the original Youtube Video was REMOVED by Jim Broski...
A professor that isn’t a professor. A method that’s been around for decades; and definitely is NOT his. It’s the closest thing we have to a Plant Cult…
Today we’re exploring the Professor Monstera Method and the man behind it.
I’ve come across the Professor Monstera Method, or PMM, many times over the years. But in the last 6 months, I’ve gotten multiple requests to investigate his practices.
Reddit threads pop up regarding his method’s validity, and he’s seemed to piss off a few people in Australia. He’s even made his way to the infamous PISS Facebook group. Which obviously stands for Plant Inspectors Scammer Shoutout…
Claudio is an Australian businessman who’s gotten into growing rare variegated aroids. Per his own account, he’s been doing so since he stopped working with Granite Countertops.
He bought a few Monstera albos at peak prices, chopped them all up, and rotted them.
ABOVE: the infamous $300 starter pack to grow Professor monstera method
He changed techniques, and eventually came to a semi hydroponic method which has been used in Cannabis for decades. Coco perlite, with beneficial life, or bennys as the industry calls them.
Now, this is a proven growing technique of mixing coco and perlite together. Hell, they even sell it premixed in a bag together. I tried it first in 2012, but it wasn’t for me. I stuck with LECA.
And the Cannabis industry has long loved mycorrhizal fungi for their plants. The problem is the scientific effect for aroids in particular is still unproven. And the stuff is WILDLY expensive.
So for most of us, we tried it on Monstera, didn’t notice it helping, and we moved on. But Claudio, or Jim Broski, the alias he goes by, hawks this set of ancient growing techniques to be his own. And there is AN ARMY of fanboys and girls that will attack any defectors of THE METHOD.
This shaming goes on across multiple platforms. From what I gather, it started on Facebook. There is now multiple facebook pages and groups, and even a paid membership group, where everyone, even the moderators pay to be a part of the group.
The professor, as he has humbly named himself, has now moved onto instagram and tiktok, in almost an attempt to evade the drama circulating around his facebook groups. Many ex moderators have come forward about his shady business dealings.
Now, I have my own gripes with charging for information freely available in the age of information. BUT where Professor Monstera Method grinds people the most is:
Many people who switch to the method end up rotting their roots. And I mean, if you’ve grown plants for a year or more, you can see this muddy looking medium isn’t getting air. Monstera roots LOVE AIR IN THE ROOTZONE.
There’s dozens of ways to grow Monstera, but the general consensus is a chunky, airy mix is the way. We all have our own mix, and we’ve borrowed from our predecessors for this. None of us made this up.
As Newton says, “if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Now this is the starter pack of what pisses people off about Professor Monstera Method. He didn’t discover Coco Perlite to grow plants hydroponically. And honestly, it just ISN’T the best method for aroids. It works great for a water loving weed, like… weed.
He then sells his overpriced aroids, even for australian prices, that he claims are superior, and many of them come with root rot, and ends up blocking people that sound off about their bad experience.
The method PREYS on new plant parents that haven’t discovered the DIY side of instagram or youtube where we all exchange ideas freely, knowing different strokes work for different folks. There’s SO many ways to successfully grow and propagate Monstera.
But the Method REQUIRES a $300 starter kit of nutrients, beneficial bacteria, silica, and other additives, that honestly are questionable in their efficacy.
Now, a few of these basics work great! A complete nutrient program with Silica, and even some beneficals can grow really healthy plants. That’s a fact. But you can usually get all of that for around thirty for forty bucks; not ten times that.
And as we mentioned before, if you mention you are not following the PMM, you will be banned from the groups, and questioned into oblivion as to why you are not following HIS method.
And if you ARE following the method, you will be told you aren’t doing it correctly to grow roots.
Now, let’s arbitrarily review some of the characteristics of a cult:
Authoritarian Leadership. The group tends to have a figure that exercises excessive control on members. mmmm mmmm
Isolationism. Some extreme cults force members to renounce old ways and depart from previous groups. This is fitting.
General Opposition to Independent thinking. Likelyl the most important, Cult Members are discouraged from thinking independently, as it has already been done for them by the cult leadership. Check check check
Finally, fear of banishment from the group. It fits like a puzzle.
Now, claiming something to be your own is just a little crappy, like plagiarizing a paper in school. But Claudio is known by insiders to swap the Professor Monstera Method to the latest Nutrient sponsor who is paying him.
Here are direct messages from the infamous GT or Growth Technologies, makers of Foliage Focus, asking him to remove other brands he was hawking, such as Hygen, Sensi, and other competitors.
And here he is asking his team to remove the previous sponsor, NutriFlo and replace them all with GT products. Now, I can understand sponsorship, but if the essence of your brand and group is using a SPECIFIC method, then it should be about what works best, not who is paying you the most.
And there has been insider information that he actually uses a different pellet in his plants, and doesn’t actually follow the method himself.
He also demands people water EVERY day. Again, a technique taken from the cannabis world, but these are VERY different plants, and cannot be blindly applied.
In a video from a few days ago, on a NEW instagram page, he now claims the professor Monstera Method now uses LECA and Perlite, and a little coco coir. Should I remind him this is the Pretty in Green Method?? Just kidding, just kidding.
The professor doesn’t stop there, as he scams his buyers and contest winners by showing a pretty albo, saying it died, and giving that person a lesser quality plant, and turning to resell the “dead” plant for a higher dollar.
The social media posts seem manufactured and forced; and that’s because they are. Jim frequently requests his buyers post with how happy they are with his plants.
This buyer spent $762 for two Monstera albos. And Claudio uses the excuse of it dying, and gets noticeably angry at the buyer.
And he asks his moderators to post their plants and claim their are using HIS method, even if they are not.
He asks them to post the plants from the soil up so people don’t see they aren’t using cocoperlite.
Also, to get a replacement, he demands buyers post to Facebook Australia groups of their fantastic experience with him.
Claudio has also been accused of borrowing money from moderators and bragging about not paying them back. As well stealing grow equipment from a hydro store.
It seems as if the lies Professor Monstera has been telling are finally catching up with him. Please follow along on youtube (@prettyingreen) and instagram (@prettyingreenplants) for more updates!
AND PLEASE EMAIL ME ANY LEADS! chris@prettyingreen.com
