Looking for instructions on monstera adansonii propagation and tips for helping your monstera adansonii plant thrive? You’re in the right place! I’m sharing the steps for propagating monstera adansonii in water and soil, as well as care tips to ensure your new plant stays healthy.
Monstera Adansonii Propagation and How to Care For Your New Plant
It’s monstera time again! About a month ago, I got some delightful plant mail: a gorgeous cutting of monstera adansonii I ordered on Etsy. I love my monstera deliciosa and have a whole care guide for it—but I’ve wanted to get my hands on a monstera adansonii for a while.
Etsy is a fantastic place to get plants you can’t find at your local nursery. It’s also a great place to go for cuttings. I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on a large monstera adansonii even if I could find one locally, so a cheaper and smaller cutting on Etsy was the best solution.
What is a monstera adansonii plant?
The monstera adansonii plant—also sometimes referred to as the Adanson’s monstera, the Swiss cheese vine, or the “five holes” plant—is closely related to the monstera deliciosa. They look similar, like cousins. That’s because they are both from the family (araceae) and genus (monstera). It’s a flowering plant (though it rarely flowers indoors) native to South and Central America.
But you can find it in many different hot, humid climates around the world. And like the monstera deliciosa, it’s quickly becoming a houseplant staple given how easy it is to care for and how happy it is in normal household temperatures. It’s gorgeous leaves start small but can get quite large as the plant develops and trails or climbs.
Speaking of trailing and climbing, the monstera adansonii is more of a trailer/climber than the deliciosa variety. The plant’s aerial roots help it vine and trail. I really like that about it—I can’t wait until mine starts trailing and I can hang it or put it up on a shelf!
Caring for a Monstera Adansonii Plant
Most of the care tips outlined in my monstera deliciosa care guide also apply to its cousin the monstera adansonii. But since I don’t have a dedicated monstera adansonii care guide post, here’s an overview of the highlights you need to know before bringing this plant home!
LIGHT: This plant enjoys bright, indirect light, so placing it by a sunny window is great once the plant is established. They can withstand a few hours of direct sun each day. But since they hail from jungles and rainforests, they are more accustomed to growing under the dense jungle canopy that provides some shade.
TEMPERATURE: As a houseplant, the monstera adansonii does well in a range of normal household temperatures. If you’re growing it outdoors, it won’t do well in the cold. Only USDA zones 10-11 year round—or other zones during the summer!
HUMIDITY: The monstera adansonii thrives in high-humidity environments, but it is patient and also grows in normal household humidity levels. To keep it the happiest, mist the plant daily with water in a spray bottle, set it on a tray with pebbles and water in it, or add a humidifier to the equation. I personally love misting mine.
SOIL: Choose a well-draining soil. I used a well-draining cactus/succulent mix with some coco coir or fine moss mixed in. It’s best to plant the monstera adansonii in a pot with a drainage hole since it doesn’t like the soil to dry out completely. That way you can water it thoroughly each time, letting the excess drain out of the hole. Water when the top few inches of soil are dry.
FERTILIZER: Fertilize with a regular diluted houseplant soil during the active growing season (spring, summer, early fall usually) once a month or so. Wait to fertilize until the plant is established.
POTTING: If you give your plant something to climb up, it will grow bigger and bigger, so you’ll need to repot more often as it outgrows its pot and needs some fresh soil. If you’re letting the plant trail, it will grow a bit slower 🙂
TOXICITY: Like a lot of houseplants, it is somewhat toxic to pets and kids because of the calcium oxalates in its leaves. These are only problematic if the leaves are chewed or ingested, which can lead to swelling, throwing up, or burning sensations.
Is it an Adansonii or an Obliqua?
There is a lot of confusion about the differences between monstera adansonii and monstera obliqua plants. The general rule of thumb is that if you’re just a normal plant person shopping at local nurseries and whatnot, you’re highly unlikely to encounter an actual monstera obliqua.
The leaves on the obliqua are thinner and have much larger holes than the adansonii variety. I think they look like skeleton versions of the monstera adansonii, lol. Obliqua plants are extremely rare! Proceed with caution with shopping for an obliqua, and make sure you’re not overpaying for what’s actually just an adansonii.
