What to Do with Aerial Roots on Monstera?

What you do with aerial roots on a monstera depends on what you want from the plant.

Redirect them into the pot or onto a moss pole to fuel bigger, more fenestrated leaves, or trim them back to a stub near the stem for a tidier look without harming the plant.

Never submerge them permanently or bury a soft, discoloured root, since that is usually rot rather than a normal root.

You spot the first one poking out from a stem node and assume something has gone wrong.

It looks like a root that has lost its way, brown, faintly ridged, reaching out into thin air rather than down into the soil where roots are supposed to be.

A lot of new monstera owners cut it off on sight, assuming it is a mistake, a sign of stress, or something the plant is trying and failing to do.

It is none of those things. Aerial roots are one of the clearest signs that a monstera is doing exactly what it evolved to do, and how you respond to them says more about what you want from the plant than about the plant’s health.

This guide covers what these roots actually do, when to leave them, when to redirect them, and how to tell a normal woody root from one that is actually in trouble.

What Monstera Aerial Roots Are Actually For

In its native range, monstera deliciosa germinates on the forest floor and climbs towards the canopy, using aerial roots to grip onto bark and rock as it goes.

That climbing habit, and the aerial roots that make it possible, is well documented by university horticulture extensions covering the species as a hemi-epiphytic climber, meaning it starts life rooted in soil but behaves increasingly like an epiphyte as it climbs.

Two things drive that behaviour. First, aerial roots anchor the stem to whatever it is climbing, which is why they thicken and turn woody once they make contact with a surface.

Second, they absorb some moisture and nutrient run-off from the air and from whatever debris collects around them, though this is a supplement to the plant’s main root system rather than a replacement for it.

This is the detail most care guides skip: an aerial root that never touches anything stays thin and green for longer, sometimes for years, because it has nothing to trigger the woody, bark-like covering that mature roots develop.

Give it something to grip, a pole, a wall, the inside of the pot, and it thickens and darkens within a few months as it starts doing structural work.

That is the mechanism behind almost every piece of advice in this article: redirecting a root gives it a job, and roots with a job behave differently to roots left hanging in open air.

Should You Cut Aerial Roots Off a Monstera?

Cutting a healthy aerial root will not harm the plant. It is not load-bearing in the way a stem is, and the monstera’s main root ball in the soil handles the bulk of water and nutrient uptake regardless of how many aerial roots are removed.

That said, cutting is not free of consequence, and this is where a lot of advice oversimplifies. Removing an aerial root does close off one of the plant’s routes to bulking up its root system, and a monstera that is actively trying to climb or fill out will often just grow a replacement root from the same node within a few weeks.

If your goal is a smaller, tidier plant that stays a manageable size on a shelf or windowsill, pruning is a completely reasonable choice and one you may need to repeat every so often.

If your goal is a large, dramatically fenestrated specimen, cutting works against you.

Aerial roots that anchor to a support let the plant put more energy into leaf size and split development, because it is not spending resources trying to stay upright or find its next foothold.

In that case, redirecting rather than removing is the better long-term choice.

Redirecting Aerial Roots Into the Soil

Burying an aerial root works because the root is already built to respond to contact and moisture, it simply needs the right conditions to start behaving like a soil root rather than an aerial one.

Choose a root that already rests close to the soil line rather than forcing a short, high root down into the pot, since bending a young root sharply can snap it.

Gently press the tip into the top inch of soil and firm the mix around it. You do not need to bury the whole length, just enough that the tip stays in consistent contact with moisture.

Keep the area you have buried it in evenly moist for the first few weeks.

This is the stage most people get wrong: they either forget the buried root entirely and let that section of soil dry out, undoing the root’s chance to establish, or they overcompensate and keep the whole pot too wet, which risks rot at the exact point where the root is most vulnerable.

A root that has successfully rooted into the soil will resist a gentle tug within four to six weeks; if it pulls free easily, the soil around it was probably too dry or too loose to hold it.

If your monstera is in a pot with limited room, avoid burying more than two or three aerial roots at once.

Each one adds to the root mass competing for the same finite volume of soil and moisture, and a pot that is already tight will show it through slower growth rather than through any dramatic symptom, which makes it easy to miss until the plant has been struggling for a while.

