I really like the pot my monstera is in right now, also don't want the planter to keep getting bigger and bigger until it is its own piece of furniture – NOT a problem if it's not possible or if it's best to not mess around but is it common/okay for me to trim the rootball to stay in its current pot? The plant is over 6.5ft wide when tied loosely, 14in pot currently but know it's defs time to change homeboys soil.
I'm not a planter, gardener, a nothing as I don't like living things relying on me but attached to this guy, he's done well for me with no scares or anything, id like to keep it like that.
**If it's generally safe to trim down the rootball size please give me your number one DONT do's first and then give your advice as I believe don'ts are always 10xs more important than the do's 😅
of course ill be googling into it but find advice from the average house folk vs youtube professionals is a safer route as like a makeup tutorial or some fall apart meat, it just never turns out for the average person lol
Small monstera pic is when I first got it two years ago vs how it looks as of last week. the root pic is from the last time I changed the soil. (over a year ago on February 13, 2025 to be exact in case visuals help with certain answers)
Thank you so much in advance!
by PrestigiousBottle686
3 Comments
I’ve heard on this and the main houseplant subreddit that trimming is okay if you only take off 1/3 at maximum. Although it can still cause initially shock for your plant.
Yes, you can trim the root ball. Look up root pruning if you need instructions on that.
I remember reading a rule of thumb about monstera pot size, which I think said use a pot that is approximately the diameter of the largest leaf. If you follow that advice, you need to size up! But maybe you can keep it happy in this pot another year or two with root pruning.
Nope, rip away!! I’ve looked for a video that I watched before replying here to paste it but I couldn’t find it.
Anyways, the test was during a repot, does it matter if I preserve all the roots ripoff half the roots or leave one little root and what will grow better.
Turns out the plant that had literally the least amount of roots left grew insane amount of roots and foliage and reason is it needed them so clearly that was just a test and they don’t recommend stripping all the roots off however, don’t be scared about losing 50% or more of the roots during repot. Your plant will actually grow back more vigorously, both the roots AND the foliage.
I will paste the video here if I find it