Benny:

I'm so glad Lariann popped in! I never thought of Monstera but if not Epipremnum ("Pothos") it could very well be the juvenile leaves of Monstera deliciosa. This is a photo from a few years ago and you can see the adult leaves with the cuts/splits ... but near the bottom there are a few juvenile leaves showing:

Lin, did your plant go from solid leaves straight to splits? No 'holes' phase?

Tiffany: They began with small holes that grow into the larger splits as the leaves and plant matures.

That's what I've always read and seen in pics. Your pic only shows solid leaves, then splits, so was curious about your beautiful plant.

After looking for this elusive plant for decades, I finally found one a few months ago in the 'holes' phase. I felt like I'd won the lottery! It should have been much easier to find since I had a job for years that required me to visit garden centers all over OH & WV, but the few times I did see one, they would be huge (with a matching price tag.) I refuse to spend $50+ on a plant, but in retrospect, wish I had.



Hopefully Benny's plants' ID will become apparent as it ages. This is a good suggestion. In addition to leaf shape, the large stem/crown structure looks like it could be familiar to whoever has had this kind of plant too. Only wish I knew Monstera and Philo 'Congo' (and other great suggestions) well enough to know if that structure is indicative of either/any, or too generic to be a clue.

Tiffany: I'm not sure if that beauty is the M. deliciosa; looks more like Swiss Cheese Plant (Monstera obliqua 'Leichtlinii')

Lin, thanks! People only ever talk about Monstera, I didn't even know there were other ones. Having seen your plant go from solid to splits, I trust your opinion that mine is something else. Looking at pics, I'm inclined to think you are right, and came across this which looks so similar to my plant too:
http://www.exoticrainforest.co...
According to what I read and saw in pics, either of these can achieve splits like M. deliciosa. Fascinating.

plantladylin said:Tiffany: I'm not sure if that beauty is the M. deliciosa; looks more like Swiss Cheese Plant (Monstera obliqua 'Leichtlinii')

TY too, Drew!

Without a doubt!

You did hit the lottery, those are few and far between in my parts, been huntin one for some time!
I just can't swallow the price of ordering one!

TY, Sway. I need to finally sometime finish looking around the whole place and even ask (at the store) if there's a mama plant somewhere. There were wholesaled plants there too, but many on-site props. The home-made tag this one had seems promising, huh? If there's more, I could buy enough to feel like sharing/trading... hmm... Been there twice and stopped looking around upon reaching per-visit spending limit. Yep, I do that.

E bay fairly often Sway. Good price as well. Usually a 4'' pot.

ebay argh. I've been trying to get some amorphs but man o malle they can be pricey.

homer1958 said: E bay fairly often Sway. Good price as well. Usually a 4'' pot.

I think we may be experiencing a difference in perspective... I hear what your sayin...but I ain't payin!
I consider the plants I sell on eBay to be very reasonable and bigger than the competion, and I still would have a hard time clicking buy now...
I haven't ordered a single plant this year, I made 2 trips to Brian's and blew about $200 total on plants, no way I'll spend that next year, I'm pretty much down to a trade only basis when it comes to new plant acquisitions...the trades I made this year have yeilded 3 of the nicest and most rare plants I own 2 of which couldn't be bought for any price

I'm rather proud of my frugal nature...I'm told by a few gardening buddies that it's sad, but I remind em that's what they are good for, get some new plants and grow em out til they get a pup, and swap me 3/1 for stuff I have that they don't...
The barter system worked for centuries until we came up cash...what a scam...

What are the rare plants Sway?

One is xanthosoma robustum variegata, a rare but attainable plant.
Also bikini tini varigaeted, has 4 colors! Deep green, white, bright yellow, and bright red, in a speckled water droplet pattern, these are tiny and may not make the winter!
Another is the pic in my profile, an un-named, NOID colocasia,I've dubbed red chameleon, an AMAZING EE!
I really have high hopes for this plant, it's thrown a few pups too, one burned down as it emerged, I scratched down a long way and never found it, but the one good pup has done well til recently, the entire plant is waning now though so it think it's ok.

Here's the lil bikini tini's, I didn't get many pics of them...I don't think any of them are showin the red in those pics, it's great!




These are right now, there's some red, not much, and the pics are terrible, but you can see it.

Here's the red chameleon!

Just so you know what your looking at, the leaves emerge in a variety of colors ranging, it looks like a velvety redish blush overlaying a bright yellow, the red gives way to the bright yellow over the course of a week or so, after that the leaves continue to deepen in color, until they are VERY similar in color to a mature leaf of violet stem.
Each leaf had also had a speck of very bright medium green, it's a unique color to just be green.
The overall appearance of the new leaves looks like a big really bad bruise.
The stems a very dark purple, somehow different in color than most of purple stem colocasias.
Note the leaf shape as well, narrow, long and scolloped, unusual.

I haven't seen the actual tuber of the mother plant, the tuber on the pup was short and think, like a short hot dog, unusual as well, there's now a stolon snaking around on the soils surface.









Each of those is a pic of a different leaf.






This is maybe 3-4 weeks later.






The next leaf!




And the one after...

Just look at that color!

Bad weather, poor sighting, and MOLES nearly took the plant shortly after this, I dig it up and saved it, but failed to continue documenting it, it recovered very well!

Really nice, Sway. Not sure I'd have persisted with it given that the new leaves look a bit sickly! Good thing you did! Mature leaves are gorgeous.

Great looking dark stems on the bikini Tini, too.

Swayback said:



Here's the lil bikini tini's, I didn't get many pics of them...I don't think any of them are showin the red in those pics, it's great!




These are right now, there's some red, not much, and the pics are terrible, but you can see it.

Hello Benny:
I would say this is a Philodendron, Epipremnum (Pothos), or Monstera, needs more filtered light, and a lighter more airy substrate to grow in with a moss pole to grow up. The plant has air roots showing already which will let the plant climb given the chance. Less light will starve this juvenile plant to death with no benefits whatsoever.

Benny try a south facing window during the winter months, and take it outside into a slightly shaded area like a patio with an overhang during the summer.

Planting suggestions : coconut fiber & coir in hanging basket that allows for 100% drainage, or soil mix of 30% charcoal & bark, 30% composted leaves & other organic matter(coconut coir is ideal organic matter for this), & 40% basic soil mix with slow release fertilizer for leaf growth mixed in...best is something high in nitrogen, & medium on phosphorus & potassium. I use a 26/3/3 mix with micro nutrients. Since most of my plants now are Anthuriums, I have changed my mix to something else 20/30/10 with micros, but for Philos the above mentioned mix works well.

Merry Christmas
Noel Calvert
GueCal Vivero Colombiano SAS