The 5 Most Popular Monstera Plants And How To Grow Them

Monstera Plants

Monstera Plants

Updated on 3/27/2024
Emma DowneyBy Emma Downey
Gardening Expert
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Monstera plants are stunning indoor plants, and their origins may be traced back to the tropical jungles of South America. The term "Swiss cheese plants" refers to these plants not because they produce cheese but to the hole-like features in the plant's leaves.

Monstera Plant

Monstera plants are epiphytic, meaning they need a host tree to attach themselves to and hang off of for them to grow in the wild. Because of this, they can go to extraordinary heights, which is necessary for them to be able to reach the sunlight in the forest.

You should think twice about keeping Swiss cheese plants if you have cats or other pets. If ingested, they may result in pain or disease in animals and potentially be severely hazardous. Aside from that, having them is a beautiful asset!

Cat Monstera Plant

This post will provide an overview of the various types of Monstera plants that are now available, as well as recommendations on cultivating and maintaining these plants, how to reproduce them, and where to get them.

Monstera Plant Varieties

Monstera Plants

Monstera Plants

Monstera plants have recently gained much popularity as indoor plants and are an excellent choice for those who want to bring some greenery into their homes.

They are also excellent cosmetic complements to the landscaping where they are placed. They are adaptable and may be used in various landscape configurations with little effort.

Before we get into the specifics of cultivating Monstera plants, it is helpful to have a basic understanding of the many species available, as there are many different kinds of Monstera plants.

1- Monstera Deliciosa

1. Monstera Deliciosa

1. Monstera Deliciosa

The most well-known of all the Monstera plants, this one is famous for having enormous, slit-like holes scattered throughout its leaves. This one grabs everyone's attention everywhere it goes! Its Latin name, tasty, comes from the delicious Mexican breadfruit it bears.

These plants, which also go by the name Swiss cheese plants, will produce flowers if they are cultivated outside, and with time, they will develop into a fruit as well.

2- Monstera Adansonii

2. Monstera Adansonii

2. Monstera Adansonii

Your house and lawn would look stunning with this exceptionally uncommon Monstera plant type. This plant, also known as the swiss cheese vine, is simple to cultivate inside and outdoors.

You'll fall in love with its stunningly huge leaves and holes in an oval form. These vines and leaves have the potential to grow to be very large if they are planted outside.

Because of its ability to twine and climb, it would do well to be grown on a garden trellis or gate. It is also an excellent choice for growing as a hanging plant since, without any support, the vines tend to droop and grow downwards.

Monstera obliqua and Monstera expilata are two other names that might refer to this species.

3- Monstera Variegata

3. Monstera Variegata

3. Monstera Variegata

The genetic mutation that gave rise to this type also called a Thai constellation, may be traced back to Thailand. Variegation is the process that occurs in plants when some plant tissues are unable to generate chlorophyll, which results in the tissues' discoloration.

It's a well-known fact that this fantastic mutation may occur in several distinct Monstera species, resulting in a beautiful tropical plant option.

There is a tendency for variegated Monstera plants to be uncommon, and some of them are priced higher than others. On the other hand, the white paint effect transforms these plants into a work of art and beautiful addition to your house.

4- Species Of Monstera Borsigiana

4. Species Of Monstera Borsigiana

4. Species Of Monstera Borsigiana

While similar in appearance to Monstera deliciosa, Monstera borsigiana is smaller in size and grows much quicker, given the ideal growth circumstances, which will discuss in greater detail later. This plant is available in many colors, including white and yellow.

A helpful hint to differentiate this plant from Monstera d. is to look for ruffles on the stem and to see whether there are any full circular holes closer to the base of the plant. If you come across these characteristics, you are looking at a Borsigiana.

5- Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma

5. Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma

5. Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma

This is another popular species of Monstera that is sometimes confused with Monstera deliciosa, known as the Mini Monstera. This plant is not a species of Monstera and is instead native to the countries of Thailand and Malaysia. However, it is somewhat comparable to one.

Mini Monstera

Mini Monsteras are distinct from other Monstera plants in their leaves holes that reach the leaf margins. They have a gorgeous forest green hue that is rather dark, and they are typically less complicated to locate than genuine Monsteras in the garden center near your home.

The Cultivation Of Your Monstera Plant

The Cultivation Of Your Monstera Plant

The Cultivation Of Your Monstera Plant

The cultivation of Monstera plants does not provide a significant challenge but must carry out specific procedures.

The most crucial decision you need to make is whether you will be cultivating them outside or inside your house.

Before selecting and cultivating your Monstera plants in your garden, let's begin with the considerations you need to make.

