I love the Plant Club community and am often thinking of ways that I can give back to them. When Variegated Monstera sales have happened in the past, our website has been overloaded with users – often over 500 people for 15 cuttings. This without a doubt can be a very stressful experience where one doesn’t even walk away with a plant. So I’ve decided that this new batch of plants will be released exclusively for Plant Club members. If there are any plants that are leftover, then the sale will open up to the wider public.
The Basics:
Basically. Variegated Monstera are expensive. There are no two ways about it. If you’d like to know why then check out this blog I wrote. Usually, these plants are auctioned off, but apart from really hating this process I also think that auctions falsely inflate these amounts. So the prices attached to these cuttings and plants are based on: current market prices, the price, and effort that went into each plant, and a host of cosmetic factors in every individual cutting. The cuttings and plants for sale will range between R200-R3000.
The benefit to buying a cutting is that they are a lot cheaper than a rooted plant (you can double or triple each price of a cutting to see what you would be expected to pay if it were a rooted plant); the disadvantage is that you need to grow this into a rooted plant yourself. I can give you personal guidance when you’ve made your purchase. However, if you’re new to plants and/or don’t often spend this kind of money, it’s not advised that you invest in a cutting but rather keep an eye on Facebook groups and the marketplace for the opportunity to buy a rooted plant.
Shipping will cost R170. We will take the utmost care and use the best quality services to get your cutting to you safely. There will be an option for pick up, where you don’t have to pay for shipping. Take note, pick up is in Hout Bay, Cape Town, and will only be allowed on appointment. We will only be allowing one purchase per person.
Factors to take into account:
Often the prices of cuttings and rooted plants are determined by what the plant can give you/ i.e its potential. The following morphological and cosmetic factors will either raise or lower the price of a cutting.
- Percentage of leaf variegation: the best amount of variegation on a plant is anything higher than 40% and less than 80% – enough for the leaves to produce food but enough white for the cosmetic appeal.
- The pattern of leaf variegation: The half-moon leaf variegation is usually more popular than the marbled variegation and you’re likely to pay more for it.
- Stem variegation: The more variegation on a stem is thought to be a good indicator of a higher chance of future variegated leaves. However, this has not been scientifically proven.
- Number of nodes: The more nodes a cutting has, the more chance it has to give off roots, and the possibility for you to make propagations off the bat increases.
- Evidence of new growth: The more new growth a plant has may indicate that the plant will be a fast grower or that it is a very healthy plant.
- Size of the plant: The bigger the plant, the better. You can also cut the plant up for resell if it has more than one node- this may result in the potential to make your money back as well as an income generator if you grow your plant long enough.
- Perfect heart-shaped leaves: This is for cosmetic appeal, the fewer the tears the better.
- Top cutting vs lower cutting: Cuttings from the top of plants will continue growing from their main stem. Lower cuttings will have to first produce a new growth point and then leaves from a node.
The Plants
I have divided the plants and cuttings into different categories for easier decision-making on your side so that when the sale goes live you don’t have to feel rushed into a decision. Mainly there are potted plants, cuttings that have potential, and then cuttings that are absolute show stoppers. The potted plants are great because you won’t have to spend time on rooting a cutting. Some of them have great variegation and new leaves which truly speaks to great things to come. ‘Potential Party’ cuttings are cuttings that I’ve identified that can be priced slightly less than the others due to a face value glance at their appearance. However, all of these plants come from very good variegated stock, and the potential for that variegation to come back is always there. The last category is the ‘Showstoppers’ cuttings category. Named as such because they will stop anyone in their tracks with their beautiful variegation.
Potted Plants
VM1: This plant has 2 growth points. The eldest growth point’s first leaf showcases the potential of variegation that is locked in this plant. The leaves are mature and most have fenestrations in them.
The second growth point with the newer leaves show very sign of variegation. Although the newest leaf is showing more than the elder ones which may indicate a good chance for future variegation. The eldest leaf also has clear signs of Spidermites when I first rescued the plant. But this has long since been fully eradicated.
