A lot of people are buying aroids these days. For whatever reason, they have become some of the most popular plants that are currently being collected by new (and some not so new) gardeners and plant enthusiasts. But some of these plants, like the much sought after albo- variegated Monstera deliciosa, are hard to find here in the US through regular sources and can even be rare, like the aurea-variegated Monstera, and so as it is with all things, its a seller's market for these. (These plants are not nearly as expensive in Europe as they are here).

Most nurseries do not carry specialty items like variegated Monstera, or some of the other in-demand vining Philodendrons like P. x'White Wizard', P. 'Pink Princess', Rhaphidophora decursiva, Rhaphidophora tetrasperma and others. So people are turning more and more to venues like eBay and Etsy where the majority of sellers are not really state licensed and inspected nurseries, but backyard plant growers who see a chance to make some extra money selling plants.

What is being sold in many cases, especially for the Monstera, are not really plants per se, but small stem cuttings. It is surprising how many single-node cuttings you can get out of one stem of a vining/climbing plant. Not all of them are equally viable. And these small cuttings are commanding exorbitant prices, some in the range of $300 and up. Its truly a case of 'Buyer Beware' and 'Do your due diligence' by asking a LOT of questions before you make a purchase, and knowing how to treat the plant to make it grow and thrive once you get it.

With this in mind, a friend of mine who is admin on another site came up with this handy table that can help guide people who are new to the world of aroids on how to #1 choose the best cutting once you have committed to spend a couple hundred dollars on one and #2 what you might expect from a cutting that you receive that may be less that what you expected to receive. This advice, if you will, was formulated by folks with years in the area of first hand growing and propagating of aroids, and studying the culture of different aroid Genera and species. It seems like it should be common sense, but to someone who is not as experienced, it may help a lot with the process. He gave me his permission to share it one this forum.

Hopefully it will be helpful to someone here.

Very helpful. Thank you for sharing.

I've needed this chart! While I can typically tell if a cutting is viable, I can never really gauge just how much I should be valuing a certain cutting over another. I see that amount of leafy growth isn't something to look for in choosing a good cutting. Why is that? I always try to choose cuttings with at least a single leaf.

Its because on a single more cutting, by definition, you get a single node, which means only one leaf or none if they cut the leaf off. A 2 node cutting would typically give you 2 leaves, you may get lucky and get an extra.

Single node cuttings of monstera that are being sold average maybe 2-3 inches long with one root and maybe one leaf, sometimes no leaf

I guess it wouldn't be efficient to try and ship aroids like monstera deliciosa with more than one leaf. A full plant would cost a fortune to ship. Also, about the Etsy/EBay seller thing, I have concerns about the sellers having no license, too. I always think when buying it "well, I hope I at least get something". I don't think I'll get a cuprea from there since it's such an important plant to cultivate correctly. Imagine if you spend $150 on a cuprea and a 'Poly' painted red shows up! but also

The only person on eBay I would trust to but a Cuprea from is Enid at Natural Selections Exotics. But unfortunately, she never does Buy it Now. If she ever opens up her actual website again and sells stuff at face value, its still expensive, but the plants she has are well grown, arrive in containers they have been growing in not ones they were just rapidly stuffed into to send, are healthy and good sized. She doesn't do cuttings to my knowledge and does;t send stuff bare root.....she might have been doing Monstera by cutting, she has a waiting list on her website.

Everyone is out for a buck nowadays. A friend of mine who is a long time aroid collector and hybridizer said he thinks his plants go to people sometimes who just want to take a photo to post on Instagram and don;t know or care how to grow the plants they buy. Everyone is out for the 'like'

I know about her! She seems to be very trusted and renowned among the aroid community. I've heard of people getting plants like philo spiritus sancti from NSE. The price on that bad boy is just crazy!

Yes, I would agree with that. The good news is that aroids are kind of a big rabbit hole, so a lot of them end up loving and learning them anyway... even if they're a bit egotistical for originally just wanting likes.

Aroids are addictive and the deliciosa is the gateway drug.

@Gina1960 if I may ask my question here? I have just registered and am not able to make more than 1 separate threads. I've been reading this forum for a long time, so I know you are the right person to ask.

I have bought few unrooted cuttings from a private person very cheap, for a couple of dollars each. So they are not fancy in the current market sense, but are very appealing to me personally. I have never rooted philodendrons or monsteras (although I have a few), only some begonia and epipremnums for my little neighbour using water method. My question is - how good is the chance they will root and survive if I plant them directly into soil (I use bark + universal soil + peat moss + perlite)? I can of course use the water method again, but I'm afraid of the risk when I eventually transfer them into soil.

I attach the photos of the cuttings:


Philodendron Florida something


P. Green Dragon


Monstera adansonii (I think, but I'm not sure - she included it into the package free of charge)



Monstera Standleyana


Both monsteras came a bit wilted, I hope it's not going to be an issue?

You are in Europe correct? I am assuming it is still too cold to put anything outdoors. It would actually be best to root all of these in sphagnum moss kept damp. They all look like they have the ability to survive. I root cuttings like that all the time in moss when I propagate for sale and trade. It takes patience and not pulling the plants out of the cup to check on the roots, and keeping the moss damp but not wet. When they have developed roots and put out a couple new leaves you can transfer them to your soil mix without problem

Thank you for your response.
I am in Denmark and living in a flat, so I can only keep plants indoors. I'm very uncomfortable with moss - it's hard to keep it not too wet, not too dry. But I'm willing to try. Would you please share with me the basic things I do not understand?

1. Do I just mist the top layer and assume that the water will be absorbed by the rest of the moss? Or do I pour water in?

