Monstera Care

monsteras are unlike most plants most of you will probably know that when you cut the stem of a plant it normally produces multiple stems in its place it's a neat little trick to get super bushy plants like Jades puos and filodendron that you can show off to all your friends and family just look at my filad dendrum melan crisis I hard pruned it a few weeks ago and now it's got more stems than it knows what to do with pretty neat eh and by the way I know it's not melan a crisis that's just me poking fun at him for how fussy he is if you know you know anyway back to monsteras monsteras do not respond in the same way as my melan a crisis here nope no chance sorry to break it to you but it just won't produce three or four new stems from where you make a cut it'll just replace like with like in fact you're more likely just hurting your PL yes if you have a lovely long stem with big beautiful fenestrated leaves and Lop it off lower down not only will you only get one stem growing in its place defeating the purpose of the prune in the first place but that new growth will most likely revert back to a youngling yes no highly prized fenestrations for you well not for the first couple of leaves anyway those new leaves will resemble the original unloaded leaves with no fenestrations from when it was a wee Baba and this is particularly true if you cut the stem back to where there are leaves with with no fenestrations you are basically cutting away the adult growth turning the clock back for him and making him all juvenile it's like big in reverse all going back to the future great God this is the thing with monsteras there are two stages of their lives the youngling stage where it's growing small nonfenestrated leaves furiously cuz it can't wait to become an adult and have its first drink and then when it's an adult it tends to chill out a bit more and take it time producing big fenestrated leaves so cutting it back takes it back in time if only we could all turn back time like this eh let me take you back to when I was a newbie plant parent yes hard to believe I know but I really was the newbest of noobs if you're new here that's noobs and not boobs a trendy Millennial word for newbie I know it doesn't suit me does it back to the problem at hand this monster in my bedroom was actually one of my first plans so it's a good 10 or so years old at this point blim me he's nearly a teenager and it will probably tell you all about the abuse it has received from me over the years as I was learning about what it want through trial and error there was no sheff May plants back then you see hang on hang on that's you you idiot yeah well I just mean plant Tu wasn't as big back then I had to rely on my own intuition which is why it was such a mess anyway I loved the plant and desperately wanted it to become busher so I could get more and more of those big beautiful leaves that we all go crazy for so it look like I knew what I was doing what did I do I pruned back a couple of the stems and what happened only one stem grew back in their place how did I take it furiously and I'm not proud of what I said to him at the time particularly when I realized it really wasn't his fault we're still taking counseling sessions now you know I often think back and wonder just how big my plant would be but just left it alone never mind no point dwelling on the past I suppose and in any case I got some free extra plants out of it so all is not lost so what do you do if you want a super bushy monstera I hear you whale well my plant friend the only way to achieve this is to have lots of plants in the pot more plants equal more stems pretty simple eh just have a look at this guy looks super bushy doesn't it and to the untrained eye it looks like it's all one big beautiful plant on closer inspection you'll see that there are actually three or four monsteras in the same pot it's pretty good value actually but this isn't something I recommend mind you in fact I'd advise you not to do it if there's one thing you've probably noticed about your plant is that the roots on this bad boy are hella thick so Chuck in three or four monsteras into the same pot and things will get pretty crowded down there pretty quickly my big bedroom monstera is actually multiple plants it looks like one plant from a distance to the untrained eye but it's not it's why I've got such a big pot for it the root kept getting too crowded so I kept having to upssize the pot until eventually I said enough is enough and stuck the whole thing in this giant orange one we'll come back to why this pot isn't such a great idea for him in a jiffy if you've got a monstera like this then I'd consider dividing it into individual plants and potting them on much more likely to thrive now all of this isn't to say you should never behead your monstera there are times when it might even be the best course of action if you have one that is getting unruly and not growing how you want then a chop and reset could be just a ticket even if he says he doesn't want it and I don't mean chop the stem off Chuck it in the bin and wait for new growth on the existing plant no I mean taking the chopped off part and starting again with it and that means rooting it and starting again but Mr Sheffield why on Earth would you want to take