R700
VM2: I recently potted this plant up (from soil to soil). It has an extensive and healthy root system. There are two leaves and one new growth point (that looks like it could be a leaf too). Both leaves have scattered variegation. Around 5%. The newest leaf has matured beautifully and has fenestrations. All stems show heavy signs of variegation.
R550
VM3: I rescued this plant about a year ago. It has 3 large leaves. The first and oldest leaf has always looked a bit droopy, I predict that it will run its natural cycle and die off in the next year. The middle leaf has a beautiful solid streak of variegation. The newest leaf is slightly damaged due to imperfect conditions when it was unfurling but the new stem it has produced is highly variegated and I can see it’s quite bulbous (has a new leaf incoming) – I’m pretty convinced that it will produce a showstopper of a leaf soon.
R1200
VM4: The original leaf cutting that you can see has produced a whole new plantlet that is giving off FIERCE variegation. All in all, 3 leaves. One old one from a cutting, one which was the start of the new plantlet, and the newest show stopper leaf that shows us of the great things to come.
R1500
VM5: I’m super proud of this little plantlet. It has 4 leaves, all with variegation. The newest leaf shows the best variegation so it seems to be increasing with each new leaf. There are two nodes on this plant so you could already cut it and propagate it. The cutting alone would fetch around R700. The plant also has an aerial root that has become a terrestrial one which will help the plant with its growth.
R1500
VM6: This amazing plantlet has 3 leaves all of which have variegation only on one-half of their leaves. Almost like scattered half-moon variegation which is quite unusual. The newest leaf shows a more solid streak which might mean that the variegation gets more solid over time.
R1600
VM7: There are 3 leaves on this plantlet. One which has just started to unfurl. There is a high percentage of variegation on all the leaves (around 60%) and it has two nodes and a great aerial root that is helping it get those nutrients.
R 1600
Cuttings: Potential Party Starters
VM8: This cutting has very low variegation on it. You can just make out a small slice of yellowed variegation on the leaf. However further on down the stem of the mother plant, it was producing leaves that had solid half-moon variegation. so there is still a chance that this plant can give you something unexpected. It also has two aerial roots that will help with the development of a root system.
R150
VM9: This cutting has two medium-sized leaves. There is no variegation on the first leaf but the second and newest leaf has some beautiful variegation (which bodes well for future opportunities). This is a top cutting so you won’t have to wait long for more growth. There is also an aerial root that will help you with establishing a root system.
R300
V10: This single leaf cutting is a top cutting. Its stem shows beautiful variegation and its leaf has a fine dusting of variegation spread throughout. There is one aerial root that is already starting to shed its topcoat and transform into an aquatic root.
R300
V11: This cutting has two very large leaves with fenestrations. It is a top cutting and has one node. Both leaves have a dusting of variegation – around 15% on each leaf. The newest leaf was made very recently.
R700
Cuttings: Showstoppers
V12: This leaf has to be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It is half-moon variegated with a solid white side. What makes it extremely exceptional are the tiny mint streaks on the white side. The stem is heavily variegated and water roots have started forming on the old aerial root. I’m hoping for great things from this cutting. If it doesn’t sell I won’t bat an eyelid – into my room it goes!
R1800
V13: The variegation on this cutting is out of this world. Unfortunately, the newest leaf deteriorated after I made the cutting because it was new and probably hadn’t hardened off properly – however I can tell you that it was even more beautiful. Is that even possible? This is a top cutting and so you will be getting a new leaf soon. The stem is highly variegated. There is one aerial root that has started to give off amazing water roots.
R2000
V14: This single large leaf-cutting has a scattering of variegation- probably around 15%. There is an aerial root present as well as two very large aquatic roots.
R400
V15: This cutting has lots of scattered variegation and an aquatic root system that is to die for. The leaf is large and there are at least 3 nodes present that you could further propagate from.
R900
V16: This absolutely gorgeous cutting is what dreams are made of. It has two huge leaves- both of which have fenestrations and very generous variegation. Around 70%! This is a top cutting and it has started to produce a new leaf. There are at least 3 nodes present and there is already a water root system that has formed.
R3000