Training Aerial Roots Onto a Moss Pole or Trellis

A moss pole recreates the one thing an indoor monstera is missing compared to its native habitat: something tall, textured, and reliably moist to climb.

Insert the pole close to the main stem when the plant is still young enough to handle repotting easily, since retrofitting a pole around an established root system later is far more disruptive.

Loosely tie the main stem to the pole with soft plant ties or velcro strips, leaving room for the stem to thicken, and gently press any aerial roots that are already close to the pole against its surface so they have a head start.

Keep the moss on the pole damp, not saturated, since this is what encourages aerial roots to grip rather than dry out and stall.

A pole that is allowed to dry out completely between waterings gives the roots nothing to respond to, and you will often see roots that reach the pole, touch it, and then continue growing straight past it instead of anchoring in.

Propagating a Monstera Using Its Aerial Roots

An aerial root cannot grow into a new plant on its own, but a stem cutting that already has one attached roots noticeably faster than a cutting with none, because the aerial root gives the cutting an immediate head start on water uptake while new roots form.

Step 1: Take the Cutting

Use a clean, sharp knife or secateurs to cut a section of stem that includes at least one node and, ideally, one aerial root.

The node is essential, since new roots and growth only emerge from nodes, not from anywhere along a bare stem.

Step 2: Root in Water or Moss

Place the cutting so the aerial root and node sit in water or damp sphagnum moss while the rest of the stem stays clear.

The existing aerial root will continue absorbing moisture immediately, buying time for new, finer roots to develop from the node over the following two to four weeks.

Step 3: Pot Into Soil

Once the new roots are a few centimetres long, pot the cutting into a well-draining mix.

Moving it too early, before new roots have formed, risks the cutting relying entirely on the single aerial root, which is not built to sustain a plant long-term on its own.

Aerial Root Triage: What You’re Seeing and What It Means

Use this table as a first pass before deciding whether a root needs action, care changes, or nothing at all.

When Aerial Roots Signal a Real Problem

Most aerial root changes are cosmetic, but two patterns are worth taking seriously, and they are often confused with each other: dehydration and rot.

Dehydration vs. Rot: The Confusability Pair

Both can leave a root looking discoloured and unhealthy, but the fix for one will make the other worse, so getting the distinction right matters more than it first appears.

A dehydrated aerial root is dry, light, and crisp. Pinch it gently and it feels brittle rather than soft, and it will often snap cleanly rather than squash.

This is almost always a humidity issue, particularly common in centrally heated rooms over winter, and the fix is to raise ambient humidity around the plant rather than to water more at the soil.

A rotting aerial root is soft, dark, and often faintly sour-smelling. Pinch it and it gives way with almost no resistance, sometimes leaking moisture.

This points to fungal growth from prolonged excess moisture, usually from soil that stays wet for too long, water sitting in the crown of the plant, or misting so heavily that roots stay damp without ever fully drying between applications.

The reason this distinction is the anchor point of this whole article is that the instinctive fix for one problem actively causes the other.

Someone who sees a shrivelled, dry-looking root and responds by misting more heavily, without checking whether the surrounding conditions are already too wet, can tip a plant that was simply under-humidified into one with early aerial root rot.

Equally, someone who assumes every discoloured root is rot and stops watering entirely can dry out a plant that only had one or two dehydrated roots to begin with.

If you find a root that is genuinely rotting, cut it back to clean, firm tissue with sterile secateurs, well below the soft section, since rot can travel further into the root than the visible mushy portion suggests.

Then address the underlying moisture pattern rather than just removing the symptom: check whether the pot is draining properly, whether the plant is sitting in a saucer of standing water, and whether misting or humidity trays are keeping the crown of the plant wet for extended periods.

A single rotten root removed without correcting the moisture source will usually be followed by another.

Quick Reference: Aerial Root Fixes at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

Do monstera aerial roots need to be in soil?

No. Aerial roots function perfectly well left exposed to the air, and plenty of healthy monsteras are grown with all their aerial roots left hanging or trained onto a pole rather than buried.

Burying them is a choice that encourages a fuller root system and can support larger leaves, but it is not a requirement for the plant’s health.

The one situation where soil contact matters is if you are actively trying to bulk up the root system to support a larger specimen, in which case redirecting a few roots into the pot does help.

Why does my monstera have so many aerial roots all of a sudden?