Height Of The Plant

Your Monstera plant's height is a very crucial issue to take into consideration. These plants may reach a maximum height of three meters when grown indoors, and in comparison, they can reach heights of twenty meters in their native habitat.

Choose a species with a lower mature size if you want to cultivate them outside but are just interested in having a little plant. This will ensure that they do not become unmanageable.

Swiss Cheese Plant

A helpful hint for ensuring that your plant reaches its full potential is to provide it with assistance as it grows. You may also make it into a hanging plant by allowing the tendrils to dangle down from a higher location.

To provide support for indoor plants, you might make use of a wooden pole or stake. You may get a trellis for your outside plants to have something to climb up and around.

Green Plant

Monstera Plants

Monstera Plants

The height can vary significantly from one species of Monstera plant to another, so it is essential to pick carefully. For instance, although having leaves somewhat smaller than those of its more well-known relative, Monstera deliciosa, Monstera borsigiana is nonetheless capable of reaching a commendable size.

Borsigiana leaves can only get to be around 50 centimeters long if they are grown indoors. In addition, the height of the vine can not even exceed three or four meters.

Soil

Using potting soil of a high grade is essential while growing Monstera plants inside. Since Monstera plants thrive best in humid environments, the ground should always be wet.

A helpful hint: Monitoring the pH value of the soil might be beneficial to the plant you're growing. The perfect earth would have a pH between 5 and 6, making it acidic.

Adding soil nutrients will facilitate a more rapid and robust development cycle. Pick peaty soil that drains well and is high in nutrients if you want the most significant results possible.

This particular kind of soil can hold onto rainfall without becoming too soggy. If the plant's roots become too moist and cannot drain, the plant may begin to rot due to the proliferation of germs.

Monstera Soil

Monstera Soil

Monstera Soil

Some folks have gone so far as to decide without using any soil, and they just put the plant in a jar or a glass vase with the roots facing the bottom of the container. Because freshwater does not contain bacteria, the plant will not decay if given this treatment.

On the other hand, you will need to change the water more regularly, and it may become more challenging for the plant to obtain all the nutrients it requires.

When planting outside, use a location that has good drainage or is raised to keep the plant from submerging in water.

The temperature needs to be maintained, and you should regularly mist your plant with water if there is no humidity. Additionally, as with indoor plants, you should continue to fertilize the soil with a quality product.

Potting

A plant in good health needs room for its roots to spread out. It is crucial to remember to report your Monstera plant once a year because these plants like to develop rather rapidly. Purchase a new container approximately 5 centimeters larger than the one you already have.

Pick an extensive and deep container to give the roots room to spread out, and then place a stake in the center of the container for the plant to grow. If you do not want to grow your plant as a hanging plant, you must support it.

Monstera Plant Pot

Fill the pot about a third of the way with new dirt before putting your Monstera plant in it, and then add the plant's roots at the bottom of the container. The remaining space in the container may then progressively fill by adding dirt around the plant's roots and stem.

When planting outside, you need to dig a hole twice as big as the root ball of the plant you are producing. After that, cover the plant with dirt to the point where the aerial roots are hidden.

Monstera Plants Room

If you want to grow aerial roots inside, you may add a new layer of soil on top of the existing dirt. After that, you should bury the exposed ends of the aerial roots into it.

A valuable piece of advice for regulating the height of Monstera plants is to continue cultivating them in the same container once they have reached the desired size.

Plant Pots

However, you will still need to replace the soil on your plant annually to keep it alive. If your Swiss Cheese plant reacts differently and continues to expand, all you have to do is prune it so that it is the size you desire.

It is helpful to know that Monstera plants may tolerate little pruning without experiencing any adverse effects on their health.

Light

LIGHT

LIGHT

In their native environment, Monstera plants will climb up the trunks of nearby trees to reach higher ground. In this manner, they can access the sunshine via the plants' canopies.

It is essential to your plant's rapid development and overall health that you expose it to enough amount of sunlight.

It can harm The plant if exposed to direct sunlight, which will cause the leaves to burn and dry up the plant. In contrast, even if Monstera plants do not receive direct sunshine for most of the day, they may still be able to live but will significantly slow down their growth rate.

If you intend to cultivate your plants inside, select a location that receives sufficient indirect sunlight to ensure the plant's growth.

A helpful hint is that Monstera plants do best when they are kept in a room with a temperature consistently between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius, and it is the ideal temperature for the Swiss cheese plant that you have to cultivate.

Monstera Plant Care

Monstera Plant Care

Monstera Plant Care

Maintaining the health of your Monstera plant requires consistent attention in watering, fertilizing, repotting, and cleaning. In the following paragraphs, you will find the most essential Monstera plant care recommendations that you need to know to keep your plant alive and ensure its continued success.

