Wow! I would take cuttings. I think it looks extremely ugly. It has very few leaves. You can take 3"-4" cuttings. They root easily.

Tough to get a tree like form with these, but if you take some cuttings you can plant them around a big thick post (they get so big, I would plan foe the future) and train it to twist its way up. I have seen them grown this way and thing they look great.

That plant is a Monstera deliciosa, commonly known as Swiss Cheese Plant or Fruit Salad Plant, and isn't a Philodendron at all. They're a vine so won't grow as a "tree". As suggested you'll need some sort of pole or post to get it going upright. Then of course in time it'll grow beyond the top and start to hang down. From then on a matter of judicious pruning.

Thanks for the advice everyone! I think I'll take some cuttings and try to train the other stems around a pole. I don't know if they are flexible enough to fit in a cage but I'll give it a try.

Wow I nearly bought one of these yesterday- I didn't know it wasn't a philodendron, thanks tropicbreezent! I'll try to start with cuttings in that case if I can get my hands on some.

tropicbreezent, I googled it and it is called Philodendron pertunum, commonly known as split leaf philodendron.

I was looking around, seems to be some confusion, at the plant list site it has it down as synonymous with a different monstera species. Either way, the two genera are clearly close relatives.

I think it has character and is very interesting...

zzackey, there was actually a named plant, Philodendron pertusum, which turned out to be a juvenile Monstera adansonii (back in the 1800's). What happened in more recent time was a nursery with a lot of Monstera deliciosa to sell decided they'd do better if they were selling a rare unheard of plant so grabbed what was an old name associated with Monstera, namely Philodendron pertunum (maybe or maybe not deliberately mispelling the name). The rest is history.

Monstera have a geniculum (derived from the Latin for "knee") just below the leaf blade on the stem. It helps the leaf to turn towards maximum sunlight. Philodendron don't have this.

She's a grand old gal! Took half a century to get those dramatic stems.

Tsuga, what's the plant with the pink blooms?

Hi, I'm piggybacking onto this thread as I also have an old Monstera and I'm contemplating its future. I would love to get some ideas from people here with more experience with this plant.

A little bit of history first. I bought the plant "second-hand" in 2009 and converted it to hydroculture as an experiment. The experiment explains the clear glass vase (a large Bladet from IKEA). It has tolerated the abuse to some extent and has put out new leaves on a regular basis so far. The weight of the plant is now at the limit of what the double-decker, coir-covered poles can take.

I would like to repot the plant into a larger, opaque planter, with a liner pot to contain the size of the thing. The idea behind the larger planter is to be able to install a more robust pole to support the plant. Two possible candidates for the planters are shown on the left in the attached image.

Do you guys have any thoughts on what the ideal container size would be to maintain a certain plant size?

@tropicbreezent: Can you explain in more detail what "judicious pruning" entails?

Thank you!

As the name suggests, these plants are monsters. They will quickly fill up whatever pot you decide to use. Back when I bought mine two years ago as a juvenile, its small pot was packed full of roots. When I finally untangled [most of] its roots, there were just so many, I had to got up two pot sizes. Now it's completely filled in every bit of that pot as well. I had a thin layer of white marble rocks covering the top of the soil. When I removed them, the whole pot was nothing but roots. When I go to repot it yet again, I doubt that I'll be able to untangle those roots; they're just so congested and wrapped around each other. I may have to do a bit of root pruning while I'm at it. And as for using a stake, I've decided on using a metal bar. The wooden stick that I originally used never stood a chance.

Zedcee, by "judicious pruning" I mean calculating how and where you should cut to get the desired outcome. So basically, thinking ahead before you snip.

I'm totally jealous of the Christmas cactus that is potted with your monstera!

@gardenfanatic- The pink "flowered" plants are two poinsettias.

tj

Seriously?? Wow!