Little Shop of Horrors in my flat

[PlantIsTakingOver]

This has happened in my flat. I'm not sure what to do about it.

Yesterday this plant was not like this. OVERNIGHT it would appear it has crept up the wall. I am slightly perturbed 😂

What to do about it? Help!

If anyone can break down, step by step, how to get a cheese plant in order, I would be very grateful. I have been ignoring it through lack of knowledge .

It's got a central column and is in a small pot sitting inside a larger one. Thankfully I forgot to repot it into the larger pot or I'd have a bigger problem Houston!

I want to see a before picture...

I have a friend whose cheese plant grew and grew and took over her tiny flat. She found it funny so just repotted it and carried in till she moved somewhere bigger, where it continues to grow!

Haha I didn't think it had posted successfully.

Oh good god that's terrifying 😂 I suppose I could get a bigger pot and embrace it.

I will have a look for an earlier pic.

This was after my last tidy up .

Funny post I want a cheese plant now. I already have 10 plants downstairs and 2 in the bathroom

@PlantIsTakingOver

Haha I didn't think it had posted successfully.

Oh good god that's terrifying 😂 I suppose I could get a bigger pot and embrace it.

I will have a look for an earlier pic.

That's what she did but you don't have to. I have vague memories of mum chucking out a cheese plant. I've got to ring her later so i will ask.

PS I literally had to battle through the plant like a jungle to sit on my friend's sofa.

She told me not to bother being careful because "it regenerates itself overnight, you literally can't damage it".

Oh I'm laughing so much @LunaHeather

They are very resilient 😂

I can't seem to post the other pic.

Beware the aerial roots, OP. My six foot Swiss cheese plant sneakily rooted into the wall behind its pot. We had to rip the plaster off and redecorate once we moved it!

It's when it starts talking to you and asking for blood you need to be worried.

Erm ... that doesn't look to me like a cheese plant (aka Monstera ) 😄
I think it's a philodendron, which is supposed to have a climbing habit.
I'm sure somebody with more experience of them will be along to offer advice ....

I agree with TurnStone, looks more like a Philodendron, which is a vining climber. You could just prune the wayward stems back to the main plant, but I expect it will just take off again!

Is it trying to make a bid for freedom out of the window?

Ok figured out what might have happened. The tendril got caught in my blind hence appeared to climb the wall overnight 😂

< Or that's what it wants me to think >

I've been on google and these can grow to 10 feet . I am going to do some pruning and tidying and see if I can make it behave.

@babdoc Goodness that's equally amazing and insane. I have checked and we have not taken root yet. If it does can I leave it here when I move? 😂

Okay, that root story has scared me
Luckily I'm crap at plants

Update from mum on the cheese plant

She did indeed give it away because it just grew and grew and wouldn't be tamed. A lady with a conservatory took it off her hands but she has since lost touch with the lady and doesn't really know why.

Now we are wondering if the plant grew too much in the conservatory and ate the whole family. But I presume that would be in the paper? 😂

The reason for the name "cheese plant" is because it has big holes in its leaves, supposedly reminiscent of Emmenthal cheese. Another one who doesn't think that is a cheese plant.

Ha ha. Definitely sounds like the lady with the conservatory was consumed by the cheese plant

The full name is Monstera deliciosa - very occasionally they produce an edible fruit.
I saw them growing wild in a hotel garden in Barbados, and they wind round and round the trunk of a tree like a coiled spring, producing leaves at the top when they get to the sunlight. Alarmingly, they were over 20 feet high...!

Hmm a very few number of leaves seem to have cheese like properties. I mean in appearance 😂. Will investigate further.

Update- I can confirm its Monstera deliciosa as came from Waitrose in a 19cm pot in 2017. God I feel like it has been here forever 😂.

@LunaHeather That story definitely has a sinister sounding ending 😂 I was thinking I am going to need a conservatory one day 😂

That's interesting @Babdoc about the coiled effect. I think I will try coiling it when I get it in order.

Basically if it starts to block the daylight it's me or Cheese .

Update- I can confirm its Monstera deliciosa as came from Waitrose in a 19cm pot in 2017. In that case, it would appreciate having more light.

... which may be what that shoot is trying to tell you.

You can't always trust the pots they come in from supermarkets - that it very much not a monstera deliciosa as the leaves are way too small, I agree with previous posters that it's some kind of philodendron! (They can also get split leaves when they're mature but are much smaller and vining.)

Picture attached of my monstera's growth from September 2020 to now for comparison you'd know about it!