Your Monstera naturally has aerial roots. No need to chop them off, please. As long as you use a clean, sharp blade and cut them back if they are blocking the path, it is acceptable.
The main plant of your Monstera won’t suffer if the aerial roots are cut off. These roots are designed to ascend, not to absorb nourishment.
For additional information on what to do with the aerial roots of your Monstera, keep reading!
Can you cut a Monstera’s roots?
A gentle, damp cloth or a fast shower with lukewarm water can be used to clean your monstera’s leaves, especially the oldest ones on the plant, to eliminate any dust accumulation.
Only two fertilizer applications will be required for your monstera throughout the entire year: one in early spring and one in late summer.
Your monstera plant will eventually develop aerial roots from its stem. These aerial roots are there to support the plant; do not cut them off. If any aerial roots are too short to support a climbing plant, train them back into the soil to absorb more nutrients when they are long enough.
What happens if the roots of a Monstera are cut?
You can, indeed. Your Monstera Deliciosa won’t suffer any harm if the aerial roots are cut, and they will quickly regrow. Although some individuals may find it an eyesore, you can also leave them alone. These air roots have a tendency to grow out of control and resemble wild cables. When cutting the air roots, take care not to harm the Monstera root node. However, remain composed and cut them off.
Why are my Monstera’s aerial roots spreading so widely?
The presence of aerial roots on your monstera plant is natural and not a sign that anything is wrong. The monstera plant is a climbing plant in its natural environment.
The plant’s climbing behavior is only partially manifested in the form of aerial roots. They are there to aid in its expansion. They may be an aesthetic nightmare, but they’re not dangerous.
Should you remove your monstera plant’s aerial roots? or just let them be? I’ll address all of your concerns about what to do with the aerial roots of the monstera plant below.
Examine the Root Ball
First, remove your plant from its container and look at the roots. Don’t merely take the plant out of its pot when doing this, especially if it is a sensitive plant. Tip the pot over and tap the rim if the plant isn’t too large. If the pot is flexible, try to loosen it by softly compressing the sides.
The rootball can be easily extracted by placing your palm at the plant’s base and sliding it out. To remove the roots and soil from the interior of the pot, you might also need to carefully run a long knife around the edge of the container.
Trim the Roots
Start by trimming the roots with a pair of sharp scissors, pruning shears, or knives. Cut beneath and around the plant’s root ball to get rid of the soil and roots. You can be rather forceful, removing both big and small roots. Although it may seem cruel to hurt your plant, a plant’s roots can withstand a lot of stress, and the plant may even appreciate it.
To encourage healthy growth in severely root-bound plants, you can trim off the bottom fourth of the old roots.
Loosen the Rootball
Gently peel apart the rootball with your fingertips. If the root system is severely knotted, use a stick, pronged cultivator, or a fork to break up the dirt and roots surrounding the root ball’s surface, separating tangles and spreading the roots. In place of continuing to grow in circles and suffocate the plant, this encourages the roots to spread out into the soil around the ball.
Prepare the Pot
Fill the container’s bottom with potting soil. Make sure there is enough soil so that the root ball, which is now smaller, will rest on it at a depth of about 1 inch below the pot’s lip. Ensure that the plant’s crown—where the stem and roots meet—is at soil level.
Repot the Plant
Place soil around the freshly clipped rootball before re-potting your plant. Make sure soil fills in all the crevices between the rootball and the container’s sidewalls. To make sure you have filled all the gaps, you might need a stick or trowel to move around the pot’s sides.
Water the Plant
After the repotting is complete, water liberally and, if necessary, add more soil. For a few weeks, make sure to maintain your plant well-hydrated so it can recuperate and flourish.
How are Monstera aerial roots trained?
You must fasten the Monstera to the moss pole once it is in the pot with the plant!
This will be a little simpler if your plant is still a young one. Tie the Monstera’s stem to the pole without pulling or bending excessively, making sure the nodes touch the wet moss. As a result, the aerial roots will be encouraged to encircle and grow into the moss pole.
