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Houseplant question - Monstera deliciosa aerial roots

Anna33Anna33 Posts: 316
in Plants
I've had my Monstera for a few months now, and it's grown three or four quite long aerial roots. They're not supporting it at all, just hanging around, looking quite fun and alien. Have checked online, and there are varying suggestions for what I should do with them. 

Essentially - can I cut them off? Should I redirect them back into the pot?

A couple of them are quite in the way so when we walk past the pot we keep knocking into them, which isn't ideal.

Would it harm the plant to cut them off?

Thank you!

Posts

  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    I would redirect into the pot if practical, otherwise cut them off. It is probably looking for a surface to climb. If you can give it a moss pole that would be ideal.
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • Anna33Anna33 Posts: 316
    Thank you! :)
  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,698
    Don't let the aerial roots get near the walls as they will attach and pull off the paint or wallpaper.
  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 1,279
    They can be safely cut off if you want to. We have a monstera that's over 40 years old and I took a cutting from it to grow out of my fish tank where it grew dozens of aerial roots that reached over 30ft long. I did deliberately leave them to grow but the plant wasn't that big, 4-5 leaves albeit 2ft across each. I had to move the plant and just cut all the aerials off without any harm at all. They are really there to root it to trees as they grow and I found that very few of the ones I had actually turned into proper roots when they reached soil.    
  • Anna33Anna33 Posts: 316
    Ceres said:
    Don't let the aerial roots get near the walls as they will attach and pull off the paint or wallpaper.

    Ha ha! Eek! Good, tip, thank you.

    @thevictorian, this is super useful to know. This is why I love this forum - actual advice from experience, rather than pot luck advice depending on which website you find. And...30ft???? Cripes, it must have a huge space it lives in!!
  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 1,279
    It's not that big a space really I just trained them back and forth as support to grow pothos along. They aren't the prettiest of roots but I was curious how fast they would grow compared to the root structure that was feeding the plant, which could be seen in the fish tank.
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