In the past ten years, the monstera has left its tropical home and traveled into living rooms and coffee shops worldwide. Today, you can find its large, fenestrated leaves livening up office corners and serving as inspiration for everything from wallpaper designs to notebook covers. If you find yourself in the monstera lovers club, you’re not alone.
Whether you have a monstera plant growing at home or want to add one of these plants to your collection, learning how to care for a monstera is key! Join us as we cover how to select the proper environment, manage common problems, and provide excellent monstera plant care.
About Monstera Plants
Before we get into monstera plant care, let’s clear up what we mean when we say monstera. While the Monstera genus contains about 60 different plant species, people often use the term monstera to refer to the Monstera deliciosa—the iconic monstera with large, holey leaves. For the purposes of this article, we’re going to assume the word monstera refers to this species.
Monstera plants are native to tropical forests in Central America where they grow in the dappled understory. Although the plants typically anchor their roots in the soil, they often use their adventitious roots to climb up large trees.
The monstera is known for its large leaves with holes, which horticulturalists refer to as fenestrations. These holes have led to the nickname the Swiss cheese plant.
How to Care for Monstera Plants
Since monstera plants are popular houseplants, it may not be surprising that they’re pretty easy to care for. Follow these tips to grow healthy monstera plants.
Select the Proper Container
Since you’ll be growing your monstera inside, finding a proper pot is one of the first steps. Depending on the size of the monstera, choose a container that’s 12-18 inches in diameter. The material isn’t important, but make sure the bottom of the pot has drainage holes.
Soil
Once you’ve found a suitable container, the next step is filling it with a proper potting mix. Monsteras prefer a well-draining, slightly acidic mix that can hold a fair bit of moisture. A peat moss based potting mix works well, as long as the mix contains drainage materials like perlite or pine bark fines.
Light
Since monstera plants grow on the forest floor, they don’t need direct light. If you place them outdoors in full sun or next to a bright, south-facing window, don’t be surprised if the leaves become burnt by direct rays. However, monstera plants also don’t like full shade. While they can survive without much light, the plants will experience slowed growth and a lack of leaf fenestrations.
Bright, indirect light is the best for monsteras. Try placing your plant next to a west-facing or east-facing window or a few feet away from a south-facing window.
Temperature and Humidity
Since monstera plants are native to the tropics, they prefer warm and humid conditions. Aim to keep the air temperature between 65-85°F. Along with keeping the air warm, avoid placing your plant next to furnaces, air conditioning units, fireplaces, and any other drafty areas.
Monstera plants thrive in high humidity, but they’ll grow just fine in average household humidity. If your house is extra dry, you can boost the humidity with a humidifier or a pebble tray filled with water.
Water
While monstera plants can’t tolerate prolonged drought, they also hate constantly wet soil. Therefore, allow the soil to dry out between waterings, but avoid bone-dry soil. Depending on the temperature, humidity, and time of year, expect to water your monstera once every one to two weeks.
Not sure if your plant needs more water? Try the finger test. Stick a finger into the top two inches of soil to check the moisture level. If the soil is dry, give your plant a good drink. And if it’s still moist, wait to water.
Monstera plants aren’t picky about the type of water, so most tap water is just fine. However, you can also use rainwater or filtered water. No matter what type of water you use, thoroughly saturate the soil each time you water.
Fertilizer
Regularly fertilizing your plant in the spring and summer will supply the nutrients it needs to grow. Choose a low-dose, balanced fertilizer with an NPK ratio like 1-1-1 or 2-2-2, and apply it once every two weeks during the growing season.
Overfertilizing your monstera is more harmful than underfertilizing, so never choose a product with a higher NPK ratio, and avoid fertilizing in the fall and winter.
Providing Support
If you’ve ever seen monstera plants growing in the wild, you know how they can climb up trees and walls until they’re towering overhead. Since you probably don’t have trees growing through the center of your home or office, you’ll need to provide your monsteras with other supports if you don’t want them flopping all over.
Coco coir or moss covered poles work well since they provide loose material for the monstera’s adventitious roots to latch onto. When you first add the pole, you may need to loosely tie the plant’s stems to the support. However, after a few months, the plant’s roots will wrap around the pole.
How to Propagate Monstera Plants
If you want to add a new monstera plant to your home or share a plant with friends, you’re in luck! You can easily propagate monstera plants at home. While there are multiple ways to create new monsteras, taking stem cuttings is the easiest home option.
To successfully propagate monstera from a stem cutting, the cutting must have a bud. The bud is the portion of the stem where a leaf and adventitious root emerge. As long as the stem cutting has a bud, it doesn’t matter how long it is.
Once you have a suitable cutting, you can either place it in a container filled with water or moist potting mix. The bottom of the cutting should be in the water or soil, but any leaves should remain above the material. Within a month, the cutting will form new roots.
Dealing with Common Monstera Problems
While monstera plants are pretty easy to grow at home, learning about common problems is a key component of providing proper monstera plant care. Here are some common issues to watch out for and how to handle them.
Yellowing Leaves
When you notice your monstera leaves changing from vibrant green to yellow, something is awry. However, it can be a bit challenging to determine the exact cause of the discoloration.
Some common causes of yellowing leaves include overwatering, underwatering, and cold temperatures. Remember to only water the soil when the top two inches are dry, and avoid placing your plant in an area where temperatures drop below 60°F.
Yellow leaves won’t change back to green, so prune off discolored leaves. Once you provide your plant with the right environment, new leaves will emerge and remain green.
Slow Growth
Monstera plants are relatively quick growers that put on one to two feet of new growth each year. That means you can expect to see a new leaf emerge about once every month or two during the growing season. If your monstera hasn’t put on any new growth in a few months, there’s likely an underlying problem with your monstera care.
A lack of light is the number one reason monstera plants grow slowly. While these plants can survive in a dim corner, they won’t be happy about their dark home. Moving your plant to an area with at least six hours of bright, indirect light will help encourage new growth.
Other causes of limited growth include a lack of nutrients and cold temperatures. Remember to fertilize your plant regularly throughout the growing season and keep it in a warm area.
No Fenestrations
The monstera’s iconic holey leaves are one reason people love the plant. But a monstera without fenestrations is a common, albeit sad, sight. Most of the time, a lack of light leads to solid leaves. Moving your plant to a brighter location will cause new leaves to sport beautiful holes.
Continue Learning About Plant Care
Now that you know all about monstera care, you can confidently grow one of the tropical plants at home. Looking for a different plant? No problem! Along with offering an array of cut flowers, we also carry plants for delivery.
You can order a small prayer plant to brighten up your office or purchase a ficus to add a touch of nature to your bedroom. No matter which plants you choose, take a moment to learn about their care. We’ve created a collection of plant care guides covering everything from kalanchoe plant care to caring for peonies.
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