Help with Huge Philo Moonlight

16 years ago

I have a small Houseplant Store and I had a customer give me a very large Philodendron Moonlight today as a gift. It is one of my all time favorite plants BUT I have never seen a big one and I had no idea that they grew this way (see photo)! It's hard to tell in the photo but it has a 3 1/2 foot width and the main runner is about 2" thick. Can I cut this baby back and re-root it so that it is a more manageable size? Any advice would be appreciated.

(OKAY! I give up . . . exactly HOW do I get a picture uploaded into the gallery from my hard drive?)

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Comments (5)

bihai
16 years ago
Well, this type of Philo can eventually get a lot bigger than THAT.
There is one of the red forms, you know, same type as a Moonlight but just a different cultivar, that has a spread of about 5-6 feet and goes up a totem about 6 feet as well at our local butterfly house.

I have a red one that has a spread of over 3 feet. Its "creeping" laterally because it has nothing to climb up on.

I suppose you could cut it back and that would buy you some time, but, it will eventually get just as big again.

I would buy a large pot and a large totem and train it onto the totem. I kept my red one for as long as I can in the house, this spring it HAS to go to the greenhouse and get a big totem in there.

This is mine:
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jennifer1
Original Author
16 years ago
Your philodendron is gorgeous. Here I have a link (if I did it right!) to mine. Not quite as healthy looking as yours. This one is very spindly. I wondered if I cut it back if it will force it to be fuller. The main stem is so thick, can I root it?

Here is a link that might be useful: my philo moonlight
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bihai
16 years ago
I may be wrong here...I am NOT a Philodendron expert. I grow a whole lot of different ones, but that doesn't make me an expert. That said...
I don't think your plant is philodendron Moonlight.

Moonlight is a self-heading philodendron, it should have a uniform kind of "round" appearance to the whole plant, kinda symmetrical, you know? Those types, like my red one pictured, eventually DO grow trunks and either sprawl or attach to something to continue growing. Takes a while but it happens.

Your philo looks like a vining type. It looks like it could be one of the "Emerald" philos, or perhaps Burle-marx.

You definitely need ot get it established on a totem. It looks perfectly healthy, it just never got trained onto anything so its kinda growing all over the place.

Google Philodendron Moonlight and you will see the difference between it and the plant that you have
jennifer1
Original Author
16 years ago
Okay. I see that this is not a Moonlight. I figured a Moonlight was a self-header. But this isn't exactly a climber either - more a sprawler. I wonder if I can cut the big main branch and not kill it.

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philofan
16 years ago
You could stake it if you like--put in a totem and affix both branches to it. It has long petioles--that could be because of this particular species, but also from not enough light, which can cause the legginess. I would likely cut a little off the top first so it will be more manageable.