Advice for Growing Monkey Puzzle Tree Seedlings

A fully grown Monkey Puzzle Tree

Araucaria Araucana are an unusual evergreen that make a statement in any garden. The English name Monkey Puzzle reportedly comes from an offhand remark by a lawyer named Charles Austin, who in 1850 said “It would puzzle a monkey to climb that.” The scientific name has its roots in the Araucanian people of Chile, where the plant is native and called Pewen. Regardless it does surprisingly well in our climate, preferring high rainfall and a temperate climate.

Monkey Puzzles start their lives as rather large seed pods. Once the seedlings are established they are fairly strong but getting to this stage can be tricky. The pod is a favoured snack of critters and they risk succumbing to rot or fungus.  However, once the main tap root and stem is out they are resilient against most threats. It is at this stage we sell our plants in 7cm pots, and grow some on to 9cm pots.

Monkey Puzzle Seeds are much larger than most plants

It is advisable to keep Monkey Puzzles in their pots for a good while. The root systems are initially on the small size. This will change. They make for great house plants and will happily sit of your windowsill for some time. From 7cm, to 9cm, 1 litre and so on slowly move your plant up pot sizes. It can go from a cute house plant to a splendid patio feature. Use compost with good drainage, only feeding if they’ve been in the same pot for more than 6 months. The Stem shouldn’t need trained unless it starts to bend too much, at which point a cocktail stick can hold it straight.

Our 7cm Monkey Puzzle Tree Seedlings

Eventually you may consider planting it outside, though you may one day find out how big the roots can get. Despite starting out small the root system eventually grows very large, chunky and strong. If planted close to a wall this can result in serious issues. You’ll never see a lovely Monkey Puzzle in a small front garden the same way again. Position your plant well away from any building, did a hole big enough to take the whole root system, and place a mound of compost at the base. The plant will be largely self sufficient from here on.

Potentially your Monkey Puzzle will one day produce seeds. Knowing the sex of your plant can take a very long time as they must first be mature. It will then either produce a drooping male pollen cones or upright female seed cones.  A single plant can generate a huge number of seeds, which along with lower branches falling off creates a significant amount of debris. So once again it very important to consider the position of your plant.

Sometimes when they get a bit tall you might want to use a stick to keep your plant straight

Overall, Monkey Puzzles tree seedlings are not a challenging plant to grow. For the most part they will get on with it themselves. Careful planning once they get big is the main issue, but you’ll have plenty of time to plan when starting from a seedling.

See our selection of Monkey Puzzle seedlings in 7cm and 9cm pots. On occasion we even have some Double Stem plants!