A little more than 5 years ago, one of our friends gifted us a houseplant without instructions on how to maintain it. I made the mistake of not asking him how we should care for it, and the plant was dead within a couple of months. That was the extent of my experience with houseplants.
Two years ago, I saw some posts from Shane Cultra on X about his Variegated Monstera plant. I acquired a cutting from him, and I began my own Variegated Monstera journey. The cutting had two leaves and a root growing node that needed to be placed in water for about a month. You can see how it looked after I received it and began the process:
I purchased an LED plant growing lamp, and when the cutting was ready, I planted her in a 12″ pot. I placed the pot in my office in front of a window that receives afternoon light. I supplemented the natural sunlight with 12 hours of LED lighting.
My Monstera plant began growing and unfurling new leaves. Each time a leaf appeared, I was full of excitement to see the coloration and designs as it slowly unfurled. My kids have loved coming up and watching the plant grow.
As the plant has grown, Shane has served as a great resource who has always been happy to answer questions and offer advice. He has helped me with everything from the soil and fertilizer I used to putting in a moss pole to stabilize the plant to dealing with aerial roots.
As my Monstera plant continued to grow and thrive, I realized I would need to eventually repot her into a larger pot. I also realized I would need to make a new cutting because of its height. I decided that I would get a larger pot and replant the cutting in the same pot to make it fuller.
I was pretty anxious about cutting the top leaf from my plant. Each new leaf grows from the stem of the last leaf to grow, and I feared that cutting the most recent leaf would stymie the growth of the plant.
In addition to getting advice from Shane, I also found good information about Variegated Monstera plants on Reddit, Instagram, YouTube, and elsewhere. All of this research gave me the confidence to make a cutting of my own. I cut the top leaf, put it in a vase of water, and I let the root grow for about 3 weeks.
A few months ago, I repotted the Monstera plant into a larger planter, and I planted the cutting as well. I also inserted a larger moss pole and tied the plant’s stems to various spots of the pole to ensure the plant was stable. I used a Tropical Potting Soil mix I bought at our local nursery, and I mixed it with perlite to help the plant with drainage.
Since repotting my Monstera plant, she has thrived. Several new leaves have grown on the original plant and on the cutting. There are now more than 20 leaves on both plants.
A big surprise is how well my Variegated Monstera plant has thrived with my limited knowledge at the outset. I definitely learned a lot from Shane, and I appreciate all of the advice he has given me. A bigger surprise is how much enjoyment we have gotten from watching the plant grow.
