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clibanarius

Scindapsus pictus on totems?

clibanarius
15 years ago

Greetings,

I have a beautiful Scindapsus pictus var. exotica that I'm considering training up a totem. In Epipremnum (formerly Scindapsus) aureus, this allows the leaves to become much larger; in Australia I've seen them growing up the sides of trees with leaves over two feet long, making this overused plant unexpectedly magnificent. However, almost all of the images I've seen of S. pictus show it as a hanging or sprawling plant, and the few totemed pictures seem either to be hasty assemblies for the photo or else suggest that this species does not appreciate climbing as much as does E. aureus. S. pictus is not a commonly kept plant, though, and I can't get much relevant info on it. Has anyone here tried growing satin pothos on totems? Does it perform better, or differently, this way than as a sprawling hanging basket plant (like E. aureus does)?

I know I could just play around with it myself, but it took me three years to find this plant and I'm perhaps foolishly reluctant to blindly experiment on it!

Thanks!

Alan

Comments (11)

  • clibanarius
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Robert,

    Hey, a picture, good idea. Here's my plant (it's somewhat bluer than this low-res picture implies). Leaves noticeably thicker and more leathery than E. aureus (which is what they were selling it as!). Definitely much slower growing than E. aureus, but this one has probably grown by a third since I got it in May.

    Cheers,

    Alan

    {{gwi:388543}}

  • aroideana
    15 years ago

    I have seen it climb , it seems to like shadecloth ! I have also heard of it climbing on concrete walls as well . I have it slowly climbing a rough barked tree , it is not as fast as Raphidophora cryptantha ;.

  • robert12
    15 years ago

    Alan,

    Sorry for the delay; busy weekend. I looked at my totem last night and found that it had fallen over. Though it did grow up for a while, it never rooted and I guess finally got heavy enough to fall. Good luck with your attempt!

    Robert

  • clibanarius
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks, guys. Robert, what was the surface of your totem? My S. p. e. does have some (can't remember what you call them) incipient roots at each node along the stem, which suggests to me it could grab on and climb, but maybe it requires a very rough surface as aroideana observed it on.

    aroideana, wow, I've never heard of Rhaphidophora cryptantha before. It looks like a great plant. How tricky is it? How big does it get? I can't quite put a scale to the pictures I've seen.

    Cheers,

    Alan

  • robert12
    15 years ago

    I took some chicken wire-type stuff and lined it with sphagnum, rolled it up, filled it with dirt, and potted it. Then I planted some things around it to see what would happen. A couple Syngonium and a Monstera seem to like it, the S. especially. The pictus not so much though.

  • edleigh7
    15 years ago

    I was just wondering the same thing. I miraculously seen one at a major hardware store on the weekend. I presume it requires mostly shade or dappled light. Mine is slightly smaller than the one of clib's.
    Mick interesting to hear about the shadecloth, thanks

    Ed

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    Any of these plants still going? Anyone else with a Scindapsus going UP?

  • tropicbreezent
    10 years ago

    Mine seems to prefer to run along the ground/over rocks.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    Hey, Tropic, was hoping to hear from you. If you get around to taking a pic, I'd love to see some 'in the wild.' Finally managed to trade for some cuttings a little while back, leaves about 1 1/2 inch, they're doing great. Are the leaves any bigger on your wild plants? For now, I tucked the pieces into a pot with a baby Monstera on a wood pole.

  • tropicbreezent
    10 years ago

    We're still in mid winter, so the Scindapsus aren't doing much. I measured the largest leaves and they were 10 to 11 cms along the midrib.

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