Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma Care & Propagation Guide with Real Images

Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma, a plant that has taken over the internet between past few days due to various reasons.

Well, if you ask us;

Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma certainly deserves it. Besides, American plants society has recalled it as a rare species of plants; still, they grow too quickly and can be an amazing addition in the home.

What is Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma?

For your information:

Rhaphidophora:

Rhaphidophora is Araceae family genus with approx. 100 species. It originates to places like aftica, Malaysia Australia, and western pacific.

Tetrasperma:

Among hundred species, Tetrasperma is one of the most searched online specie due to its amazing qualities of being a houseplant.

It is a miraculous plant, beaming with the urge to live. It can survive worst Thrips attacks. They regrow from their endless parts and known for being a compelling living species.

How to Pronounce Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma?

Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma, pronounced as Ra-Fe-Dof-Ra Tet-Ra-S-Per-Ma, is a plant from Malaysia and Thailand.

Tetrasperma is best known for its mixed temperament of climates as you can find it at the driest places to frozen jungles.

Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma Care:

When you are growing this plant at home, in your apartment, you need to be extremely careful while selecting:

• The pot
• Area of placement
• And should take precautions regarding its growth.

Related: Tools For Garden Care

There is no doubt that this Ginny philodendron grows very fast.

Therefore, it is said that:

Mini Monstera is a fantastic member of the green-family and loves to show rapid growth.

Here is what you need to know:

1. The Placement:

Before bringing a plant home, decide the area where you will put it in. For instance, apartment havers can check out windows beside places.

You can find various windows in varying directions of your apartment.  We recommend you place your plant in the west-facing window.

west-facing windows receive direct sunlight.

Mini-Ginny Tetrasperma loves living a shaded life.

Still, you should know that:

It requires a moderate light to get enough chlorophyll, so they can prepare their food. West-facing windows provide properly required sunlight unlike dahlias, that need direct sunlight mostly.

2. Repotting:

Repotting is a process of transferring your pot into another, new, or existing pot, due to any reason.

Now, before you re-pot your plant, it is recommended to keep it in the nursery pot for as long as possible.

We say so because the plant is used-to of that very soil and is comfortably growing in.

Wait for your plant to get bigger enough with roots no more fitting in the nursery pot, to repot it. However, if you really need to repot;

• Selecting the Pot:

Terra Cotta pots are recommended to grow Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma in the home. Terra Cotta pots help the rare Tetrasperma to raise healthy and comfortably.

Why terra cotta pots?

Terra Cotta pot comes with a hole in bottom end that lets the plant breathe and connect with the real surface of the ground.

3. Lighting:

Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma needs filtered and bright lighting. For indoor placed plants, direct sun receiving west-facing window while outdoor, it requires dappled sunlight.

Make sure Tetrasperma gets the touch of morning sun.

As it requires bright and direct sunlight, so when you buy them, always place them in west-facing windows.

You can keep them in the balconies or terraces as well, but make sure that the trajectory of light is not that direct or harsh.

Also, you can use shades when keeping them in the direct light or else they would burn, and the leaves will lose chlorophyll and turn yellow.

All with this, when offered with proper sunlight, they would grow too fast. You can control its growth rate with this formula:

More sunlight (not the harsh one) = more growth

Less sunlight (keeping them in north-facing windows) = slow growth

The entrancing thing about growing tetra plants in the home is that you can control and influence its growth.

4. Water:

Along with being a shade-lover small plant, this Tetrasperma Ginny also don’t need so much of water intake and can grow pretty effortlessly in the pots with no reach to under-soil water.

The tip is simple:

Sprinkle water on the soil whenever you find it dry. It is better to underwater your plant than to overwater it.

You may say leaving ground dried is not good and recommended practice in gardening, but it goes well with Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma.

The plant needs very less water, but do not let it deprive completely of water for several days, or else the stems will start getting brown.

Keep checking its soil, spend time in caressing its leaves, and do offer them attention becuase plants love human attention.

Making water schedule:

To estimate and understand the watering schedule, you also need to keep a check on your location’s weather and climates.

Such as, if you live in a dry area or its summer, your plant may need water more than the area that’s dense climatically or is cold.

To know if your plant needs water, here is what you need to do:

Once again, Make sure not to overwater this plant.

Selecting the water:

Common water is great to use for this plant.

