You bought your monstera when it had lovely big leaves. Or maybe you've had it for a year and you're still waiting for those big, dramatic leaves that everyone posts photos of online.
But the new leaves keep coming out small. Smaller than the last ones, sometimes. No splits. No holes. Just these little heart-shaped leaves that don't look anything like what you were expecting.
This is frustrating, because you're doing everything right on the surface. Regular watering. Good light. Maybe even fertilising. But the leaves just won't grow.
The answer is usually underground.
Why Root Space Matters for Leaf Size
Here's the relationship most people don't know about: the size of a monstera's root system directly affects the size of its leaves.
A monstera with a healthy, well-spread root system has the resources to put out large leaves. A monstera whose roots are cramped, struggling, or sitting in dense soil that's holding them back will put out smaller leaves because it simply doesn't have the capacity to do much more.
Think of it like this. The roots are the engine. If the engine is running at 40%, the rest of the plant runs at 40% too.
What's Stopping Root Growth
The most common thing holding back monstera roots is dense potting mix.
Standard potting mix is made up of small, fine particles. When you first buy a bag, it feels open and light. But after a year or so in a pot, those particles pack together. Water pools in the tiny spaces between them. The mix becomes heavy and compacted.
When roots try to push through compacted soil, they can't spread the way they want to. They get restricted. Some start to rot from sitting in moisture too long. The root system ends up small and tangled rather than wide and healthy.
And a small root system means small leaves.
It's not the light. It's not the fertiliser (though that can help once the roots are healthy). It's the ground the roots are trying to grow through.
The Soil Might Be Fine Now But Getting Worse
Here's the tricky thing: your potting mix might have been perfectly fine when you first potted the plant. But if it's been in the same pot for a year or more, it's likely compacted by now.
You can test this pretty easily. After you water, watch how quickly the water drains. Fresh, open mix lets water run straight through. Compacted mix holds the water and releases it slowly. If water sits on top of the soil for a while before soaking in, or the pot feels heavy for days after watering, the mix has compacted.
The other test is to pull the plant out and look at the root ball. If the roots have formed a tight, dense ball that holds the shape of the pot, they've been restricted. Healthy roots with space to spread should be reaching in multiple directions, not matted into one dense mass.
What Good Root Growth Looks Like
When a monstera has the conditions it needs, the roots spread outward and downward, looking for space and resources. They're firm, white or light tan, and they branch out rather than circling around each other.
In the wild, monstera roots travel across the forest floor or cling to tree bark. They're explorers. They want space and air and the ability to dry out between waterings. Compacted potting mix is the opposite of that.
How to Fix It
The fix is to repot into a chunkier mix that gives the roots room to grow.
You want a mix where there are actual gaps between the particles. Not dust, not fine silt, but pieces big enough that the roots can push between them, water can drain freely, and air can move around the roots.
Mixing chunky bark pieces through your potting mix is one of the best ways to achieve this. The bark creates pockets of air and keeps the mix from compacting over time. Orchiata orchid bark works well for this because it's made from aged New Zealand pine bark that holds its shape for three to five years. It won't break down and compact the way cheap bark or coir does.
For a monstera, the Classic grade (6 to 9mm) or Power grade (9 to 12mm) from Orchiata's range is a good fit. You can mix it roughly half and half with a good quality potting mix, or go heavier on the bark for a plant that needs especially fast drainage.
What to Expect After Repotting
Don't expect the very next leaf to be huge. Root growth comes first. The plant will spend the first few weeks after repotting expanding its root system into the new mix, not throwing out big leaves.
But within a few months, you should start to see a difference. New leaves coming out larger. Some starting to show splits or holes if the plant is mature enough. The growth rate picking up.
The more the roots spread, the more resources the plant can send upward. It compounds over time.
Other Things That Help
Once the roots are sorted, these actually make a difference.
Pot size. If the plant has been in the same pot for years and the roots are circling, going up a pot size gives the roots somewhere new to go. Don't go too big at once, one size up is usually right.
Something to climb. In the wild, monstera leaves get bigger as the plant climbs higher. A moss pole or coir pole gives the plant a direction to grow. Leaves tend to get larger as the plant climbs, because that's what the plant is designed to do.
Light. This one does matter, just not as the first fix. A monstera in a genuinely dark corner won't grow well no matter how good the roots are. Bright, indirect light is the goal. Not direct harsh sun, but a well-lit room.
Patience. Once you've fixed the soil and given the roots a chance to spread, growth picks up, but it takes a few months to see the full effect.
The most important thing is the root environment. Everything else is secondary. Give those roots a chunky, draining mix with room to move, and the leaves will follow.
If you haven't touched the soil in a year or more, that's where to start. A bag of Orchiata bark mixed through fresh potting mix can change what your monstera is capable of. Ships free anywhere in Australia.
