Monstera Has Only One Stem: 3 Important Things to Know

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.

Does your Monstera deliciosa have one one stem? Is it normal for your Monstera to have only one stem or vine? Perhaps you’ve seen a bushy Monstera deliciosa plant and you’re wondering how on Earth do you get yours to look like that?

In this post, I’ll explain the answers to all these questions and more, so keep reading!

MONSTERA HAS ONLY ONE STEM?

1. THIS IS PERFECTLY NORMAL!

If you have a Monstera deliciosa plant and it has only one single stem, it will stay this way. Why? This is simply the nature of this plant and you’re not doing anything wrong!

These are vining plants that start off their lifecycle on the forest floor and will creep along until they find a tree trunk. Once they find a tree trunk, they will attach to the tree via the Monstera’s aerial roots, and will start to climb the tree in search of more light.

Unlike many plants that you can prune in order to help them branch out into bushier growth, this is really not one of them.

Your Monstera deliciosa plant will rarely, if ever, branch out into more than one vine, nor will they easily push out new growth at the base of the plant. I’m not saying this will never happen, but it is not built into the genetics of this plant.

So when you see a nice and bushy Monstera plant, how did it happen? The answer is quite simple.

2. A BUSHY PLANT HAS MULTIPLE VINES IN ONE POT

When I purchased my Monstera deliciosa plant years ago, there were several vines in the same pot already.

Here is the plant when I purchased it at the nursery. It may not be easy to tell from this photo, but in fact, there are 6 vines in this Monstera pot.

And a mere 3-4 years later, look how big and beautiful the plant grew into at my home.

Of course, having multiple vines in a pot poses its challenges too. It makes it trickier to support the plant, and as the vines age, they can get quite stiff and tangled up, not to mention a lot harder and clumsier to repot!

Check out my blog post on ideas of how to support your Monstera deliciosa plant for a few different options that you can choose from.

Now, what if your plant is only a single vine and you want a nice bushy plant like mine that you see above?

3. HOW TO MAKE MONSTERA BUSHIER

If your goal is to have a big, bushy Monstera deliciosa plant, and you didn’t purchase it that way (with multiple vines in one pot), you can simply propagate your Monstera by taking multiple cuttings.

Once you root the cuttings, you can plant a few of the rooted cuttings into the same pot. This is really the only want to achieve a bushy plant if you’re starting out with a single stemmed plant.

If you’re afraid to take cuttings of your Monstera plant, have no fear because it’s insanely easy. And if you’re worried about cutting your single-vined plant and not having it grow back, you have nothing to worry about.

If you take a cutting off the tip of your vine, your vine will put out new growth and continue growing.

For a detailed guide with photos, check out my post on propagating Monstera deliciosa in water. It’s super easy to do, but there are some important things to know in order to be successful.

Here is an example of a variegated Monstera cutting that has started to root and is also starting to grow a new shoot.

I hope this post has answered your questions on single-vined Monstera plants. Have you ever employed any methods in this post? Comment below. I’d love to hear!