Monstera Albo blessed me with two fenestrations on the last leaf and I decided to reward that with a moss pole extension. I have this plant for about a year, got it as a rooted clipping with an original leaf with beautiful fenestrations and a first wonky leaf (as they do).
Great plant, maintained this gorgeous variegation and even put up a show at some point with a half moon leaf. I’ve got it on a moss pole, hoping the verticality will encourage more fenestrations, only to have a plain leaf close to the top, mocking my efforts. I was about to chop it down and start over, but I changed my mind, since the last leaf was so generous with its fenestrations. And that’s how I extended a moss pole for the first time, and considered it’s worth documenting the process.
First of all, I got together all the bits needed for this procedure: soaked moss, a bigger pot, a pole and the freshly watered plant. My plan was easy, just fill the new pole with moss, attach it on top and move the plant into a bigger pot, without disturbing the roots.
What I failed to take into consideration is physics, precisely the part that teaches us a plant will shift its center of mass, if a heavy pole is added. I proudly took a photo of the plant with the extended pole, thinking moving it in a bigger pot is going to be plain and simple.
However, because the new pot was bigger than the original one, and I couldn’t bury the first leaves under soil, I had to cut the base. Since the moss harbored some healthy looking roots (that’s why I like transparent pots and poles), I am confident that my albo is going to be happier without the base. Besides, I have two new pots with future albos.
Untangling roots with one hand and holding the plant with the other hand requires about the same level of concentration as performing brain surgery, and that’s my excuse for not taking more photos of this part of the process.
Nevertheless, I have a photo of the two new pots before I filled them with aroid blend, with one of my bags in the frame. It occurred to me I need more substrate after cutting the base, and couldn’t pause to mix more, so I used one of the packed bags and called this photo self-promotion.
My next challenge came in the form of physics again, and a bit of interior design. Of course the new plant couldn’t fit in the same spot on the shelf. Since I am not willing to poke a hole through the ceiling or have the leaf that started this whole thing burnt by grow lights, I placed it on the floor, with one of the contraptions I made as a grow light. I must say, this was a better idea than I give it credit.
As I’m sitting on my bean bag to write this text, I am delighted by the smell of rain that I engineered. I do really love freshly potted plants, the scent of petrichor and the way soaked perlite and orchid bark look, plus a few drops of water on leaves have the power to put me in a very good mood.
