hi everyone hope you're doing super well if it's your first time here my name is james and i'm
from sydney australia we've unfortunately been in lockdown for about 29 days 23 hours 26 minutes and
15 seconds but who's counting right just joking all jokes aside today's videos can be centred
around two different topics the first being a july 2021 update of how my monstera thai constellation
is doing i'll give you a quick recap of how the last six months have been growing
and then i wanted to give a introductory course to the i've just brought my monstera
thai constellation home for the first time parents hopefully i can set you up for success if you do
these guidelines can be used for any indoor plant that you're bringing home so sit tight and enjoy
so the first ever video that i filmed for this channel was on four easy care tips
for the monstera thai constellation and i filmed that in may 2021 so it has been
about two months since i last gave you guys an update let me go quickly grab my tc now
it's so large i can't even fit it inside the camera frame but anyway i hope you share the same
excitement as i do but this is a brand new leaf since you last saw it and it is gigantic um i have
measured it and it's about 36 centimetres from the top to the bottom and i was already excited about
this one and that was the newest one the last time we saw it and that was 30 centimetres i have
noticed that we do have a little bit more marbling on the top right quadrant and hopefully you can
see that uh and this new variegation is a little bit more yellow as opposed to the creamy one that
had appeared over here so that's quite interesting i do think it is maybe a lot of the sunlight that
i've been giving it um for about 12 hours a day so that is absolutely awesome we've also got a
fenestration hole um here as well which is the first one that has appeared on this actual plant
um so that's really exciting but yeah it's really heavy so i'm gonna put it down now hopefully you
guys can still see that there it's covering me so here's a quick recap across the past couple
of months i first acquired it towards the end of february 2021 and here's a progress update
on every single month from february march april and may so i have observed that it has slowed
down around june and it was dormant for about two months i was averaging about one leaf per month
but i was expecting that slow growth because of a number of reasons we were approaching winter
which obviously means that the temperatures were colder and they do thrive in warmer conditions
secondly i was cutting down on the fertiliser as you should when you are in the winter season
thirdly the brand new leaf was 36 centimetres meaning that it was directing most of its energy
to maintain that leaf and finally i read from another houseplant enthusiast or expert that
they can be resting periods between the growth of new leaves he was quoting about two to three
months which he mentioned was a normal but wait i have something really exciting to report i woke up
two days ago to brand new growth right in the middle of winter and i kid you not we've had one
of the coldest july's in a whole decade here in sydney you can fact-check me on that one
just letting you know i'm not using any external instruments such as moisture meters or heating
mats or even humidifiers and it has been growing quite well i do admit i could be accelerating
the growth through some other instruments but i really wanted to keep it simple hence calling
my channel simple plantation i might invest in a heating mat sometime in the future because
i do know that they do benefit from warm roots anyway i hope you enjoyed that segment i'll give
you another progress update in the next couple of months when it gets a little bit warmer here
now welcome new parents welcome to the family i'm going to give you a step-by-step guide on
what you should do if you've brought your thai constellation home for the first time
remember these tips are applicable for any indoor plant except with the TC i give it a little bit
more TLC firstly go for a precautionary wipe down you never know how long it's been sitting in the
shop front for and also what pests it could have acquired from other plants or in its soil itself
so i usually use a diluted mix of neem oil as well as water you could use dishwashing liquid but make
sure it's very very diluted and wipe down the leaves just in case you have any pests that are
brewing the key thing i'm iterating here is be very very careful because i actually broke off
the leaf when i first cleaned it and i think i expressed how sad it was in the first video
that i filmed on my four easy care tips second step here is optional do a root check and only
do it if it is absolutely safe if you can pull the plant out without disturbing the root ball do so
and have a look and inspect the roots i'm going to use another plant as an example my allocation
went to so here if you just massage the side of the pot and then hold the base of the plant
you can sort of pull it out and then inspect the roots so in this example here if they're generally
yellow and white you've got yourself a healthy plant if you're noticing some black roots or some
mushiness you might unfortunately have some root rot but you will need to treat that asap hopefully
you did these checks before you actually brought this home but remember if it is too dangerous to
