Indoor cheese plant

[Overitx]

I bought my first cheese plant back in April. It’s growing fairly quickly (photo from April to now). It tends to fall over so I have had to put a bit of structure around it. Wondering if a more experienced plant owner could have a look and tell me if it looks okay. It was reported about 3 weeks after I bought it into a bigger pot. I water 2 a week. It has new leaves every 3 weeks.

I have an enormous cheese plant called Brie, a month or 2 older than my youngest child (5.5). She's tied to a large moss pole in several places. The ties need to be adjusted occasionally, when new bits grow.

Be warned, if you start re-potting, your plant will grow and grow!

This is her, 2 years ago. She's grown a bit since.

It looks fine. You could use a moss pole instead of bamboo. A bigger pot would be more stable and look better proportioned. It would soon grow into it, but if there was a danger of it becoming waterlogged you could mix the compost with a bit of perlite or similar to improve drainage.

Thank you. I will look to get a moss pole.

what size of pot would you suggest repotting into?

another question - there looks like roots growing out of the stems. Are these roots or new stems? Photo for reference

Those are aerial roots the plant uses them to receive radio 4, they're completely normal. Some people cut them off, direct them into the pot or just let them do their thing.

Thanks, that’s helpful.

what do you mean by “receive radio 4?”

Bad pun on aerial, my apologies.

I'm not an expert at all, but read up a great deal before trimming mine. Those grey things are aerial roots- to collect moisture and provide some support when they are growing on a tree in the wild. They are different to the underground roots though. I leave mine on- but they could be trimmed a bit if needed.

Mine was getting big and messy. I trimmed it to a better shape and initially put the cuttings in water, then a few later later put them in soil. I now have 6 'babies' which are growing rapidly and now need larger pots!

Here is some more info:

haha! I honestly did think that but then as the rest of the comment was quite serious I doubted myself. I even googled it LOL. I’m an idiot.

Don't snap off the aerial (Radio 4 ) roots, they are part of the joy of Delicious Monsters!
You might twine them round the moss pole in the future to help with stability.

If you see them growing in the wild, they wind round and round a larger tree like a coiled spring, heading up to the sunlight above the tree canopy. They shed the lower leaves that are in the dark shade. You definitely need a moss pole for it to cling onto for stability. Keep it away from the wall - those aerial roots can burrow into plaster. I had to dig mine out and replaster the wall after it grew eight feet tall and dug itself in! You can eat the tasty fruit - hence the name Monstera Deliciosa - but it only makes one fruit at a time and you can wait up to 20 years for one.

It might help if I actually attached the link! 😂
Monsteras & Aerial Roots: What Are They & What Should You Do With Them? - The Healthy Houseplant

I'd love to see a wild plant. I believe they can grow to be enormous and have fruit that are edible.

You can get moss poles that are actually like cages filled with sphagnum moss. You're meant to keep the moss wet and the monstera (and other vining plants) will actually grow roots into it. I think it's too 'extra', great if you can be bothered but otherwise an unnecessary faff.

I'm now finding myself wondering if radio 4 would really be a monstera's station of choice?

I grew a monstera from seed once, it was my proudest gardening moment! I gave the plant to my mother when I was expecting my precious firstborn (worried about him eating it!). It was about 6 feet tall by them and very lush. It was dead within a fortnight of my mother getting her claws on it.

Not relevant, but it's mostly a nice memory. Definitely get a moss pole and mist regularly. Propagating them is fun, and useful for when your main plant gets too big.