This method is good for smaller cuttings and will suit the curious control freaks amongst us, as you can check regularly to spot root development.
New stems develop from just below where the cutting was taken. This plant is the one featured in the YouTube video above and shows how a plant can bounce back from having cuttings taken from it. The plant has many individual sections which could be used for cuttings if desired. The picture on the left shows a younger plant with numerous stems climbing up a string. These nodes are where there will be a concentration of the hormone called auxins which stimulate rooting. Leaf nodes are swellings in the stem and tend also to have aerial roots forming at these points. The picture above shows a fairly large plant and where, if you chose to, you could take a cutting. This section of plant also has an aerial that will take root when in soil. Cut below the leaf node (where the stem is slightly swollen). Picture showing where you could take a successful cutting on this large Monstera. Each of the cuttings shown in the footage is now a healthy houseplant decorating my kitchen or sitting room.
#Aerial roots monstera how to#
If you prefer you can also read below how to go about taking your cuttings. Take a look at this YouTube clip, where I show an example of where an aerial root has grounded, where to make your cut and how to root in soil or water if you prefer. So strictly speaking the monstera is classified as a hemiepiphyte as it will root in the ground as well as in host trees. When an aerial root hits the ground it will also develop proper roots too. The aerial roots which you see developing at the side of each leaf node are used to search out material to root into for support and sustenance in the forests, where monsteras are natural epiphytes – using larger trees as hosts. Not only do cuttings root easily in water but also directly into compost. My foray into taking monstrously sized monstera cuttings shows just how easy it is.
I breathed in deeply, borrowed his secateurs and took some huge cuttings, unsure if they would root. By then it had been growing in the ground in the corner of a conservatory for 15 years and was too big to dig up and certainly too big for my car. When my brother sold his house in London he suggested that I come and get the monstera. Moving with the family from Oxford to Sheffield, and then with my brother to London when my mother died, the family monstera grew to monstrous proportions. One of my Monstera plants, with amazing broad leaves, was grown from a large cutting taken from a 50 year old family heirloom plant. Such feeding regimes would be impossible now but who knows – in the the 70s it may well have been a thing?!
The plant grew in the corner of my parents’ dining room and my mother liked to tell the story of how she fed it excess blood taken from her as part of scientific research at Oxford University. My large leaved monsteras are all babies taken from a 50 year old parent plant – a family heirloom. Of course the glossy green leaves, heavily notched with holes and gashes only add to their appeal and there’s nothing more exciting than seeing a huge new leaf unfurl from the stem of a mature plant. Coping well with the dry environment of centrally heated homes, and putting up with a bit of neglect and irregular watering, it is little surprise they’re so popular. Monstera hail from the tropics of South America and are extremely popular houseplants. Any plant can be used as source material for cuttings though and even a relatively cheap shop-bought small plant can give you the opportunity to create some new plants for free. If you’ve got access to a large leaved plant of a friend or relative, and they’re willing to give you a cutting, this will be the best way of getting a big leaved plant without having to break the bank. The best monstera have huge notched leaves and these only come with age. Taking cuttings from monstera deliciosa (other wise known as Swiss Cheese plants) is a cost effective way of getting plants for free.
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