The Alternative Way To Grow The Best Monstera 

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I put some small monstera into my aquarium last year and it's grown like crazy without much intervention

Adding water directly from fishtank to the vase will allow them to grow at crazy speed, without the need for fertilizer. If algae begins to grow on the vase, add a single snail; it will consume the algae and release the nutrients back into the water. A single bladder snail can keep a 1-2L vase clean. A small neurite can easily handle 2-3 gallons, but are a lot more expensive and finicky. On another note, monsteras grown entirely in water for some reason have a MUCH higher resistance to root shock. We recently removed 17lb of roots from our main aquarium monstera (6 leaves, each over 2' in length). This accounted for almost 100% of the roots in the water; after 1 week, we have at least 8 or 9 new roots sprouting, and the only sign of shock to the leaves was the release of defensive liquids (the same sort that release when you're trimming a monstera). We needed to reset and contain the new roots so they don't take over the entire aquarium again, so this was an experiment. If you have a monstera NEXT to an aquarium, you can set up a single button passthrough pump (brings water into the monstera vase, and pulls an equal amount of water back out and into the aquarium, no physical water changes necessary). Just hit the button every week

I love your face when saying NO FUNGUS GNATS! 😂 So related.

Your enthusiasm is contagious! I never thought I would grow my babies in water. But now I’m ready to try. I will need to sit with my plants, tune on their wave length and ask who volunteers to be the first (: thank you for all the information you share! 💚🪴 Your adult monstera in the pot is so beautiful and looks healthy! My rescue monstera who came broken and with weathered leaves is recovering after 2 months bringing new fenestrated leaves. (of course, I rescued him after watching all your videos about monsteras and it made me want to own one) 💚

In the first 2:45 I learned so much even more than couple of other videos I've seen already. Thanks for the info.

Any plant of mine that's struggling goes right out of soil and into water. Saved a few Agleonema that way

I love your channel. Very informative and 😂😂😂😂😂😂.👌🏽

I did this with some pothos cuttings back in May of 2023 and they are thriving. Over the last 2 days I’ve transferred 2 smaller monstera plants that kept falling over, monstera adinsonii and a couple of others into water as it’s so much easier to look after them this way.

You and I have been on A very similar journey, just when I am starting to get very curious about something going on with my plants, from fungus gnats to hydroponics… Love it, keep being you!

If only I had enough room for multiple monsteras, this looks fun.

Very informative as always and digestible, thank you! 💚

You create such great content! I always feel so positive and empowered when it comes to plant stuff thanks to your videos!!

I have found that using plain stones in water has lead to stinky, sulfur smelling, root killing conditions very rapidly unless you change the water very frequently, which for a large plant, is a pain. The best system I have tried is to use pots with drainage holes, and then put that in a second, closed container. To change the water, you just lift the plant pot out of the bottom pot and let it drain while changing the water in the bottom pot. Make that bottom pot opaque, and you get no algae.

I took your recommendation and bought some pH test strips. My plants do okay even though my water is a little on the neutral side. I’ll be getting some buffer to bring the pH down and see if they like that better.

Great video Mrs. Sheffield! I had a gorgeous Monstera obliqua but she gave up due to last summer's heatwaves. I saved a few bits and put some in soil again and some in water Both versions are springing back to life now and the aquatic version is soo gorgeous in its glass bowl in good company with anthurium and phil.brazil sprouts. I'm enjoying watching roots developing ! Grazie molte for this instructive vid. Ciao from Italy 🍃🥬

Thanks for showing the propagation process. I love my 2 monsteras in water. I like your vases and the stones decor as well. The light vs. dark stones concept was eye opening regarding the algae. I am usually drawn to purchase the darker color ones.

Yes, Monstera do great in water! My experience with putting the Monstera stems underwater is they eventually rot. So I try to keep the stem above the water, like how people recommend to keep the stems above the soil, and that seems to help. I know they don't immediately rot when underwater, but I've had enough cuttings rot even just a couple weeks underwater that I try to avoid submerging more than the roots now.

Best described how to video of it’s kind. I’ve watched tons of videos to do this and yet to feel comfortable bc there’s always a step missing and I don’t want to unalive my baby lol. I’m finally ready to make some cuttings! Thank you!