pull out of the pot take a little peek underneath the drainage holes and just double check on the
colour of the roots there step three the good old finger in the soil check this is to double check
when the plant has last been watered if the soil is dry then obviously it's time to give it a water
but i strongly recommend that you only water your plants in the morning time to give it time to soak
up those sun rays if it is moist obviously leave it alone the TC's are really really prone to root
rot so you do want to make sure that you're drying this oils out before you're watering it next
again my general advice is that i only recommend watering your plants in the morning so it gives
them time to drink that water and also to soak up the sun rays and then basically do its thing
also it gives them the opportunity to undergo the process of transpiration that's when you see some
of those water droplets that are appearing on your lip due to evaporation and you don't want
that water to be sitting on overnight because essentially that promotes bacteria and potential
disease step four quarantine i know you're going to want to start displaying this almost
immediately when you bring it home for the first time because who wouldn't you spent big bucks
on this beautiful plant but i'm recommending you not to do so and making sure that the place that
you're quarantining it has actual ample amount of sunlight if you don't have the luxury of space in
your place such as an apartment like mine i make sure that i'm keeping it a little bit further away
from all the rest of where i'm grouped my plants just to make sure that you're minimising the risks
of any potential pests from your plant to your collection or your collection to your plant as a
very very rough guide i usually wait about two to four weeks before i start introducing and
grouping my plants together but do remember to do an inspection every now and then just to make sure
nothing has come up unfortunately fungus gnats thrips root rot are all quite common for a TC so
do be careful and just double check those leaves when you're walking past it or admiring it step 5
is absolutely crucial understanding your lighting so TC's require a massive amount of light in order
to flourish and grow especially with my one i give it about 10 to 12 hours of sunlight a day even the
place that you're quarantining it make sure it's got ample amount of sunlight as i'm stressing
because you do want to set it up for success so usually i'll place my quarantine plant in the
same room that i intend to keep it just so that it can also brings me to step six to acclimate
in general plants will be a little bit shocked when you bring them home for the first time so
as a general rule of thumb i give them about two to four weeks before i do anything drastic such as
you know changing their soil or moving them around or giving them a poll and finally here's
a step-by-step summary of what you should do when you bring your monstera thai constellation home
for the first time or any other indoor plant for that matter firstly give it a precautionary wipe
down to avoid any pests number two to do a root check to make sure that you've got a healthy plant
number three do the finger check just to double check when the plant has last been watered
number four quarantine number five assessing your lighting conditions and finally number six give it
time to acclimate these steps will set you up for success so i'm super excited to be announcing that
i'll be introducing a brand new segment to the end of my videos called plant rants and bands so
stay tuned anyway i just wanted to say a big thank you if you've made it to the end of this video it
really helps and supports me in providing you some quality content remember to hit that subscribe
button and if you tap that bell icon you'll get notifications so you don't miss any updates when
new videos drop until then stay safe i hope you're doing super amazing and i will see you next time
welcome to plant rants and beds where i'll be showcasing some cool funny or interesting
content that i find online so i follow a number of different facebook groups that are plant related
and this one caught my eye man we have class warfare and here is plants i've never seen so
many snotty rude insulting people well well you can't afford a 400 plant you jealous broke people
neener neener attitudes peace out okay first of all what's a neener neener i took the liberty of
actually searching that up in case you know you guys didn't know what that was because i did it
um neener neener appears like it's a song by doyle and debbie or neener neener meaning we'll go for
that one so neener neener is a childish hostile taunt often repeated in a sing-song voice well
you learn something every day right continuing on i have a great collection i've never spent
over fifty dollars on a single plan doesn't mean i don't love your 500 thai constellation any less
i don't get it wow the plant drama gosh anyway i think i agree with these last two comments
why do y'all feel the need to defend yourself or explain yourself just do you beep the rest
let's end this on a positive note right being polite and having a positive attitude is free
so dot dot dot well who would have thought this wholesome hobby could turn into such a * fest