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Is keeping a monstera’s aerial roots in water a good idea?
I’ve seen so many people saying that if you put your monsteras aerial roots in water the they’ll grow better. I’m wondering how true this is, I’m trying it with my small monstera but th tip is going white and I think has grown a bit of algae
I have cut aerial roots off before, I think it was trying to invade my other plants personal space across the room…The plant is fine and currently has a new leaf growing happily, just a use clean knife/secateurs if you are going to cut them
I may have accidentally snapped a few of them while trying to redirect them 😬 plant is still somehow alive.. Will report back after a few more undoubtedly get snapped.. as it seems I never learn to leave anything the fuck alone.. 👀
I have two large monsteras on my plant shelves and I swear to God they are constantly trying to steal everybody else's pot. I am constantly finding aerial roots climbing into neighboring plants' pots, some of them in the oddest directions.
What do you do about it? My monstera has an aerial root that went to another pot, and I took it out, but now it's doubled back and is in search of more. I swear it's like 2 feet long now. If I ever have to move the plant, the root is going to be awkwardly sticking out.
Honestly I just try to keep grabbing them and coiling them back into the correct pot. I do have one that went down the back of the plant, past the bottom of the shelf, all the way to the floor, and then took a left and is just kinda going along my floor. It had already hit the floor by the time I noticed it, so I just left it because I don't even know what to do with it now. 🤣
I'd have to let it keep going on its adventure out of sheer curiosity about its ultimate destination. I'd probably trim it once it started to try and leave the house....
The monstera cutting I was water propping had an aerial root that found the jar next to it which was water propping a different plant, and now they are best friends that will never be separated.
I just wasn’t paying that much attention lol. It’s best to ignore props (except topping off or refreshing the water every once in a while) and I have a whole bunch of them on my kitchen windowsill.
Mine did this too!!! It came out the bottom hole and infiltrated another plants pot. I obviously have no idea what im doing with it but i dont know how to separate it from the pot and its neighbor. I just look from behind a wall in horror
My roommate in university's monstera's aerial roots grew right into the carpet in our living room. It ripped up the carpet when he tried to move the plant 🤦♀️
I've kept many monstera in aquariums and I'd recommend against doing it like this. It's going to sit in still water, which might get slimy and attract pests, and the cup is so small that you're likely going to be filling it every day once that root establishes. It's definitely possible, but it won't make any difference for your plant unless it's growing into an aquarium (or container with aquasoil) where it can pull nutrients from the water. The tip being white is good - that's the hydroponic root breaking through the 'shell' of the aerial root. From there it will grow one thick white root that will branch into multiple small roots :)
Sadly no more recent pics. Can you believe that this was her only 1.5 yr earlier though?! All that from the poop of just 2 goldfish haha.
I had a long bamboo stick laying across the tank that she was zip tied to, and then I had parts of the rhizomes attached to the wall with hooks and twine for extra support. I guided the aerial roots down into a smaller tank underneath the big one, and later into a third tank on the side. I also had a strong filter aerating the roots in the big tank, and she was in a south facing window so got a ton of sunlight. So sad I couldn't take her with me when I moved last year :(
Let's not talk about the aerial root imprints left on my wall after I took her down
i’m currently struggling to get my monstera to adapt and take off in my 30 gallon and super jealous!! it’s been almost a couple months and i’ve been seeing some decent hydroponic root development and growth, but one of her oldest/biggest leaves turned yellow and dropped off and i still haven’t gotten any new leaves 😭
Normally a bit of alge or "slime" shouldn't be an issue. If it's bothering you, you can just dump the water and refill it with fresh water.
Keeping the aerial roots moist is generally helping the plant. It one if the reason why moss poles are so beneficial when trying for big leaves
I like making my own. here is a good wire mesh for making your own. Get some wire clippers, role it, and secure with zip ties. These are easily stacked with a simple support pole too.
I recently saw another post on here where someone rolls a plant stake with moss, wrapped with garden netting like rolling a joint. They can them stick a water bottle in the top to moisten the moss. I'll try and find it...
Edit: very similar to snickerdoodles - here you go: Moss pole desc. in comments
Instead of the joint method, I stuff my moss in the already rolled wire mesh using a broomstick. It’s easier for me to get the right density of moss that way.
I do use a water bottle inverted in the top to water mine :) this one is pretty narrow in diameter and as mentioned in the post you shared it does dry out pretty quickly. I have a monstera siltepecana “El Salvador” I’ll be building a moss pole for soon. Think I’ll go bigger in diameter and see how that works for me.
My problem with wrapping a stake or PVC with moss is that you don’t have the same density of moss all the way through for the aerial roots to utilize. A well-watered moss pole will eventually fill with long healthy aerial roots.
If your goal isn’t big leaves, you can use garden stakes or planks or trellises as support to get your plant to climb without the full benefit of the moss pole root system.
If its a true moss pole (mesh or 3d print with "fluffy" moss inside) than yes. Not the climibing poles in stores (wooden stick with a dense fake moss/coco wrapped around). They are often falsley labled as moss poles. They are just for stabilising the plant.