You don’t need to be much worried about the type of water, the filter-water you choose for your other plants is good to rain down the Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma without a worry.

5. Fertilizers:

Once again, this plant wants to live and can survive in any condition; however, there is a difference in surviving and growing-happily.

Therefore, you must use fertilizers for your plant to keep up it with good.

You can use simple and prevalent sorts of manures, but make sure they are natural and not added with chemicals.

Making Fertilizing schedule:

As said, this plant has good growth and matures too easily, and quickly but fertilizing it is necessary because you are growing it in the pot.

Therefore, a little bit more care is required.

Fertilizing schedule will vary seasonally such as:

• During the growing season that’s summer, winter, and fall, you can go for biweekly natural- fertilizers and select a ratio of 20 x 20 x 20

20 % Nitrogen (N)

20 % Phosphorus (P)

20 % Potassium (K)

• If you are going with synthetic fertilizers. The ratio can be 20 x 10 x 10

20 % Nitrogen (N)

10 % Phosphorus (P)

10 % Potassium (K)

On a rough estimate, if you are using one tsp of fertilizer for a gallon of the water, the ration would become half tsp, one gallon of the water when using synthetic ones.

6. Soil:

Soil plays a vital role in making a plant grow because all of the roots of the plants remain engraved in it. Now, when you are trying to change the pot of your plant, you must have to follow the following guide.

To change the pot of your Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma, wait for a week and let the plant get familiar to its new environment.

You can make the soil by yourself; however, this thing is only recommended if you are an expert in soiling.

You can also take help from an expert. Make sure the soil you select is chunky because this plant is an aroid, so it will love climbing.

By using Coco-Chips or Orchid Bark Soil and some slow releasing fertilizers, the plant will grow to be healthy.

For nutrients, you can add Worm Casting in it.

Here is a formula if you want to make the soil for your Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma:

40% Peat Moss

30 % Pumice (rock type)

20% Orchid with Bark

10% Worm Castings

7. Zone:

Choose minimum cold hardiness zone. Here is the detail:
Cold hardiness zone with 11 +4.4 °C (40 °F) to +7.2 °C (50 °F) temperature will be best.

8. Growth:

Being an aroid, this plant will require you to do something to keep its growth firm, straight, and stick.

Without this, it will grow more like a Trailing Philodendron.

However, The choice is yours that you want to stick it or let it stream like trailing.

Make sure not to hurt any leaf or shoot during the process.

Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma Propagation:

Once you see that your plant is growing well, and now growth is encouraged, you can maintain the height and volume of your plant.

Understand that it is an intense grower and multiplies during summer, winter, and fall.

For more information, check this video on Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma Propagation from Summer Rayne Oakes, ex-model, and an expert on plants from California.

While cutting, make sure that choose only those shoots that have one area root.

You can even sell these excessive cuttings in the market and earn money.

As we told you,

Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma’s one cutting without root is being sold under 50 USD price. To remove all the confusions here is a video, you can take help from:

Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma Tissue Culture:

Due to the rareness of the Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma, the tissue culture evolved.

Hobbyists said that the plants obtained after the tissue culture of Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma, the plant obtained resembles two plants from other species.

Rhaphidophira Pertusa and Epipremnum pinnatum also called Cebu Blue.

Rhaphidophira Pertusa has quite similar fenestration with Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma.

The leaf shape, like holes inside the leaves, everything is so similar.

However, the leaves of Epipremnum pinnatum are more similar to Rhaphidophira Pertusa.

Fun, Rare, Interesting, and Unknown Facts About Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma you should know:

Here you go with Exciting Facts about Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma:

“The facts section will answer all the questions occurring in your mind regarding Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma that relates to:

• Care
• Growth
• details you should know while bringing Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma home.

1. It resembles closely with mini monstera:

Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma is not easy to recognize for people with less knowledge about plants. As Some people, for their sake of ease, call it mini Monstera.

This can be because:

Its leaves and overall structure resembles Monstera Deliciosa, another plant type, from monstera Family.

Also, This is hard to recognize plant because:

It resembles Philodendron species as well; a common species in house plants.

All with this, some people confuse it with the unknown Amydrium.

Whatever the case is,

“Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma is neither a Philodendron nor Monstera, and it is also not Amydrium, but shares siblingship with them.

It is a species of plant with different genus, called Rhaphidophora, however, is part of the same family of Araceae along with the sibling-plants.