This video is perfectly timed for me. I have Monstera cuttings in water that I need to pot. Maybe I’ll try this! Great tips and video as always! ❤

I love this video so much! Thank you Richard 😃

Thank you for the tip re the width of the top of the vase. I find I have issues with with some of my pots as they have an inner lip or they curve in at the top so when I remove the plant from the decorative pots it’s always a lotto on how much skin will I shave off my knuckles this time . I’m new to plant but have learnt that just because a decorative pot looks good doesn’t mean it’s practical.

For pots that are less easily drained, it might be worth adding some narrow pvc pipe cut at an angle and just a little less than the depth of the pot, afterwards, some rigid aquarium airline could be fed to the bottom of the container and siphoned out without getting a mouthful. A capping stone could then be placed on top of the pvc pipe to hide it whilst being displayed. Just a thought. Thanks for the great video, I’ll use this to make multiple copies of my monstera. Always well presented and fun to watch.

Your best video yet. Love your tips. ❤

enjoyed your video, you earned a new subscriber today!

I started my first propagation project 2 months ago with a Dieffenbachia that had stem rot in a similar fashion. It took 3 weeks to develop first roots and as I left the eight leaves that were already there, one after the other browned and gave its nutrients to the stem cutting to make it survive. Fascinating experience to grow the plant in water, also from the perspective of fertilizing (when/how much). I exchanged the water with pressurized water (oxygen) daily, which is maybe unnecessarily frequent and increased the fertilization stepwise (by measuring the µS conductivity value also daily) once the roots were about 3cm long. A few drops of H2O2 once in a while boosted the oxygen content of the water and disinfected it. Ongoing project, so far so good. The mother plant rearranged its leaves and is well on its way to its former glory. Nothing grows from the stem, though. But it shows increased numbers of shoots from the ground.

Hey there Mr Sheffield ... G'Day from sunny Oz. Can you please keep us updated about your Monstera every couple of weeks? So we can see how things are progressing please? Thanks for the great informative vids you do for us. Take care and happy planting ! 👍🥰😘

Hahahaha Mr. Sheffield I would listen. I can talk about plants for days and I can’t keep anyone around long enough to share the joy of a new bud forming, or a new leaf fenestration 😅😂

Changing the water weekly, I would like that for my Cyperus Textilis cuttings. It's every other day here, because the water gets a blueish tint pretty quick. Probably because it's just water in there, no stones to block some light. Haven't had that with other cuttings, my Monstera cuttings kept the water looking pretty clean :)

I love this! Just beautiful!

Your Monstera looks so great in the water🤩

dear Richard, can you please give us a video with semi-hydro plants? prons cons and tips?

Great video! IMHO the climbers of the Monstera family (adansonii, dubia, peru amongst others) do not like this way of keeping them, but M deliciosa definitely works. BTW, did you know that M deliciosa is called delicious, because it develops a delicious and edible fruit? Do not trust me on that, though! Just saw it in a video. Monstera wants a pH between 6.7 and 7.2, so roughly neutral pH. Tap water in my area has 7.5 and contains relatively much calcium. But Monstera needs a lot of calcium and consumes it and the other good stuff from the fertilizer pretty soon, so that the pH value is lowered rapidly by the plant to even lower than 6. This needs to be checked to keep the plant happy and healthy. I find a pH meter costs little enough to get rid of the strips. Added tap water pushes the pH value up. Downwards is done by the plant itself. pH higher that 7.5 is not good for the plant either. Better to exchange the water, rather than to fiddle with citric acid and stuff. A combined pH/µS (conductivity) meter (or two separate ones) allows to check if the water contains enough food. Monstera in water is happy with 500-1000 µS (also up to 1500 µS is okay) if enough calcium and all the required elements are present. As we cannot know that, values below 500 are the moment to add new fertilized water or to exchange the water altogether. Growing plants in water is in my opinion a great way, because you can see the roots and react if something goes wrong and you can control the growing conditions of the plant. All of that is hardly possible in earth. With mineral media (stones etc.) you can at least measure the water and it looks maybe better than just water.