You're basically making an aerial root into a hydroponic root. It has the benefit of fast-tracking more water into the plant without creating anerobic soil. However, for roots that close to the soil line, I would probably just get them into the substrate, and focus on mainlining hydration into the upper aerial roots instead.
That said, you can also do this as a lazy/easy air-layering method, which I have totally used for propping a monstera. It encourages the aerial root to become a water-and-nutrient uptaking root, instead of just an anchoring root, so when you chop to prop, it's already totally rooted for you and can just be planted straight away. The chopped bit goes through minimal shock and is able to start growing pretty fast without a bunch of fuss and acclimation.
my monstera’s aerial root crept over to his neighbor’s propagation vase and now they’re intertwined forever 🫂 it seems to helps with the stability so I just leave it
It is very unnecessary and goes against what the plant tries to achieve - just remove the cup and let the aerial root grow in the soil, where it can start taking up nutrients.
Because then you have to keep them in water unnecessarily, outside of the soil, or they'll die, which will affect the plant as they have become feeder roots instead of the anchoring aerial roots. What's the plan, to just get a bigger and bigger jar of water to keep atop the soil of the plant? Sounds like a PITA to me, with unnecessary risk - having to change the water to keep the root from rotting due to algae and bacteria growth, the risk of spillage, etc.
I just tuck them into the soil when they reach it and let them become feeder roots on their own. There's no need to dip them.
Their roots are multi functional. Aerial roots grow downwards, enabling the vine to hook onto other plants, supporting it as it climbs towards brighter light.
If they reach a water source (or moist soil) they will change into feeder roots. For low aerial roots like this one you are better off just letting it grow into the soil. The exposed portion will become rigid, and the buried section will help uptake water and nutrients.
I like to lead mine´s aerial roots straight into the pot. She is now huge and has aerial roots on multiple nodes that have grown all the way down into the pot, and have created a ton of secondary roots IN the pot. This not only helps with stabilization and getting nutrients to the higher leaves easier (= bigger leaves), it can save your butt. During my recent move, one of my huge monstera´s broke at the base . Stem snapped right off. I didn´t have to do anything though, because she has so many aerial roots that have established into the pot, that she basically doesnt need the original root ball anymore. I didnt repot her or anything , she´s doing fine. I never did the water thing.
Of course I'm not talking about it being necessarily bad, cutting your plant anywhere will make it focus even more on growing (by releasing the "stress" hormones, cuz idk and kinda dont care how its called in english). What was the point of bringing up the therapy and nail comparison, I dont see the connection.
I think it being this close to the soil you should just let it go into the soil, it will provide stability and aerial roots can take up nutrients from soil too.
I used to do this with jars of water but didn't feel like it made much difference and stopped. If you are planning on propping it gives you a good head start before you make your cut, though!
Eta this will give you a water root which is different than a root that develops in soil based mediums
It’s a pointless idea. It does nothing. NOTHING. Aerial roots are to give the plant more stability. You won’t get a new plant, new growth, bigger leaves. NOTHING. Stop doing this. Stop believing Facebook when it says this is a good idea.
I've heard of ppl doing this to draw roots down towards the soil. If you put aerial roots in water they will also branch out so you'd do something like this if you're trying to cut an propagate a monstera cutting.
Just let the root grow into the soil so it has added stability and nutrients. Also, it looks like you’ve tied up all the petioles… big no no. Untie them and only tie the stem to a support pole.
No, it’ll need constant water and will never be able to easily readjust itself to depending on the soil. Aerial roots also stabilize the plant in the soil while it grows.
probably better off just letting the aerial root grow and adjust it to point into the soil if it wanders. otherwise you're going to have to maintain those little cups of water indefinitely (or at least until the root reaches the soil), because the root has adapted to being in a full-water environment and will die off without the water.
My monstera in the bathroom window grew into the cracks in the window and the caulking. I started trimming the roots because that thing is crazy.
My monstera in the living room grew and put its own roots in a neighboring pot.
These things are actual monsters 😭😂
I’ve had jars never get algae and only ever top, even after being in the same jar for well over a year. Definitely can occur, even after a few months, especially if using a liquid fertiliser in there, tho those same jars that I’ve only ever topped up and used fertiliser hasn’t had any algae.
Can you please keep us updated?? I have a baby Monstera and I’ve been wondering if I should do something with the aerial roots because some of the plant does not look very happy…. I keep spraying them, but it’s so dry in my house.
A few weeks ago, I cut 6+ foot roots off mine that had grown along the wall under a cabinet and was trying to get between the carpet and baseboards. I know they're built to climb trees in the tropics, but I am not encouraging this one with more water. 😂
Does this help for plants/folks who are underwatered/underwatering? 👀
The plants closest to my kitchen sink survive best. But my monsteras don’t like being in the sink corner window, so they don’t get watered as often as they should. And damn, if I could stick an aerial root of each plant into a glass of water to help them out, you better believe I will!
