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2017-04-05

Hacking a hurricane plant

Monstera deliciosa, Hurricane plant, or Swiss Cheese plant, call it what you will, they are beautiful plants that take little effort to care for and add a tropical vibe to any geek's dungeon. I've had this one for at least ten years after it was propagated from an earlier parent plant (long ago donated to the Art department of a local technical college).

Yesterday I decided to rescue my plant from the sorry state it had got into over winter. I keep mine in the conservatory where in summer it gets plenty of sunlight and stays warm enough over winter.


Hurricane plant after winter in the conservatory.

The first thing I did was to remove all of the dead leaves. Then I trimmed the aerial roots. I noticed that a number of the aerial roots (which usually attach themselves to nearby rocks and trees) were attempting to make an escape through the carpet. Thankfully there was minimal damage.

Next step was to remove the old string I had used to tie the plant to its support and replace with something more sturdy. I use Toolzone Garden Twist Tie Support Wire which provides a very strong bond between plant and support without damaging the plant.


Hurricane plant with some better support
I then removed some of the young plants that were growing from the base of the Hurricane plant. One of the fun things about this type of plant is that it is very 'hackable'. Any of the shoots providing they have at least two leaves and one aerial root can easily be propagated. You simply need to 'hack' parts of the plant away from the main plant and within a few days they should be growing on their own.

I now have two young plants from the parent plant. These plants should ideally be kept in a sunny location away from direct sunlight and given a moist compost. I used a recycled plastic bottle with drainage holes cut into the bottom which should allow me to see the root system as it develops over summer.


Young plants hacked from the bottom of the parent plant

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