This technique might need to be repeated whenever there is fresh growth. You can cut or loosen the ties once the aerial roots of the Monstera are securely fastened to the moss pole.
Your Monstera might not want to bend as much to attach to the moss pole if it is already pretty mature. This will require that you go extremely gently. Once the stem is up against the moss pole, tighten the ties every week to continue dragging it in that direction.
If the aerial roots of the Monstera are particularly lengthy, it can be beneficial for you to prune portions of them back. It will be more difficult to train them onto a support the longer they are. The aerial roots will generate more roots if you cut them close to the node; these roots will then develop into the moss pole.
Mist the Moss regularly.
The moss pole will draw the air roots of Monstera naturally, but only if it is moist. Regular misting of your moss pole will help your Monstera absorb extra moisture for its large, attractive leaves.
Use VELCRO garden tie.
VELCRO garden ties are a fantastic solution for securing your Monstera to the moss pole. There is no need to be concerned about tying a knot that will be strong enough because these plant ties attach to themselves. They are simple to put on and take off, and they won’t harm your Monstera’s stem.
The stems can also be attached to the moss pole using cable tie (zip tie). At least until the support begins to get hugged by the aerial roots. I performed this procedure on my Monstera Adansonii.
How do I maintain my roots of Monstera?
The sought-after Swiss Cheese Plant, Monstera Deliciosa, is renowned for its brisk and aggressive growth. This isn’t great for folks who want to keep a compact, portable Monstera. If the correct conditions are present, monsteras can swiftly take over a planter. Fortunately, you can speed up the process with a little pruning.
How can you prune your Monstera’s underground roots? Take your Monstera out of the pot, remove the soil, and carefully separate the root ball. Without fear of injury, you can prune back up to one-third of the plant’s roots. Repot your Monstera in its previous container with new potting soil after pruning.
Pruning back underground roots is simple whether you have a plant that has become out of control or you just want to make sure it can continue to live in your preferred container. The first time you do it could be a little frightening, but happily Monsteras are tough plants that can survive having up to one-third of their root systems removed without suffering any harm.
Should air roots from Monstera be submerged in water?
I’ve seen several sources advise you to put a bowl of water in the planter for your Monster deliciosa and trail its aerial roots in there. According to the theory, this is because aerial roots may actually absorb moisture. However, submerging them in water nonstop won’t likely accomplish much more than cause them to deteriorate and perhaps put your plant in risk.
However, you can frequently spray the aerial roots of your Monstera. Again, there is no scientific evidence that this makes a significant difference, but it won’t hurt. In addition, since these tropical plants prefer their surroundings to be moist, make sure the air humidity is not too low.
Please feel free to leave a comment below if you have any additional queries regarding Monstera aerial roots or if you would want to discuss your own interactions with these magnificent tropical houseplants.
What are Monstera aerial roots?
Even indoors, Monstera deliciosa plants eventually have very long aerial roots. What do they do, exactly? Understanding how they fit into nature is crucial.
Simply put, aerial roots are plant roots that develop above the soil’s surface.
In the wild, Monstera deliciosa plants grow higher and more aerially to reach stronger light and to cling to tree trunks for support.
Outdoor aerial roots can cling to walls, trees, and other constructions. Watch the one below as it scales a wall.
Here is another illustration of a Monstera in the Cleveland Botanical Gardens climbing a tree.
What do you do with aerial roots on Monstera?
The thick, brown, cord-like aerial roots on my own plant grew so much that they piled up in a huge heap on the living room floor. My plant got difficult to rotate, so I just cut the roots back until they were no longer in contact with the ground.
Your plant won’t be harmed by this. Just keep in mind that more aerial roots will inevitably erupt, necessitating further trimming.
I don’t totally remove the aerial roots since I like the way they look. However, doing so won’t hurt your plant in any way.
Some may give them direction so they can begin to grow in the dirt in their pot. Although there is no danger in doing this—I myself don’t—doing so frequently enough can make it more difficult to repot your plant in the future.
People have also questioned whether they ought to put their Monstera aerial roots in tiny containers of water.