years of hard work and Chuck it all away in the blink of an I just doesn't make sense first calm down and second check out my monster in my dining room this is actually a we cutting from the one in my bedroom and just look how it's growing it's growing sideways as if it's desperate to escape the pot eventually it will leave its enclosure and start crawling along the floor not what I want and certainly not what Mrs Sheffer wants let me tell you now admittedly this is all my fault you see I can admit my mistakes I've not got him climbing up something and I'll come back to why this is so important in a bit so unless I want to have my floor taken over by this plant and my eard drums ringing from the misses I'll probably have to reset it by chopping it off and the main plant will actually be the piece that I cut off and not the existing plant and the new Leaf should come out ferrated this happens with top section cuttings it doesn't revert to a juvenile state but don't ask me why and I'm not going to lob the existing plant in the bin that would be a waste sure the new stem will probably come out small and boring but over time it'll grow the way I want provided I guide it by giving it something to climb up right allow me to give you my hot take in my humble opinion it's much better sticking to one plant per pot and putting all your doting energy into that instead of worrying about having multiple stems it can become a statement piece particularly if you get it climbing up something which you most definitely should don't provide a Zimmer frame to support him and he'll be spending all his time crawling on the floor which isn't a clever look they climbers in their natural habitat you see they grow up along the trunks of nearby trees in order to reach the light at the canopy of the Jungle that's what those weird aial routes are for to grip onto the tree and hoist itself up so try and mimic this in your home stick something into the soil and tie the stems to it doesn't have to be anything fancy Lee had killed this plant uses bits of tree for his huge monstera and it seems to do a j job perfectly I've just conjured up this weird bamboo trell system for my fellow to grow on and it's doing a job it's not winning any housekeeping a Wars of course but I think it looks fine the cool thing about it is that the plant will learn there is something there over time and start to grow itself onto it you can kind of see this happening with the stems of my plant growing closer to the bamboo doing all this prevents disasters like stems breaking due to too much weight but that is an extreme example and unlikely to happen the main reason for doing this is to make your plant look better I often do projects like staking my climbing plants up planks of wood on my patreon page so check it out if you're interested in a bonus video every week where I do things like this plus you get access to our exclusive planty Discord chat what's not to love when you've put the hard Graft in and tied your Monera onto something to climb up you just want to leave it there choose a spot and leave it alone leave it the the perfect spot for this plant in my opinion is against the wall facing the light this way you can leave the plant to grow all its leaves facing in One Direction and its ugly back side will be facing the wall and not your living space this is the cheat code for successful monsteras to not have the leaves twisting and turning in multiple directions from when you've been rotating him I said leave it look at the surface of the soil of my plant I mean what what on Earth is that looks like it's going to metastasize and turn into something and attack me while I sleep I think this actually appeared when I treated all my plants for fungus knats by applying Wiggly Worms to the soil beneficial nematodes actually and I'll leave a link to that video in the corner right now it's how I finally won the war against those pesky fungus knats and well worth a watch but after this one okay now I don't think they are the nematodes or anything but it does look to be some sort of mold and I think it's because it's living in this giant pot without the Fable drainage holes I always recommend drainage holes in my videos but on this occasion I didn't take my own advice I went all Rogue one and just plunked it into this in my defense I just couldn't find a plastic pot big enough to fit him in and I thought no big deal I'll just be careful with the watering and to be fair up to this point it's been working he's been in there for a few years now and been a happy chappie in that time but I guess something's going a bit Peete Tong now and by the way choosing the right part for your plant is something I cover in my online house plant course check it out in the description if you want to take your plant game to the next level now I'd quite like to change his nappy but um how Mrs Sheffield really won't appreciate me making a mess in her bedroom so I'd need to somehow get it down the stairs and into the garden yeah something for a later dat then the point of this segment is to do as I say and not as I do keep your monster in a pot with drainage holes to avoid things like this happening as well as other nasties like root rot and a natat outbreak if you want to go further down the rabbit hole with monstera care .