My cheeseplant is too big for indoors !!

Hi all,

First post, nice to be here, my name is Alex.

I have a cheese plant which has outgrown my house, wonder if I can put it outside in its pot on our patio. I live on the south coast of the UK so long, wet and windy winters.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Alex, first, welcome to DG!!! Now, want to help but have no idea of what a cheese plant is?? Need another(latin) name and a picture, if possible! 8>)

Larry

Hi, Thanks Larry

Swiss Cheese Plant - Monstera deliciosa

Alex, this should help, though, it is for the US http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/83931/.

Larry

How big is too big? :) Do you have a photo? I'd love to see it!

Mine is about 3'x3' and probably 5' tall. I have it in a 2'x2' pot with a 6' pole for it to climb. I hope it fits back into the kitchen come cold weather!

My guess is it'll still need to come in for the winter, Plant Files says it's only hardy to zone 10, and I don't recall ever seeing anyone from the UK being any warmer than zone 9. If you are in the equivalent of our zone 9 (occasional frost, but no serious freezes and rarely gets below 0C at night) then you might be able to get by just throwing some blankets or something over it on cold nights, but if you're any colder than that it'll be best to find a way to keep it in the house for a few months

This plant will get quite large! But, it is such a neat plant. When it gets cold here in the winter I just wrap mine in a blanket. We do get into the 20's here at times, but it's very rare for us to get below 30F at night. When we do have frost or freezing it don't last long and usually warms back up during the day. If we have an unusual hard freeze I bring my Monstera inside at night. Here's the link to the Plant Files info on the Monstera deliciosa

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1204/

Mine is only about 5 ft wide and about 3 ft high. It grew like mad for a few weeks when it was hot and humid, but we're back into the 70s during the day and down so low as the 40s at night again. Almost time to bring it back inside. Besides, my living room looks too bare!!

Michelle in Michigan

LOL Isn't it funny??! We spend all winter wishing we could get it outside and out of the way and let it beef up. Then we spend all summer looking at a naked spot in the house.

I put mine on a large moss covered pole and the cats climbed it a few times and knocked it over. It's in a much bigger square pot this year so toppling it won't be as easy.

I have mine in morning and afternoon sun this year and it's doing great but I think it grew a lot faster in the shade last year.

Mine is in a shady spot on the porch. I should have put a tall pole in it, maybe it would have climbed. You can see it on the left in this pic. Keep in mind, that was from the beginning of June.

Wow! It looks nice!

I love the cut out in the cement too! Is there actually a pond in there or is it a bed? There appears to be Cyperus growing in there!

Cyperus don't have to be in a pond to grow. I've grown them in a pond and outside a pond and they seem to do equally well either way. One year I grew it in a container on my patio, and while I obviously never let it dry out, I was surprised to find that it didn't really need to be watered that much more frequently than my other containers.

No pond...there was a tree there before we bought the house almost 2 years ago. It couldn't compete with the Maple tree that's on the other side of the cement.

I've struggled with that bed. I posted a few pix of what my Swiss cheese plant looks like today in a web album.

I have some bleeding hearts in that bed, but my mother-in-law's dog (the most stupid anima l on Earth) keeps diving in that bed for some reason. She's broken my papyrus and my bleeding hearts. I can live with damage to the annuals, but my perennials really tick me off. ARGH!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/michelle.katt/Aug28thFrontPorchAndYard

Oh, I love that Cyperus plant! I've seen them at one of our Garden Centers and never bought it because I thought it HAD to be near or in water all the time!

Thanks ecrane3 for that information .... I learn so much from reading your posts! Next time I see one of these plants I'm gonna get one to try it!

MsKatt: I'm wondering if you maybe have little lizards or frogs that the dog is diving for? hee hee, our cats do that trying to get lizards but my neice has a little dog that dives into plants trying to catch the little lizards! I loved your photo's in your web album!! What is that light green plant growing over the stone wall in front? It looks like Sweet Potato Vine but I can't tell for sure ... it is really pretty! You do a wonderful job of presentation with your plants! Really lovely!

My Monstera deliciosa needs a new pot but I just haven't had the time to go look for a larger one to put it in .... and it really could use a moss pole for those long roots, it will probably be next spring before I repot it! Mine gets no sun at all, it's in full shade on a covered deck. I left it in a spot that just got a little sun a few months ago and some of the leaves got scorched. The sun is so intense down here it would fry it! Here's a pic of my pitiful, needing a new pot, Monstera:

I haven't seen any more posts from Alsky72 about his plant. I am wondering if his plant is the Monstera deliciosa Swiss Cheese or perhaps the other Monstera obliqua: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54928/

I have that one also, in a hanging basket:

plantladylin, yes it's Sweet Potato Vine. There are frogs (no lizards around here...too darn cold) in that bed, but I doubt that's what she's after. She just wants to make my life a living hell. J/K

Michelle in Michigan

I wonder if there's some sort of fencing you could put around the beds that she likes to jump into? Dogs are dogs and love to dig too ... we don't have dogs in the family right now (someday!) but we are down to four cats! As soon as a couple of the elderly cats are gone to kitty heaven we will get another dog.

She is only here once or twice a month. Just long enough to do her damage and leave, lol. I have two dogs, a 9 year old beagle mix and a 7 month old Mastiff puppy and neither of them get into my gardens. I really don't want to fence it in...

Michelle in Michigan

Oh, you have a Mastiff?? My nephew in South Florida has a pure bred male English Mastiff. He is the greatest dog! Huge dog!! I'm not sure what he weighs now but here he was as a puppy, April 2006 at 5 months old:

Mine is a purebred male Mastiff, too! He weighed in at 111 lbs yesterday.

Oh my .... he's just a baby still and soooo adorable! I would love to have a Mastiff. My sister and her husband (whose son has "Bubba") have a pure bred yellow lab and a mixed breed, part black lab, part rottie and they are talking about getting a mastiff puppy. They've been looking. Their son lived back at home for awhile and moved about 1 1/2 hours north of them this past spring ... I think they miss Bubba more than they miss their son. LOL. Just kidding of course, they miss them both. I will have to see if I can get my nephew to send me a current pic of Bubba and ask what he weighs now .... I think he's just at 200 ... lost a little weight my sister said. He's not being spoiled with treats and people food by grandma and grandpa anymore! I remember my nephew telling me the sire/father dog weighed 280 and was overweight. Mom dog weighed 240. I've heard them referred to as "Gentle Giants" and Bubba sure fits that description!

What's your pup's name? He is just so adorable .... aaaah, makes me want a puppy!

His name is Angus. He is the most gentle thing in the world. His sire was 3.5 yrs old and 225, mom was 180. Angus is very lean, we want to keep him that way so he doesn't end up with joint problems.

I'll stop hijacking this thread now... :(

Yep ... that is my Nephew's way too ... he does not want an overweight fat dog ... no people food and not a lot of treats!