I picked up this Monstera Burle Marx Flame from a rare plant shop back in the summer.
Once it matures, it develops into the stunning specimen you see in the photo below.
Reference : https://www.aroidpedia.com/archive/monstera-sp-burle-marxs-flame
When I first brought it home, it only had two or three tiny, finger-sized leaves, but it grew like crazy throughout the summer.
The only problem?
I kept putting off making a moss pole for it, and it ended up crawling sideways.
Such a rare and precious plant, and I let it get this out of hand… oops.
I couldn’t put it off any longer, so I finally got down to work on a custom moss pole.
The current 8 cm pot was clearly outgrown, so I designed and made one sized specifically for a 10 cm pot.
Here’s how it looks test-fitted into the pot. I pushed it as close to the rim as possible to maximize root space.
Sure enough, when repotting, the pole didn’t get in the way of the root ball at all. Couldn’t be happier with the fit! 🙂
Once the plant and the pole were aligned, I potted it up using Lechuza-Pon.
Lechuza-Pon is a mineral-based substrate made of pumice, zeolites, and lava rock. It works either as a full soil alternative or as a drainage layer—holding the right amount of moisture while ensuring great root aeration to prevent both overwatering and drying out. In short, it’s the ideal soil substitute for self-watering setups.
It keeps fungus gnats away and makes plant care effortless even when I’m traveling for extended periods, which is why nearly all of my houseplants (except four or five) are potted in Pon.
That said, Pon isn’t a magic cure-all for root rot; you can still overwater if you’re not careful. I’ll dive deeper into that in a separate post!
I designed the front moss panel to slide in and out easily.
Filling it with sphagnum moss, working my way up from the bottom:
[Video]
I gave it a thorough flush of water to hydrate the dry moss and rinse through the Lechuza-Pon. (The first watering with Pon always washes out quite a bit of mineral dust and cloudy water!)
The back has a very clean, snug fit.
Anchoring the pole as deep into the pot as possible gives it rock-solid stability without any wobbling.
Looks great and feels solid!