Although it is possible, it is not absolutely necessary. You don’t need to bother about watering or even misting your aerial roots if you use excellent watering techniques.
Can you propagate monstera aerial roots?
You cannot develop a new Monstera plant from merely an aerial root; I’m not sure where the idea comes from.
Starting with a cutting with a node will allow you to grow a new plant (where the leaf meets the vine). View the image below.
On my own Monstera deliciosa plant, you can see the developing “eye” where the arrow is in the photo above.
Simply cut the vine where the two red lines are, on either side of the node, and plant it either directly into moist potting soil or in water to root.
How can I train Monstera roots into a moss pole?
Although you don’t have to train your Monstera on a moss pole, you may just fasten your vine to the pole.
The aerial root that is growing into the moss is visible above where I tied the vine with a green twisty tie in the image below.
It will be simpler for the aerial roots to develop into the moss if you water your moss post.
Can I plant aerial roots of Monstera in soil?
The functions of Monstera aerial roots are well known to you. We are now faced with this crucial question. What should you do with these aerial roots—cut them, let them alone?
Because the aerial roots of Monstera are not ugly, I avoid cutting them. The plant now resembles itself in the wild considerably more thanks to them. However, I do this when they are quite long and sprouting everywhere:
- I reroute the aerial roots of Monstera into the soil so that they can aid in water and nutrient absorption, just like they would in the wild. However, since the stem of your plant is still in tact, it is not required.
- Attach them to the stem: You can attach the aerial roots to the stem or moss pole using twist ties or gardening tape. Particularly if they are really long, it helps to make them less unruly. You may easily alter the leaves on a bushy plant to disguise the stems.
- Let them develop: I frequently leave them alone because they don’t bother me much and this helps to create the impression of a naturalistic tropical rainforest. Simply make sure you have adequate room.
My approaches won’t be liked by everyone. You can cut the aerial roots of Monstera if you belong to that group. Your plant won’t suffer any damage from them. To avoid stressing your plant, however, we advise pruning roughly 30% at once. You can choose the very long, unkempt ones and discard the shorter ones.
Use razor-sharp, disinfected pruning scissors to remove these adventitious roots. Rubing alcohol with a concentration of 70 to 90 percent is ideal for cleaning gardening implements. You don’t want to infect your plants with diseases.
Are Monstera Deliciosa plants root-bound plants?
Monstera plants don’t prefer to be root-bound, thus no. The plant won’t be able to develop and support itself if there isn’t room for the roots to expand and reach additional nutrients and water in the soil.
Since new plants develop relatively quickly for the first four years or so, they should be repotted once a year. Every two to three years, older plants can be checked or given a new pot.
Root bound plants are stressed plants, and they will not fare as well as they otherwise could, even in otherwise perfect growing conditions. They must use their meager energy reserves to concentrate on staying alive rather than producing new growth.
In fact, this may be the reason if you’ve noticed that your Monstera hasn’t sprouted any new leaves or, if this is still happening, that the existing leaves aren’t splitting. Because of this, Monstera plants should periodically be examined and replanted as necessary.
What does it mean for a plant to be root bound?
When someone refers to a plant as being “root bound” or “pot bound,” they are essentially saying that it has outgrown its container and has no room for its roots. A plant’s roots will begin to grow in circles along the pot’s outer border if it is kept in a container that is too small for it.
The name refers to how the pot’s available space limits how much room the plant’s roots can spread out. In certain situations, the plant’s roots will eventually encircle themselves, obstructing the soil’s ability to absorb nutrients, water, or air.
The concept is pretty similar to foot binding if you’ve ever heard of it, with the feet being deformed as they are kept in a small area. When plant roots become pot-bound or root-bound, the same thing takes place.
When grown outside and to some extent indoors, certain Monstera species can reach heights of up to twelve feet, therefore its root system is much more crucial than that of other small houseplants.
Sadly, many Monstera plants cultivated inside or outside in pots never achieve their full beauty and size simply because their root systems are confined in containers that are much too tiny for them.