Suckers: Leafless Vines and What to Do About Them.
First, I want to be clear. We aren’t talking about vining plants that have lost leaves from physical damage or yellowing, browning, and dropping. When a vining plant develops a “sucker,” the vine grows without leaves, like so:
No, that wasn’t caused by damage. A cat didn’t eat it off, and it didn’t brown and then drop off. It grew that way. We are looking at my Monstera Karstenianum “Peru,” which currently has two of these leafless vines. Here is the full plant:
Two of the four vines here are suckers.
Pruning or otherwise removing suckers is common with tomato plants, trees, and some shrubs. The suckers on tomatoes and trees can form either by sprouting up from the ground next to the trunk (like you might see at the base of some trees), or at the intersection of the trunk and any branch. Suckers aren’t necessarily good or bad. Many plants and trees use these clones as a way to reproduce. It’s common practice to remove these because they suck, as the name suggests, energy from the main plant and reduce the energy supply for making fruit or flowers. That’s the rumor, at least. In this case, we aren’t talking about tomato plants or trees. We’re talking specifically about leafless growth that is very fast growing, often shooting off from a rooted vine on an Aroid. This can be in a spot where a cuting was previously taken. I’m using the term “suckers” casually and generally because it’s a well known term. Some proper names, depending on the type of offshoot, include “root sprouts,” ”basal shoots,” and “adventitious shoots.” We’re going to get into these leafless wonders and what to do about them, but first we’ve got to go back.
Members of the Plant Kingdom operate differently than those of us in the Animal Kingdom. They have the amazing ability to make their own food through photosynthesis, and they also have the ability to reproduce asexually. A piece of a plant, if removed correctly, can grow into an entirely new plant. It’s amazing. Some plants require noting but a partial leaf to reproduce, and some require a node. This reproduction is what we in the plant community call propagation. We do it all the time.
It begins with separating a piece, we’ll say a vine in this case, from the whole. It’ll graduate, hopefully, from being a piece of a plant to a whole plant in its own right. But let’s set that severed vine aside for a moment and turn our attention to the mother plant. You might notice that another vine will sprout at or near the closest node to point where the cut was made (or thereabout). A whole new vine will eventually develop from this sprout. At any time, this new vine has the potential to produce roots, foliage, vine, and all the magical inner green-ness that is a whole plant. But there is also the potential for things to go a little haywire, as with anything in nature. That’s what happens when our plant forms a sucker.
Plants have complicated hormonal systems, just like we do. Hormones are released when a plant sustains physical damage or undergoes some stressful event. This can happen when damage occurs to the growth tip or anywhere along the vine, stem, or trunk. Perhaps you have noticed that growth tips are especially sensitive to shipping. Sometimes they brown and crisp off, and sometimes they wilt and shrivel. In either case, this damage will release hormones that tell the plant that there’s been a stressful situation and it needs to be repaired. In the case of a sucker, the wires get crossed and rather than repairing itself with a healthy new vine, a leafless sucker emerges.
Since a sucker is most often produced as an offshoot to the main vine, stem or trunk, it has the potential to form anytime we sever the vine or damage the growth tip of the plant. Plants that are or have previously been under a lot of stress seem to be more likely to produce suckers. If a plant feels threatened, the likelihood that it’ll produce suckers is somehow increased. It reminds me of how stress and lack of sleep make humans more prone to errors and accidents. I have a theory that’s just based on my observations with suckers on my plants. Two of my Monstera who have produced suckers, including the plant in the photos above, have been propagated from a mother plant that is…shall we say, a professional. The plants had endured many a cut before they came into my care. Their mother plants were cut and cut and became, in essence, a plant factory. These babies have the same genetic makeup as the mother. In my experience, both the mother and future offshoots of the healthy propagation have the potential to produce suckers. So, I theorize that plants subject to heavy propagation might be more prone to producing suckers.
Suckers can also just come about because the plant is stressed for other non-propagation related reasons, no backstory required.
There are also a few varieties of plants that are more prone to producing suckers. In my plant family, I have seen suckers on the above Monstera Karstenianum “Peru,” Syngonium Podophyllum, and Monstera Adansonii which produced a couple of feet of sucker vine before I cut it off. See below:
Notice that the sucker emerged near the spot where the vine had been cut. I didn’t make that cut, it was made before I purchased the plant. The sucker also emerged after I purchased the plant and I was astounded by just how fast it grew. It was probably twice as fast as the normal rate of growth on this plant. Once the sucker was removed, the plant began growing a new vine with healthy leaves. I can’t say for sure if this new vine would have grown if I hadn’t removed the sucker, but I am confident that the sucker was using a lot of the plant’s energy and the new vine wouldn’t have grown as vigorously.
What should you do when you see a sucker on your plant?
Like I said, suckers aren’t necessarily bad, but many houseplants are grown for their foliage. Having a foliage-free vine defeats the purpose, so to speak. I chose to cut off the vine on my Monstera Adansonii, just as a matter of personal preference. I haven’t cut my Monstera “Peru.” It’s just not at point of bugging me like the Monstera Adansonii vine did.
If you choose to cut the vines off, here are some general tips. The sucker should be cut off at the point where it emerges. If it is sprouting from a vine that is rooted in soil, sever it at the point where it joins the main, leafy vine. In other words, remove only the leafless portion. In the case of my Monstera Adansoii, after I cut the sucker off, a new leafy vine emerged not long after. If the sucker vine has grown anew out of the soil, pinch or cut it back to the soil. I know it seems counterintuitive to cut a plant that is showing active, green growth. In my experience, this vine will not suddenly begin developing leaves that will help sustain the life of the plant. I waited and watched for a long time with my Monstera Adansonii. I stubbornly refused to cut the leafless vine before finally having a plant epiphany - even if this vine does eventually begin growing leaves toward the end of the vine…what a weird looking vine. It skipped at least 6 or 8 leaves, so it wouldn’t really be pulling its weight photosynthesis-wise, either. I didn’t bother to propagate that cut off sucker vine, but I have heard tales of online buyers who have been sold rooted sucker vines. If this is you, contacting the seller is probably your best bet. If that is met with resistance, you could try cutting back to the first node and see if you’re able to sprout a new vine.
I would love to hear about your experiences with suckers, basal shoots, root sprouts, or adventitious shoots! Comment below, find me on Instagram for a chat, or e-mail me here.