Her Monstera Outgrew Her Living Room, So She Tried This Clever Propagation Hack

People who grow Monstera plants at home know that having these types of plants can come with some challenges. That’s because these plants climb in the wild and can grow very high, sometimes growing up entire trees.

But home growers usually don’t have the room to let these plants run completely wild, especially since their requirements are very specific when it comes to their temperature and light needs. That means that they typically need to be indoors in colder regions of the world, and they need to be close to a window so they can get plenty of bright, indirect light.

Since they are such fast growers, they can outgrow your home setup pretty quickly, forcing you to cut them back. However, one woman’s hack for air propagating her Monstera plant illustrates that periodic trims allow her to add even more monsteras to her home through the process of propagation.

Best of all, this trick doesn’t require any extra tools or materials, unless you count another pot and soil for your new plant to call home, that is.

Woman Explains Her Favorite Monstera Propagation Hack 

Facebook user PlantswithKrystal showed off her massive monstera in a video, explaining how the plant had outgrown the space where she had it in her living room. “What do you do when the plant outgrows your house? You move, you cut the ceiling, or you chop the plant,” she joked. 

Taking option number three, Krystal showed her followers how she prepares to chop her Monstera by encouraging new roots to grow on the section she plans to cut—a process that is sometimes called air-layering—so that she can immediately plant the section she trims from her plant. Krystal walked her followers through the process, showing them how she picks out the node where she will be trimming, which will allow the new roots to grow.

Then she wraps the plant in a plastic bag with a soil mix (she uses damp sphagnum moss and perlite), cutting a hole to encourage the plant to produce roots. She then keeps the soil mix moist until the roots grow long enough that she’s able to cut that part of the plant, which she said she will then replant into the existing plant’s pot, creating a lusher look.

People Say Caring for Monsteras is a Lot of Work

The comments were full of folks who were eager to celebrate Krystal’s hard work, especially since her monstera had grown to such an impressive size. “Needing a dolly to move your monstera is such a flex,” one person wrote.

“Cutting the ceiling would’ve been a whole lot easier,” another added.

Although moving the pot outside to plant the new offshoot took some muscle, the effort may be worth it when you have a plant that appears as healthy as Krystal’s.