I have lots of plants in my 3m aquarium with growlights and they're all thriving :) (for people wanting to do the same these ones are working for me) Probably all: philodendron Syngonium Monstera Alocasia Pothos Palms (?more?) Will thrive! Philodendron gigas Philodendron melanochrysum Philodendron verrucosum Philodendron scandens Philodendron scandens brasil Philodendron mayoi Philodendron billietae Philodendron joepii Multiple monstera borsigiana Monstera borsigiana albo Monstera deliciosa GOG Monstera adonsonii Monstera minima Areca palm Syngonium albo Syngoinium three kings Syngonium mojito Pothos global green Pothos albo Alocasia dragon scale

CHANGE THE WATER! Years ago I invested in pots specifically for hydroponics. The instructions didn't mention water changes and my project was a disaster. And definitely keep the pot simple. Acute angles and narrow necks invite precisely the problems you showed in your snake plant video. (Great video! Wish I'd seen it first all those years ago.)

thank you!!!

Yay! Here it is! I cannot wait to try this! My Monstera is a pretty happy plant so I think she’ll adapt just fine. Now to find the perfect vessel. Thank you Mr Sheffield! 😊❤

Your contend is amazing even if you are not plant grower then it is still fun to watch but i am big time exotic plant grower in cold baltic weather but what i ment with good content was that you might get milioner one day with this channel and soon you can buy bigger house and some where much better weather and i cant imagine how you conna travel with all those plants in new place 😂😂 if this happens then we need a vlog series.

You could also decorate the glass with paint seen as though it’s a centrepiece. Would algae be an issue if your changing the water regularly?

Great tips! What about sacrificial leaves? I'm always unsure which will survive a chop and which won't - and will aerial layering alleviate that?

Love the video. Am currently growing a monstera cutting hydroponically and considering growing it like that full time. Was wondering if it were still okay to use a moss pole for a hydroponic plant or if that would cause issues with the roots and such. Thanks so much and love you videos 💚💚

Wow Wonderful Monstera 👏

Too funny! I was just thinking about transplanting my Monstera into lava rock. I have transferred almost all of my plants into lava or pon over the past 2 years - Orchids, Pothos, Staghorn Fern, Aglaonema, Hoyas, Bromeliads ...I think all epiphytes are much happier NOT in soil. Not to mention getting rid of the bloody fungus gnats! Great channel, thanks!

I have a question for you about fertilizer. If I water my plants with water from my fish tanks, does that cover all the nutrient needs or will I be missing out on key parts?

Great idea!!! Thank you so very much! I will have to give it a try…. Question though: have you ever had any experience with coffee plant? If so, would you mind to share your expertise with us? I have coffee plant, it was quite happy till I moved it to another pot, now it’s loosing leaves as they are turning dark brown on the ends. Please help! Thanks!

Whoa! Shef, have you seen how many subs you’ve got? 🎉🎉🎉

Thanks for sharing these tricks! If you wish to add more growth stimulants to your monstera plants, you better try electroculture! It helps me a lot with my various plants :)

Ok now I need some pretty containers with a drain tap at the bottom as the water changes would be a struggle for me... maybe something like a vinaigrier would work

My tap water is bad!!! I use a few drops of aquarium water treatment in a gallon of tap,my water,and soil plants love it,and even my Thanksgiving catus is blooming for a second time, mine you only a few spots but still

Shef, can you link the hydroponic fert you used please? I can’t find it anywhere.

I am at the beginning of the video but instead of pebbles I would suggest some porous stones (leca/lavarock) so monsteras can grab onto them and get bigger leaves. In my experience water grown plants will grow leggy with small leaves and my theory is that it has nothing to hold onto.

But these get very large. Isn't that a huge hassle to change the water every week?

My plants are struggling so much in my north facing flat at this time of year 😭

I have a monstera that seems to have more than one plant in the nursery plant. I want to put it on a moss pole would you recommend splitting the plants up while it's young still? Thanks for sharing this i didn't know you could do this with monsteras

How will you add a moss pole?

What’s a good American plant food alternative since checking Amazon didn’t show me the one you’re using?

M💚NSTERAS!!!

Can I just use a normal pole instead of a moss pole till plant grows more ..I just got a monstera so if I don't kill it then I might need moss pole iv no clue lol

Where can I get those nice beige stones from, Mr Sheffield? Can I do this with a spider plant?

