Plant rescue challenge

After decorating my home office, I bought a few house plants. I love how plants make for a calming environment and bring a room to life. But alas, two of the plants I bought have already died.

After realising I needed to up my plant game if I was not to kill them all, I started researching plant care and stumbled on this plant challenge video. It sounded like a fun idea so I convinced my family to take part in our own plant rescue challenge.

The plant rescue challenge rules are:

• Buy a plant that’s damaged or a little sad looking – browning leaves, leaf tears, etc
• We then have 5 months to (hopefully) return the plant to full health
• The plant that has the most impressive transformation is the winner
• The plant budget is £15
• It can be any type of indoor plant

My initial idea was to go for a Monstera. I like the fenestrations (the holes in the leaves) and thought it would have the potential to grow nicely over the coming months. I’d also like to try a moss pole, something the plant could grow up.

I searched my local garden centre for the worst Monstera I could find and found this little guy:

While it’s not in terrible condition, there’s some browning on the leaves.

The plant was labelled as a Monstera Mix, whatever that means, and, being the plant newbie I am, assumed it was a Monstera Deliciosa.

I sent a photo to a friend who pointed out it definitely wasn’t a Deliciosa and probably wasn’t a Monstera at all (oops). After some research, I found out it’s known as a “Mini Monstera” but – confusingly – it’s not a Monstera at all, it’s part of the Rhaphidophora genus. The full name is Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma.

Once I got the plant home I gave it a good water and checked it over for pests. I’ve left it on my side table in my home office, about 6 meters from an east-facing window. That’s all I’m planning to do for the first week as I want it to acclimatise to the new space before doing anything else.

I have high hopes for the plant. Wish me luck!