This Week In House Plants (19/08/23)

This week I would like to direct your attention to my Scindapsus pictus exotica, which has been doing big things.

It’s not a plant I particularly worry about, because it always looks fine, but I had noticed that I was getting no growth at all. Not even a couple of weird leaves here and there. Nada.

Turns out there was a plan! Rather than wasting energy by producing mediocre levels throughout the season, it was saving up all its power to produce four enormous leaves, practically simultaneously.

Here is a side by side comparison of the newest leaf, and the one that came directly before (albeit a good 12 months previously).

scindapsus pictus growth

It’s an impressive increase, size-wise.

The growth seems to be continuing – we have new leave unfurling on all of the vines. I need to get it on a better pole asap so I can guide its growth. The plastic ones you fill with moss are AWESOME if you’re good at remembering to moisten the moss, but I am…not.

Saw this pretty impressive Monstera at Edinburgh Zoo, though there weren’t too many other plants (that weren’t plastic). The best zoo for houseplants, by the way, is Chester. Their Aglaonema game is on point.

I loved this video from Planterina but I’m shocked that Aloe is the most searched-for plant. It’s big, spiky, and needs a TONNE of light. Sure, you can harvest the gel, but you can buy aloe vera gelvery cheaply, and they remove whatever it is that dyes everything (skin, furniture, soft furnishings) a distressing orange colour.

I’ve written a lot about how much easier it is to keep my Thai Constellation in water with some aquatic moss for oxygenation. She must have been listening, because last week there was a distressing smell in my living room. Like a cross between bad drains and bad damp. Not nice.

Turns out it was the Thai’s water!

Grim!

I dumped it out, washed the jar and the roots and refilled it. Lo and behold, we had the same issue yesterday. There was a bit of rot on the roots which I’ve removed, so fingers crossed she reaches equilibrium. Not that changing the water weekly is difficult, it’s just…nice not to have to.

That’s it for this week! Have an awesome weekend!

Caroline Cocker

Caroline is the founder and writer (and plant keeper) of Planet Houseplant

Leave a comment