Like plant care tips? You’ll love my guides on how to take care of the ponytail palm, snake plants, elephant ear plants, pothos plants, rubber plants, fiddle leaf figs, cape ivy, peperomia plants, succulents, and philodendron.
How to Propagate Monstera Adansonii From Cuttings
Alright, finally to the point of this post! Now that you know what this plant is, where it comes from, and how to take care of it, let’s dive in to how to propagate the monstera adansonii from cuttings. Monstera adansonii propagation is very similar to monstera deliciosa propagation—and it’s just as rewarding! Here are the two propagation methods I recommend for monstera adansonii.
First, the right way to take a cutting…
Whichever way you choose to propagate, monstera adansonii propagation starts with getting a good cutting. You can’t just cut any old stem from an existing plant. You need to make sure you get a node or two in there.
Since I ordered a cutting that had already started the rooting process, I didn’t have to worry about this. But here’s what you need—here’s what a node looks like on a monstera deliciosa plant:
And here’s what it looks like one my cutting I ordered! As the plant grows and establishes itself, you’ll notice nodes beginning to sprout. This is great! And it means you can take cuttings from it in a year or so to propagate even more plants.
Propagating Monstera Adansonii Cuttings in Water
When I got mine in the mail, it already had some roots, and they had some soil residue on them. So I could tell that they had been in soil rooting at some point. I decided to gently wash the roots off and pop the plant in a mason jar of water to help it relax a bit after the traumatic trip form Florida in March. 🙂
This also helped the roots develop a bit more. If you were starting from a brand new cutting with a node, you’ll need to be a bit more patient for the roots to begin developing. Here’s what you’ll notice after a few weeks—this is great progress and means your plant already has a head start when you plant it!
Once your monstera adansonii plant cutting has some decent new root growth, you can plant it. The water propagation method is great for monitoring how the root development is going, and it helps speed things up a bit once you get it in soil. You might even notice some new leaves unfurling on the cutting while it’s still in water. This is a great sign!
Propagating Monstera Adansonii Cuttings in Soil
You can plant your cutting in soil now and continue to keep the plant moist but not sopping wet for a few weeks. Don’t be alarmed if the plant has a bounce-back period as it’s getting acclimated to its new soil home. After I planted my rooted cutting in soil, I did have one leaf yellow and die off. Again—very sad—not a big deal.
If you want to skip the water rooting process, you can root your new cutting directly in soil as well. To do this, I would recommend using a rooting hormone. Take the cutting as instructed above. But before you plant it, dip the end of the cutting—including the node—in a rooting hormone powder.
Then plant your cutting in soil in a small pot with a drainage hole. You’ll need to keep this new plant warm and moist to further encourage root growth. But this is what I don’t love about soil propagation—you can’t see what’s going on below the surface! So you need to be very patient and baby your plant as the root system develops.
It’s helpful to create a “greenhouse effect” for your potted cutting by placing a large clear plastic bag over the pot. This helps the plant retain the heat and moisture it creates as a living, breathing being. Make sure to monitor the soil for mold growth and remove the bag to let air circulate every few days.
Once your cutting has been rooting for a month or so, you should see new growth emerge. Once new growth begins to emerge above the plant’s surface, you can begin treating the plant like any other plant and remove the bag. You can also begin watering it as you would a normal monstera adansonii plant. 🙂
Monstera Adansonii Propagation: Caring for a New Plant
Care for your new rooted cutting just as you would any other monstera adansonii plant. But give it a bit extra care and monitoring for a few weeks just to make sure everything is progressing as it should. I also recommend misting the leaves to help keep humidity levels up. And I kept mine under a grow light for a few weeks since it was March/early April.
I’ll update this post in the future as my plant begins to develop. But, as of writing this post initially, the plant has already unfurled 3 new leaves! One while it was still rooting in water and two more since potting it up in soil. And there’s another leaf about to unfurl! Fingers crossed I have a big, beautiful monstera adansonii by this time next year. Now I have to decide: should I make it a climber or a trailer? 🙂
Want to read about plant propagation? Check out my guides on propagating pothos plants, snake plants, monstera, peperomia, string of pearls, succulents, and prickly pear cactus pads.
PIN THIS POST!
Leave a comment