Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma Variegated Care

ABOUT
Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma (also sometimes, incorrectly, referred to as Mini Monstera, Monstera Ginny or Philodendron Ginnie - More on this later) is a climbing plant native to the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, specifically in Thailand and Malaysia. This is another pretty hardy variegated plant, thanks to those tough-as-nails Rhaphidophora genes. I have at least two trays of these plants just utterly thriving on neglect. 10/10 I highly recommend.

FAMILY
Araceae

LIGHT REQUIREMENTS
Grown indoors direct sun is fine, my personal plant is living her best life in an east-facing window (northern hemisphere) but they would also do well in a west or south-facing window (avoid north-facing.) If you lack in strong enough natural light, I would advise a grow light - This is NOT a low light plant. It will grow slowly and will produce small foliage if in too shady a spot. 

TEMP / HUMIDTY
They're pretty forgiving on temperature. 70-80º F (21 - 26.5° C) is probably ideal but they do alright (or at least can survive) anywhere from 45-95º F (7 -35º C.) Anything above 95º and you'll definitely start to see some wilt. 

For humidity, again, pretty forgiving. I'd say ideally above 50% (certainly the more the better) but my personal plant gets on perfectly well in my very dry upstate NY winters, though growth is a bit slower during that period.

WATERING
These guys are generally pretty thirsty and prefer not to sit too dry for too long. That said, the variegated Tetrasperma can be a bit more sensitive to overwatering than it's green counterpart and is known to come down with a gnarly case of root rot if kept in soil too dense - Consistent watering and a nice airy mix is very important here. 

GROW MEDIA
They'd do well in a nice chunky aroid mix, something with plenty of bark, coco husk and/or perlite or in semi-hydro. I grow all my props in chunky perlite, my shop plants are in a very chunky coir mix and my personal plants are in a XL Pon.

GROWTH RATE
As with most tropical plants, they'll do better (grow faster) grown in warm / humid conditions (winter growth is definitely much slower) but they're relatively fast growers on average.

EASE OF PROPAGATION
Provided you have an existing aerial root (and I wouldn't try to prop without one) it should do just fine. 

For propagation media I like chunky perlite with a reservoir, but they also do well in moss or tree fern fiber if kept sufficiently, consistently, damp. 

TOXICITY
Mildly toxic - Like many other members of the Araceae family, they contain calcium oxalate crystals which may cause oral irritation, burning of the mouth, tongue, and lips if swallowed or chewed.

ADDITIONAL INFO
Despite often being referred to as Monstera or Philodendron they are neither - Though they are members of the same family (Araceae or "aroids.") Rhaphidophora is in a totally separate genus and are endemic to a totally separate part of the world - While Monstera and Philodendron are native to Central and South America, Rhaphidophora hail from Southern Thailand and Malaysia. And surprisingly, the Rhapidophora genus isn't closely related to the other two genera it's often mistaken for.

More information on these guys, for anyone who is curious, can be found HERE.

If you have any questions, or some advice of your own to offer, please feel free to comment below. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!