You'll get new shoots from the leaf nodes along the stem. So, potentially, you could get as many plants as you have nodes. But cutting the stem too close to the node could let rot set in so you need to be careful. Some people do lots of 3 nodes so there's less chance of problems.

Thanks for the advice - will give it a go! Would you root these cuttings (intermediate stem sections with nodes) in water or compost? Any other tips to increase liklihood of success?

Hi Tom,

from everything I've read these propagate very easily. Make sure each section has a node or two above and below the soil line. I would use soil, but I've never had any luck propagating in water. Ultimately though it depends on your environment. I'm in south Florida, so it's warm and humid, which seems to make soil propagation much easier, but rot in water much faster.

would you be interested in a trade? I've been looking for this plant for a while.

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

Yes I am in the (wet and cold) UK, so we're certainly talking about indoor cultivation here!

oldmangroot - I would be interested in a trade if we were in the same part of the world!

Russ - it's the white variegated one. Here's a picture of part of the plant below. It's a nice looking form of variegation. I've never had a problem with growth reverting to solid green, although I have noticed the white areas are annoyingly susceptible to browning. As far as I can tell, I think its the smaller borsiginia type. The leaf in the picture is only about 10 inches long, even though the plant is well established. Other (non-variegated) monsteras I've seen have leaves significantly larger than this. I've never seen the yellow variegeted one, although (at least in the UK) the white variegated variety seems unusual, even though 'normal' swiss cheese plants are really popular.

Anyway, I'll give the stem section cuttings a go based on this advice. I've got a heated propagator, would be an advantage to rooting the cuttings, or detrimental to them?

Tom

Tom, definitely use the heat, it will speed things up a lot.

That's a beautiful plant you have there, At 10 inches for the leaf and obvious lengthy distance between leaves, it is the Borsigiana variety. But this is a great clone, the variegation is spread well throughout the leaf. I think 50/50 white to green is a perfect balance for variegation, and yours seems to be just that. I don't think any of mine are that good.

The yellow variegation isn't as impressive as the white, although much more rare. Yellow doesn't contrast with the green like white does, so not as noticeable.

Let us know how the propagation project goes.

Russ

If you use a heated propagator that you can keep the relative humidity inside at a constantly high level then just lay the cuttings on top of the soil.

Just planted 4 cuttings and placed them into the propagator. They are sections of the main stem / vine with 3 nodes each. I'm trying 2 vertical and 2 horizontal - we'll see how they do!

Good luck, I don't think you'll have any trouble getting 4 new plants out of them.

Coleyt31, don't forget, once you get a plant from a stem cutting and it has enough roots of it's own other than those on the piece of stem, you can cut the plant away and plant on it's own. Then put the old stem piece(s) back down to try and get plants to break from the other 2 nodes. I doubt you can get all 12 nodes to produce plants, but you might get a 2nd round of several more. Especially if the first plant comes from one of the end nodes and not the middle one, which leaves a bigger 2 node piece rather than 2 pieces with 1 node each. Bigger stem piece, more energy to produce a plant.

Russ

Well guys, my cuttings seem to be rooting nicely in the heated propagator, and there are the beginnings of new shoots starting to grow at the leaf nodes!

At what point would you recommend taking them out of the propagator? Or opening the vents?

Russ - thanks for the advice in your last post. As predicted, there's only one node beginning to grow on each plant, so I'll certainly try that.

If you're just now seeing new growth, I'd wait awhile longer to open vents. Maybe another week, then a week or two after that give them a slight tug to see if they feel firmly rooted. Leave them alone if they only feel slightly rooted. If they're firm I'd prop the top open to let more outside air in so they can fully adjust, maybe a few days to a week. Then I think it'd be safe to pot them on their own.

If the plant has good roots of it's own, it's a simple matter to cut it from the parent stem and propagate that stem again to try and get the next node to produce a plant. If you have to plant the parent piece of stem with the cutting for lack of quite enough roots, you can probably get the parent piece next time you repot the cutting and try it again. Those nodes on the stem piece will remain viable for an indefinite time.

Russ

Thanks for the advice once again. Thought you may be interested to see some photos of how the project is going.

The vertically planted cuttings are beginning to show new growth at the upper most leaf nodes.

No growth on the horizontal cuttings yet, but they seem to be rooting nicely, as can be seen here -

Thanks for the pics Coley. I don't see the nodes in the lower pic, so they must be on the bottom of the cutting. They might be enlarging but obviously no growth can be seen yet. Should see some soon though.

Russ

Hi coleyt31, do you have any cuttings still available or know where I could find one? Thanks, Stacey

Hi Stacey, are you in the UK?

coleyt31, gorgeous variegation. I've taken a few cuttings from my monstera. tried rooting in water and ended up moving them to soil as it just wasn't working. one is now in a hydroponic system with a local grower as part of a trade and loving it, while the other is here with me in a small pot with compost. yours seem to be doing exceptionally well, wish I was in the U.K.!

Hi Alyssa, I would definitely recommend (from my limited experience) getting an electric propagator for this sort of thing. The batch of cuttings in my photo above have done really well, even though they're a bit slow to start

Hi coleyt31, do you have any updated pics of your cuttings? Did the horizontal cuttings ever sprout? I want to try this with my own monstera.

Hi Cara, yes they did! Here's a photo of them after potting on. In the one nearest the camera you can still see the horizontal section of stem at the surface of the pot.

Based on my experience I would say get an electric propagator and go for it! Let me know if you'd like any more advice.

Tom

Thank you! I'm excited to try this.

Hey coleyt31, do you still have any monstera baby plants? I m in uk and I m looking for some

This is a non variegated young one at a nursery but when I looked at the base it appeared to have almost a dozen shoots coming out of the ground. It almost looked as if a V-shaped cutting was set horizontally under the soil. I went back the next day to get a closer pic of the base but it was gone:

I'm new to these but this looked like a more than exemplary specimen. It's very tempting at $19 but I'm holding out for a variegated one due to space limitations. Here's a pic of it next to a Hope Philo (right side) unless that's not the correct name:

My guess is that the Monstera was tissue cultured, which can produce many multiple plants from the soil line. This type of plant is a good source of cuttings for propagation. $19 seems a bit pricey but I can't tell how big it is.

Philo Hope is a nice, relatively new meconostigma type that has a more delicate looking leaf than bipinnatifidum, and I think it's a smaller grower.

Russ

I went back to the nursery again and they had new one with fenestrations and I bought it. I also got a closeup of the bases. At the bottom of the pot some roots are growing through the drain holes.

This is definitely tissue-cultured, so will be disease free and healthy for quite awhile. Young plants are faster growing than large adults and I'm assuming it's the full-size species rather than Borsigiana. Get it into a bigger pot and stand back... potentially massive by end of summer if you have warm temps and feed regularly. Climbing support for the big species needs to be strong, the Bosigiana not so much.

Russ

Thanks for the info. A possible project for me will be setting up a pot/stake system that will accommodate the future growth. Maybe an aluminum L-base at the bottom of the soil that can easily move to bigger pots. It would be attached to a segmented stake so I can add to it as the plant grows.

I once had a green and yellow pothos on a 3 foot bark-slab which it quickly topped out. I screwed another slab to the top of it and when the pothos topped that out it had developed leaves over 2 ft long with cut edges and holes. It was beautiful and quite a sight. Good luck with your project.

Pics!

Russ