Hi! Absolutely gorgeous plants! Great pictures you all! Let me figure out how to apply a photo of my own so I can share with ya'll my beauty, I've lovingly named her Monique, my very mature ZZ plant. Seems like I've been over watering her, I go back to see her every 2 or 3 days (she's in the back bedroom) and I water her then. I keep the slats on the window shutters barely slit so that down tilted sunlight filters in on her. I've also keep tabs on a calandar to stick plant food spikes in the soil every 3 months. I use Miracle Grow potting soil, novice soil I know now, but Monique is thriving. I'm guessing she's about 6 years old, at least. I've had her since 2005, my mom gave her to me because she was bored and impatient, Monique consisted of only 2 stalks when she was given to me. She's HUGE now, I've since repotted her 3 times, the last potting moved her to what I hope will be her permanent pot, it's a 24" fiberglass pot, HUGE! I ensured the drainage plug was open and have provided a drip tray underneath...never ever have I watered too much where there has been drainage. Just this past month, Monique produced 3 "flowers" at once! I captured it with my digital camera, photos soon to follow? Oh yeah, about once a year I've taken to spraying Monique's leaves with Shultz's (sp?) leaf shine spray. I cover the soil before I douse the plant and then with a clean cloth I gently rub dry. She really seems to like this. As I said, she's thriving, so large it's monsterously scary. I'm too afraid to stry seperating her bulbs, my luck I'd kill her. Any ideas? I'd first go to my local nursery and ask for their advice before I attempt to do such a thing, but for the time being, the 24" pot seems to be just what she needs.

yep, i read exoticrainforest site too and put them in dappled sun light and when they were producing sev stalks started watering a LITTLE more. and guess what? got yellow leaves pretty soon - tubers started rotting. it prolly is like sansevieria - IF you put it in 90-95F and in partial sun it can be watered well. but that's a very big IF. if you don't have temps over 80F - don't water it more. and certainly not in winter, when most people have cooler conditions. you def need to let it fully dry out to the bottom before you water. look at my plant - how densely the leaves are set and how fat the bases of stalks are. too much water produces weak spindly 'soft' growth (unless you have above-mentioned hot conditions).

Hi Nick, Java's question is a good one, I don't know the answer, but maybe you can check it out w/ the airline before you hack up the plant; otherwise, I'd just give her the leaves you've started. They're very slow to grow that way, but they will grow & maybe the airline would have less of an issue w/ just leaves. I've started them from single leaves & bare stalks, but have never tried cutting a tuber. I'd suggest you divide it w/out cutting the tuber, for best results, but I'd GUESS, they'd be OK, they're pretty strong, rugged plants. If it were mine, I'd lift out a single stem (or 2), w/ the whole tuber attached & let yr. guest take it home unpotted & dry, to pot up & water once she gets it home. These plants are somewhat succulent in their growth & their fat, fleshy stems hold enough water that it will make it through the travel just fine, bare-root dry (& will be less likely to rot too). This IS their time of new growth, in my experience, mine tend to put on huge new growth starting around Sept. (I had one I'd started that put out a 14" stem in one month before it unfurled.) While mine aren't doing so right now, if yours are, I'd suggest you maintain yr. regular 'more active' watering while they put on their new growth. I keep mine active all yr. tho' maybe cut back my watering from once a wk to once every 2 wks during winter. I'd advise against fertilizer as the fish tank water you're using is already serving that purpose. Hope this helps!

Sometimes roots just naturally get ahead of the plant and there's no reason not to remove the overabundance of them since it will cause no harm to the plant. Often when a plant is replanted the cutting back of some of the roots is a good thing to do since we wish to clean up the plant before giving it a fresh start---which repotting will do. Now some will suggest you not repot until spring...when the plant is encouraged to add new growth--something the roots can feed. Repotting in the winter--since there is much less sunlight (intensity) the plant is not growing, ergo, doesn't need as much roots since cutting back of the amount of water is recommended. The plant, since its not growing, doesn't require the amount of water it normally needs when the sun's intensity is higher. The roots therefore can be much less to feed what foliage is above. As far as plugging a hole with something....what's the point? Plants must drain. A simple adding of material at the bottom of the soil allows such drainage and can prevent overwatering and root rot. Plugging a hole encourages the roots to go around the bottom of the pot--the plant becomes root bound and what water is not used by the plant sits at the roots. Subsequent watering, then adds to the volume which can result often in the roots not being able to take up the excess, and root rot results. The bottom leaves are the first to diagnose the problem.