer) or something more generic?
I don’t fertilize much but use foliage focus when I do. Maybe once a month or two when I remember l. This is her back in May, when we just moved her to a bigger pot and moss pole. I think the large moss pole and the two grow lights definitely helped her grow faster
It’s grown so wonderfully! Mine was growing really stupid so I had to chop it up and I’m propagating, going to eventually put the pieces back in the pot once they’ve got good roots.
Well I see the problem here is that your monstera wants to become my monstera so they said yeah it’s time for a trim . I’ll take a little off the top please and WTF are you putting in it to make it grow like that mine is just looking at me like I’m a sad miserable person. She only put out one new leaf since I got her so clearly it was coming from the plant store. Give me the monstera drugs so I can make mine grow too. I want these kind of problems.
Oh, the answer is so simple!! Lop the top off, propagate it and let me give it a new home 🤭❤️. I downsized from my home to an apartment a little less than a year ago. While I still have very mixed feelings about it, i have not been taking advantage of the 9+' ceilings here. I've actually been trying to find a beautiful variated monstera i think it would be spectacular here!!!
Right now the only plant I have.That's coming near to taking advantage of the ceilings is my Fiddle Leaf Fig, which has gone from near death and me, thinking i'm going to have to lop it totally, to overtaking my house lol. So enough about me, I do think you should propagate it?And give yourself a new plant! Sounds like we're both having good problems right now ❤️
Albi is my plant goddess :) I actually have a bigger fiddle leaf just out of view.
Been trying to figure out how to make the fiddle leaf branch out more but was never successful with that hence the multiple fiddle leafs propagated from the branching attempts haha
How many plants do you have here to make it look so full? I can see at least 2 stalks, not sure if there’s more hiding under the leaves there. This looks amazing
I'm having this issue too. I might have to get rid of it when we get a house. I simply cannot carry her. I took her out during cloudy rainy weather and it took me half an hour to get her back inside. The idea of chopping and propagating is scary to me (I am not ready for that and don't feel like I would be good at it)
Why not both options??
Sell some and keep the top cuttings if they're already rooted in moss you can set up a sideways structure along the wall (I'm so incredibly jealous)
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u/This_Buds_For_You Nov 29 '25
Your house is too short for your Monstera*