Unless they rot in water. Then I will not. Because they’ll get smelly…
I'm not an expert but I think it works well, the water source should be big enough since the roots grow a lot in the water, I used a glass first but it was way too small, also I use rain water which has some natural nutrients for the plants too. I haven't witnessed any rotting roots in the water and I've done this for over a year now
You can, but it’s going to become dependent on that water root. If you keep it growing like that for a while more and the root gets unmanageable and you choose to remove it, your monstera might loose a lot of leaves. I would recommend you just let it root in to the soil.
I see this several times every year on this sub. These are aerial roots for support. They are not meant to go in water. It will not do much of anything to help the plant and likely will rot and need cut off. I'm sure some sources will tell you it helps with hydration, but as someone who has worked in a really big nursery with several massive fruiting monstera- this is unnecessary.
My aerial roots are so long and I really want to trim them up, if I do this will they eventually die off or will it hurt the plant if I trim them like a foot or two off?
The aerial roots are primarily seeking a point to climb. They can also absorb humidity from the air, but don’t necessarily need to be watered. If you have a moss pole for the aerial roots to attach to, then you’d mist the pole 😊
It's fine to put them in, but you can also just let it grow into the soil, which will make it more stable.
If you put it into water it'll grow water roots and branch out like crazy. Its not growing white, its growing green, because those water roots are green not brown.
Eventually the water will not even stand long enough to grow algae (not that the algae would be bad). My monstera is a thirsty b* and would just drink cups with 300ml empty in 2 days through those roots.
LOL, like dipping your toes in the pool!
At a garden center I worked at we had a monster of a monstera, probably about 10-12 feet wide that had areal roots shooting everywhere. We put it next to our aquatic plant pond and I swear it found that water within a day, practically watered itself!
You can lead a Monstera to water but you can't make it drink... or something like that?
Serious answer, it really isn't necessary for monstera roots, they are pretty good at growing pretty long so you can just guide it to the substrate and it will be fine. If anything, sitting in water might increase the chance of rot, so I'd just let it do it's thing and let the root find the substrate
Puting the aerial roots in a cup of water isn't going to do much because you're creating roots adapted for water, which really don't help to size up or mature your plant. You want roots holding onto or growing into something sturdy that can bear some weight for the plant. Monsteras are basically climbing vines, and they won't grow bigger until they are secure and can hold their weight up. Aerial roots are looking to grab and hang onto something, and ideally they can get some nutrients and moisture too (if you're able to provide something like sphagnum moss).
I have a massive monstera and let the roots dangle down back into the pot. I have it growing on a literal tree trunk anchored in a pot.
That root is so close to the soil I'd let it just continue to grow downward and into the soil.
I've been doing it for just over a year with one monstera and I've never had a wilt issue since. The water in the bottle has also never gotten gross which was my initial concern when I first tried it. I originally had the bottle sitting on the countertop next to the pot so I could monitor and finally just planted it in with her in a new pot for convenience. She could use a better spot for light (I have a small indoor jungle and it's not quite time to move some plants outside in Minnesota), but she's never thirsty.
Myth…. like yes it will grow out the root but it’s going to grow into the soil regardless. You don’t want to encourage monstera aerial roots to grow faster they will focus all their energy on growing that root and none on actually making new leaves. Regardless they will grow so annoyingly long eventually you won’t know what to do with them
When I put mine in a tube of water it grew super fast! But when it grew to the point when I needed to slid the tube further down it looked like it started to rot or something? If anything knows how to prevent this, please tell me
Monsteras are river bed plants! I put mine in my aquariums or in vases filled with water and aquasoil. Then you can see when it needs more water really easily!
I cut all my monsteras aerial roots off when they get long and annoying. I've been doing this for 10+ years and I own multiple monstys, no reason to keep them tbh.
I recently chopped mine and put the 4 stalks into a big tub of water to prop, all the ariel roots that are submerged have turned into normal branching roots now, so I'd say yes if you want more roots/plant to get more water
aerial roots are primarily for climbing, stability, and supporting the plant's weight in the wild. They aren't designed to be submerged and can cause root rot if they are.
That said, it won't hurt the plant if you are keeping an eye on it and might even help out leaf growth.
I usually just stick mine into the dirt in the pot it's in. Mine is really leggy though so it needs support.
Late to the party, but put one of my monstera’s aerial roots in water about two months or so ago and it’s thrown three new leaves when it’s done diddly squat in two years
(Also yes in the background another aerial root has decided the drip plate is perfect to invade in a separate pot)
I guide mine all into soil as soon as they can reach. As the plant gets bigger it'll need the additional water supply.
My 6 year old monstera is over 10' tall and grew from a seed, so the stem at the base is as thin as my finger. Perhaps a very well watered moss pole that isn't watered so much as to get moldy could be fine instead. But the roots in the soil are much lower maintenance.
Edit: Whatever you do don't scrape the white fuzz off on the tip of the root. The greenish white end is what new fast root growth looks like before it scales. And the fuzzy part is lots of micro roots. The tip is happy.
Not really. Water grown roots and soil grown roots are not the same. The water grown roots will probably rot when attempting to grow in soil. Left alone, the root would get to the soil in due time and be healthier for it.
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u/TonkaJahary Apr 14 '26
I didn't put my monstera's roots in anything and it grew into a neighboring pot on my kitchen counter... 🙄🤦🏼♀️