2. Easily Grows In Different Climates That Makes It Easy To Keep In Homes:

This is an astonishing yet unbelievable thing that you find this wondrous and most-demanded plant in diverse climates.

Though there are many year-around plants we have seen, however, none of them looks as decorative as Tetrasperma and is in a high demand such as this.

It is a forever living plant and 24×7 decoration of the home.

You don’t need to replace it now or then.

It is a survival plant and has learned to grow in different conditions, from dense watery to coldly dry.

So, Keeping tetrasperams in the home is convenient, easy, and good enough for everyone regardlessly, if live in New York or Sydney.

3. Complete Different Plants from Same Species, Native to Thailand and Malaysia:

As you know, Tetrasperma is sharing the same species, Araceae, with Monstera Deliciosa and Philodendron; however, its Genus is entirely separate.

This is most probably because these three belong to three different native regions.

Monstera and Philodendron species are endemic to Central and Southern American regions such as;

• Panama
• Mexico

as you see, both places have widely varying climates.

However, the Tetrasperma plant is native to a completely different environment.

This thing makes it different from plants that found in the USA.

If you think, due to being different than USA plants, it is not easy to grow, has, or manage Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma in the USA; you are wrong!

This survival plant can endure any condition, with slight adjustments in the light, air, and water.

4. It has different names among locals, natives, and international community:

Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma is scientific and a tongue twister name but still, it has no any other official name.

Besides the plant is in fashion and everybody’s looking to keep it in homes, still we only have scientific name to call it with.

However, for ease, people have renamed it with some of its visibly resembling siblings. For example: It also called Mini Monstera plant, Philodendron Ginny, Philodendron Piccolo, and Ginny.

Despite these names, remember that:

It is not the Monstera nor Philodendron.

People have called it Mini Monstera because of its similar visible appearance to it and Philodendron because of belonging to the same species.

However, it has different genus and has no actual resemblance in characteristics or any other way with Monstera nor Philodendron.

5. Shades Are Preferred For Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma Propagation:

It is from Thailand and Malaysia but found in abundance in the American husbandry too.

Reason?

It easily grows in a combination of climates.

American and Malaysian environments are diverse; even the trajectory of the sun is different.

This shade loving plant is ideal for apartment lives of cities.

Best thing is that:

You don’t need big garden, and you neither need a backyard and Tetrasperma will grow quick and high in the sun-facing windows of your apartment.

6. Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma a so-loved Plant by Internauts:

The main reason can be its easy propagation.

Also, The market rate of the plant has gone extreme-higher that for just one cutting you pay a total USD 50, and that’s also the “unrooted cutting.

For you, the difference between a rooted and unrooted cutting is that:

7. Diverse appearance and growing habits throughout Fenestrations (maturity) – Very Appealing to See:

Shingling plants are so fascinating to have in homes because they grow bizarrely and variate a lot in the appearance from juvenility to maturity.

Such as:

During infancy, their leaves are so different, even don’t resemble each other.

After being grown, the leaves start to split and become completely different than the early days.

“Young Tetrasperma is a Shingling Plant and Grows with Beautiful spathe and spadix (fruit/flower) however changes so many forms on the way to maturity.

Besides this all, the plant leaves also show dense and different tones of green from juvenility to maturity. Such as:

the new foliage comes in the neon green shade; while growing, its spadix becomes stiff and fleshy.

It happens because the water-storing tissues start to erupt. On the way, it breeds Spathe and Spadix in unusual appearances.

Reasons to bring Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma home:

Why people are showing more interest in having Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma home than other greens???

It is, because of the following reasons:

1. Homes are getting smaller, and people have no place to grow plants except some sun-facing windows. The Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma comes suitable here.
2. It has fashioning leaves and sound growth of several feet over the year as a totem.

3. People living in the USA mostly have apartment-living. Therefore, to quench the thirst for planting, they are trying to find house plants like Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma.
4. Having this plant means having a manageable garden in the home as you cannot just get the benefit but sell and share its leaves, too, to earn or spread love.

Now, let’s move to the topic: Unknown Facts About Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma 

Bottom Line:

In the end, plants require your love, attention, affection, and interest like pets do.

However, this is your choice that you feel more attached to plants or animals.

If you are really interested in plants, you are among those who are doing something better for mother earth.

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