cutting down a monstera, tips?

[rikita]

was just looking at my monstera my grandma gave me a few years back: it was kind of big then already, which i guess is why she gave it away. now it keeps getting in the way when i want to open the balcony door (as does my big palm tree but that one i love so i forgive it). but also it is not grown nicely at all. it had some sticks to hold onto but they are much too small so it is hanging to all sides and leaning on the wall, but only has leafs in the upper area and not very thick.

so i kind of want to cut it down. i don't really want to repot it into a bigger pot, as i need all my big pots, but might repot it in the same pot with fresh earth, i thought. i am half considering cutting it down completely, leaving maybe only ten or twenty cm of each stem and let it grow up newly - would that kill it? or maybe just leave one main stem - and of course give it something better to hold to.

so would that work, cutting it down almost completely and regrowing it more nicely? it always feels a bit bad to cut too much off plants (that one is like two meters tall) but i don't have the space for it, and i want more greenery at the bottom... ah, also i wonder a bit what to cut it with, the stems are about 5 cm thick, i guess my scissors won#t work there...

[bixaorellana]

Go ahead & cut it. Cut it near, (but not too near) a node and it will resprout from there. With luck, it may sprout from the bottom as well. You can also divide the cut-off portion into pieces, removing excess stem, and shove them into dirt. They might make roots & give you new plants.

[rikita]

thanks... will do that then... and if the cut off pieces indeed grow to new plants, i have birthday presents for all my family this year, hehe...

[cheerypeabrain]

Good luck Rikita...I had problems with one that took over the house and ended up giving it to the local Doctor's surgery to stand in the entrance...it mysteriously disappeared after a few months so I expect it took up too much room there as well!

[rikita]

well it is now in lots of pieces in different pots, while the original one is really short and looking funny in the big pot.

but i lost my wedding ring while cutting and repotting it - found it in the bio-garbage between earth, roots, and leafs...

[cheerypeabrain]

Thank goodness you found it!

[rikita]

indeed. i was panicking for a moment there. and it was kind of gross to go through the garbage (the big can, downstairs, where there was other people's stuff in too), but well, it was my own fault for not taking it off beforehand...

[Deleted]

When my mother was about 5 years old, she watched my grandfather plant potatoes. He would put a little potato in the ground and cover it over. He explained to her that it would grow and make a whole bunch of potatoes in a few months.

So my mother took off her beloved gold necklace a day or two later and planted it in the garden so that she could have a bunch of gold necklaces. It was never found.