A sudden increase usually means the plant has moved into an active growth phase, often triggered by longer daylight hours in spring and summer or a recent repot into fresher soil.

Monsteras tend to produce aerial roots in bursts tied to new leaf growth rather than at a steady, constant rate, so a flush of several roots appearing close together at the same time is a good sign rather than something to worry about.

If it is paired with new leaves and healthy colour, it simply means the plant has the resources to grow more than usual right now.

Can I put monstera aerial roots directly in water permanently?

It is possible short-term, such as during propagation, but not recommended as a permanent state.

Aerial roots are adapted to alternating between wet and dry conditions in the wild rather than sitting constantly submerged, and permanent submersion increases the risk of the root softening and rotting rather than functioning normally.

If you want the root in contact with a consistent moisture source long-term, damp moss or soil is a safer choice than standing water.

Should I remove aerial roots when repotting?

Only if they are damaged, rotting, or in the way of getting the root ball out of the pot cleanly.

Healthy aerial roots do not need to be removed as a routine part of repotting, and cutting them unnecessarily just adds recovery stress to a process that is already disruptive for the plant.

If a root has wrapped around the inside of the old pot, gently unwind it rather than cutting through it where possible, since a clean unwind causes less shock than a fresh wound during repotting.

Why is my monstera aerial root turning yellow?

Yellowing on an aerial root is less common than browning and is usually an early sign of overwatering or waterlogged soil rather than the root simply maturing, since normal maturation produces a brown, woody colour rather than yellow.

Check the soil moisture and drainage first. If the yellowing is confined to one root and the rest of the plant looks healthy, monitor it for a week before taking action, since an isolated yellow root sometimes resolves on its own once soil moisture evens out.

Do aerial roots mean my monstera is rootbound?

Not directly. Aerial roots grow from stem nodes above the soil line and are a separate structure from the roots inside the pot, so a plant can produce plenty of aerial roots while still having room to spare below ground.

To check for rootbound conditions, look at the base of the plant and the drainage holes instead: roots circling the inside of the pot or emerging from the drainage holes are the more reliable signs, not the number of aerial roots on the stem.

Can I cut off all the aerial roots at once?

It is possible without killing the plant, but it is not the gentlest approach.

Removing several roots in one session is a larger, more concentrated wound area than spacing the work out, which slightly raises the chance of a fungal or bacterial entry point compared with pruning a couple at a time over a few weeks.

If you do need to remove several, use freshly sterilised secateurs between cuts and keep the plant somewhere with good airflow while it heals.

What is the difference between an aerial root and a normal root?

Both are true roots capable of absorbing water, but they develop differently and serve different primary functions.

Aerial roots grow from stem nodes above the soil and are adapted first for anchoring and secondarily for moisture absorption, developing a tougher, woodier outer layer as they mature.

The roots in the soil are the plant’s main source of water and nutrients, finer and more branched, and are not built to tolerate open air the way aerial roots are.

Key Takeaways

1. Leave healthy aerial roots alone if you like the look, since they do not need to be cut, buried, or trained to keep the plant healthy.
2. Redirect a root into the soil or onto a moss pole if you want a fuller root system and larger, more fenestrated leaves.
3. Cut close to the stem with sterile secateurs if you prefer a tidier plant, and expect a replacement root to grow back over time.
4. Check texture before assuming a discoloured root is rot: dry and brittle points to low humidity, soft and dark points to excess moisture.
5. Fix the underlying moisture pattern, not just the affected root, or the same problem will likely recur on a different root.
6. Keep any trailing roots or low growth out of reach of cats and dogs, since monstera is toxic if chewed.
7. Use an aerial root attached to a stem cutting to speed up propagation, but still wait for new roots to form before potting into soil.

Final Thoughts

The question people actually mean to ask is rarely just what to do with aerial roots.

It is closer to whether this strange, slightly awkward-looking growth is something to be managed away or something to work with.

Once you know what the roots are doing, the decision stops being about tidiness and starts being about what kind of plant you are trying to grow.

A monstera left to its own devices, aerial roots and all, is simply behaving the way it would in the wild, reaching for something to climb and something to drink from.

Whether you meet that reach with a moss pole, a patch of soil, or a clean pair of secateurs is entirely up to you, and none of those choices are wrong.