2. Is it possible to use to much or too little of moss? How much would you use for, say, the cutting in the first photo?

I also started a thread regarding p. Panduriforme - it was sent to me in moss as a fully rooted plant. The moss is really wet and I'm planning to transplant it into soil, but cannot get rid of the moss. There is quite a lot of it and I'm afraid that if I don't remove it, the roots will just constantly have wet feet.

Thank you again and sorry for so many stupid questions

Moss is actually easy once you get the hang of it.

The important step is the initial rehydration. soak it in water until its WET WET WET. Sphagnum moss is hydrophilic, meaning it wants to absorb and hold water. The important thing is, once its been moistened, it needs to stay damp, because if it dries out, it becomes more hydrophobic and wants to shed water.

Soak it then pick up some and squeeze out the excess moisture with your hands. Kind of fluff it up, and put in in the container. Add the plant and pack moss treated in a similar manner loosely around the plant, but not so loose that it doesn;t make contact. I always use clear plastic cups to root in, because its easy to check the progress without pulling the plant out and see any problems as they occur, not when it is too late. Or, you can place the cutting onto the TOP of the moss with just the root in the moss, not the whole stem, and cover with a few strands of moss on top in a shallow dish container like a left over plastic that some produce comes in. You could do that with 1-2-and 3, $ I would put in a cup with more moss to encourage all these emerging roots to come on out. Of course you would put any of these containers on a saucer or tray. To add extra humidity you could use a pebble tray with water in it. Just don;t let the bottom holes of the containers sit IN water, the moss will wick it up.

The moss is also better to root in because the dampness produces more humidity around the plant that a soil mix would.

I use a hand held sprayer to water mine. When the top of the moss feels dry, I spray the cup from the top and let it trickle down. The excess drains out

Thank you so much, @Gina1960.

I will put them all in a cup and then place the cups in a box with leca balls filled up to half with water (finally I can use the bag of Leca I bought a while ago!). I understand now how to handle the moss, thank you for your explanation. I hope with some practice I'll master it soon I think I'll just use the plastic cups and make holes in the bottom and on sides for ventilation.

I do that. Its cheap too LOL. One of my kids works in fast food and both are starbucks addicts so I get all their clear plastic cups. My husband is a Diet Dr Pepper fiend (but ONLY in the plastic bottles no cans) so I get all his empties too. I am actually going to be transferring some moss plants into mix tomorrow. I'll take a few photos

Please do share your photos from transplanting, Gina. I'd love to see how you transfer your plants from moss to the mix - I'm expecting a new bag of perlite to be delivered today so that I can repot my p.panduriforme.

Apparently it's difficult to find disposable plastic cups in Denmark, so I used nursery pots in which they sell herbs in supermarkets - I always save them and use for my plants.

Here is a little set up I've made:



The baby begonia is soon ready to be gifted to the little neighbor girl who walks our dog in the mornings.

Its actually a FANTASTIC this that disposable cups are rare in Denmark. They should be rare EVERYWHERE. I feel a responsibility to reuse them instead of letting them end up in the landfill, or worse, the ocean. We have statewide recycling of plastics here, but, they still wind up in the landfill and along the roads, thrown out of cars by stupid idiots with no respect.

You are very generous!!! I am sure she will love the begonia!

Gina1960 said:Its actually a FANTASTIC this that disposable cups are rare in Denmark. They should be rare EVERYWHERE. I feel a responsibility to reuse them instead of letting them end up in the landfill, or worse, the ocean. We have statewide recycling of plastics here, but, they still wind up in the landfill and along the roads, thrown out of cars by stupid idiots with no respect.

You are very generous!!! I am sure she will love the begonia!

It could have been much better. Last year (I think) there were lots of fanfares in the EU when they banned plastic straws - now you can only buy paper or reusable straws. But in the meantime there is a lot of unnecessary plastic circulating around - fresh produce is always sold in plastic, which they don't recycle. I have a theory that it's the producer's idea that if you pack 1kg of carrots in a plastic bag, people will have to buy the whole kilo instead of a couple carrots. So it's plastic plus food waste - we normally throw out 2/3 of that bag because we cannot eat so much.

It's very ironic with all the misconceptions around being environmentally-responsible. I just bought a decorative pot online, made 'out of cork for those who love nature' - it is lined with a plastic bag on the inside

Yes is makes me sad. I am in my 60's, I are up with paper straws. Never thought a thing about it. Now, people of the younger generation who have had nothing but plastic say that the paper 'makes their drink taste funny'...?...

I try to always remember my reusable grocery bags, and have some reusable mesh drawstring bags for produce. We are lucky to have a locally owned market here that sells things like carrots loose so you don;t have to buy a bag. Some of the chain groceries sell SOME produce loose but not all.

Its good to try to make any dent we can though in the plastic waste.

I absolutely agree with you, Gina. I don't hate plastic - it's a fantastic material. But I do hate disposable plastic and the culture it creates.

OK don't judge this sad one leaf prop LOL I actually took this one for the new growth point it has. This is an Anthurium papillilaminum stem cutting that ha been rooting in moss for about 2 months. I could actually leave this plant in moss for the rest of its life, because they will grow indefinitely in moss. But moss has to be refreshed eventually because it breaks down over time. So I usually pot these up in mix. You can see the roots through the plastic





I took the plant out and just shook it gently and let what moss that wanted to just fall off. Whatever is stuck the the roots will stay. I got most of it off






For now, I am going to put it right back into the same cup, just in mix.





Careful to leave the new growth tip out


I have several of these paps to do, I was going to also do this one which was taken at the same time as the other


but its root system was huge and the moss did not want to come off




So I just ended up getting as much as I could off without actively pulling it off and repotted into a larger container with some fresh moss

Wow, thank you so much, @Gina1960! I wouldn't have hoped to get such a detailed help!

Very confident about my cuttings now, and will do just like you showed me