Beautiful presentation…You never fail to inspire us, Sir Richard.🪴😊🩷

Like when thumbnail looks happy-go-lucky...

Wont this have root rot? I tried this but instead of stoned i used leca. In my experience it had root rot.

if the main thing is to have oxygène in water can we not put an buller or oxygène machine for aquarium instead of replace the water often ? did dome ont try this ? im curious

I have a monstera in water and the leaf is folded. What is causing this? Its a cutting I got as a gift, the roots are really good but no other sprouting going on. Need some advice.

My monstera baby leaves are yellowing but it is still growing is it normal? I’ve repotted it, made a pole for it, gave it plenty of grow lights and made sure it’s not always wet since it is winter here and cold. Also, new aroid roots are growing.

U rock

I keep rocks in a saucer and water under my staghorn fern what is your expert advice

i got a ider for the next video what happen to a seedlywith 3seds of leves and pernit all the levers off.

So basically leca is a huge scam… I always thought so 😅

actually i m thinking about going back to soil really. i got quite deep into hydroponics and stuff but damn... it starts strong and over time you face so many issues and your constantly need to fix things and so much root rot everywhere and i simply cant keep up with the maintenance really. trust me, when people tell you that semi hydroponics is less work, they straight up lie. You need to do so many things from buying a shelf full of water additives and measuring everything and doing ph adjustments all the time, and even adjust ph levels inside the reservoirs alot since they rise if you really want them to thrive. you re becoming more of a scientist and problem solver than a plant parent for the most part. with traditional growing, you have a blueprint and recipe at hand, wich is: the actual plant in nature so you know what a plant wants and you can mimic that. with hydroponics, those plants wont grow in hydropebbles outdoor so you have nothing to reference to at all and if something goes wrong...it keeps adding quickly and you have no clue how to solve problems and you keep doing trial and error until you run out of money of the 20th ''magic water additive you bought for a shitton of money that is supposed to fix your problem'' and what really makes me start to hate it is the weekly plant chore. soil plants kind of manage themselfes in a way and you just go around water every week, done. with semi hydro mixes you have to get every single plant out of their pot to check water level, then bring every single plant into your bathroom one by one to flush and clean the substrate in the shower, then clean the outer pots, then bring all the plants back to where they where and throw the old water away and refresh the nutrient solution. now tell me how you gonne do that with bigger plants? do you want to rearrange plants and run them to the bathroom every week or so? no? can you imagine how time consuming that is? its insane. hydroponics really is only worth it in my eyes if you build some active setup around it wiuth pumps and whatnot that control everything on their own but manually do all of that work for every plant one by one every week... i m not even kidding, but i would need to quit my job to do that. i ll take dealing with some gnats here and there in comparison all day because that stuff takes way less time. semi hydro might work for a handful of plants or for some really sadistic people, or on a mass scale under a sterile and controlled lab enviroment but for your average living room...its unmanagable if you have a lot of plants.

Can't do this at home cause my lazy ass is gonna forget to replace the water when mosquito larvae are freely swimming at it🤣🤣🤣

Occasionally add a splash of 3% Hydrogen peroxide for algae control.

My huuuuge monstera I bought last summer has been consistently dying ever since I got it. I've had 4 monsteras and they've all died. I feel so desperate and sad, because I try my best to care for them, but ofc not too much so I don't overcare them. Nothing seems to be good enough. Few weeks ago I had to repot it because I suspected root rot, but since repotting it, the process of dying just sped up. I'm planning to cut all the top leaves and put them in the glass as a last resort. I honestly want to cry because I don't understand what is the problem. It's impossible to diagnose. I've tried every solution, repotting was the last thing I tried and it sealed the deal. I hate when people say these are easy plant. They are freaking impossible.

💚

Omg, I just transitioned my monstera into water hoping to go semi-hydro. Me and soil don't mix

2nd

"--like a good boy" 😆 I have a question, would the algae be problematic to the plant's health if just left there or is it just a cosmetic thing? Love what you did with the rocks though.

1st

Exactly how long has hydroponics been around? This long: Genesis 2:6, But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

LECA >>>> soil

Would this work for ZZs?