Watering

Monstera plants, like all other plants, require enough irrigation, mainly because in the wild, they thrive in moist conditions. Spraying the leaves a few times a week with water can assist in restoring some of the humidity that is lost.

Your plant will have all it requires if you do this, and you won't have to relocate it into a heated greenhouse. Your plant will remain neat as a result of this action!

Additionally, giving your plant water once or twice weekly is essential. You can tell how dry the soil is by touching it if you can't recall the last time you watered the plant.

If the soil is dry anywhere from 2 to 5 centimeters (cm) deep, then now is the ideal time to water your plant.

Fertilizer

Fertilizer

Fertilizer

You must select the appropriate fertilizer for your Monstera plants if you want to improve the overall quality of the soil's nutrient content. You can use a liquid solution that is balanced 20-20-20 and contains a mixture of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

Your Swiss Cheese plant would also benefit from being fertilized with a fertilizer that has a liquid ratio of 15-30-15. It can potentially encourage the quick production of roots and rapid growth, including budding. The following is a list of some of the most effective fertilizers used on Monstera plants.

A word of advice: during the warm summer, you should fertilize your plant every two weeks. In the winter, once every four to six weeks should be plenty.

Decaying Monstera Plant

Decaying Monstera Plant

Decaying Monstera Plant

Your plant will stop developing if it does not receive enough nutrients, is underwatered, or does not receive the necessary amount of sunshine. If this continues, your plant may eventually perish.

Pests

Pests that most commonly attack Monstera plants are called spider mites, responsible for the yellow specks that may be seen on the leaves. These are easy to see since they tend to congregate and produce white webs all over your Monstera plants.

You will need to clean your plant well and then spray it with water to eliminate these pests.

If the mites have wholly covered your plant, you should wrap it in a bag made of clear plastic and either cover it with an insecticide or warm water.

After you have sealed the bag and left it alone for two to three days, all of the mites should have perished.

Spider Mite Monstera

Spider Mite Monstera

Spider Mite Monstera

Scale insects are another type of pest that isn't quite as common but causes just as much trouble.

When they consume the plant, the animal's saliva includes poisons capable of destroying it. The white patches may recognize them they leave behind on the plants where they have been.

If you discover that your Monstera plants are infested with these insects, treat them with an insecticidal spray or oil. Sticks, which are then buried in the ground, are another kind of pest control. Because they go up the plant via the roots, the entire plant is effectively rendered poisonous to the many pests that feed on it.

We strongly suggest beginning with plant pest solutions, such as the options listed here.

Even while scale insects can cause harm to your indoor plants at any time of the year, the colder months, when your home is heated, are the times when they are most likely to appear. The conditions are ideal for the reproduction of unwanted organisms at this time.

Monstera Plant 2

Diseases

Monstera Plant 2 Diseases

Monstera Plant 2 Diseases

The only reason your Swiss Cheese plant may become infected with a disease is if you do not provide it with the appropriate level of care. It might be due to an insufficient amount of sunshine, water, or plant fertilizer, or it could be due to an excessive amount. Or a shift in either the temperature or the humidity of the atmosphere.

The following are some basic guidelines for identifying and treating illnesses that affect Monstera plants:

  • The browning of the leaf tips might be due to a lack of humidity in the air or to the fact that you are not spraying your plant with water frequently enough.
  • The yellowing of the leaves signifies that the plant is getting much water or that the soil is not draining well enough and is retaining too much moisture around the roots. In addition, this might result in the accumulation of germs surrounding the seeds, which leads to the same problem.
  • If you see brown patches, the air temperature is too low.
  • Infections caused by fungi and plants might occur if the plant support is wet for an extended period or becomes unclean.

Flowers And Fruits From The Monstera Plant

Flowers And Fruits From The Monstera Plant

Flowers And Fruits From The Monstera Plant

Some Monstera varieties can produce flowers, but the plant must first mature for 6 and 8 years. Both the Monstera deliciosa and the Monstera adansonii are capable of flowering and delivering large, stunningly white flowers.

Never say never, even though this is extremely unlikely and almost always only occurs with plants grown outside.

Suppose you want to speed up the process. In that case, you need to remember that the surrounding environment has a humidity and temperature level that is exceptionally close to what the plant experienced in its natural environment in the jungle.

Monstera fruits may reach a length of up to 25 centimeters and have a shape similar to that of corn or maize. These may be eaten and have a distinct aroma resembling that of pineapples.

When fruit begins to take on a yellowish hue, it is a sign that it is becoming ripe, and it has reached its full maturity when it gives off a pleasant aroma.

Growing A Monstera Plant

Growing A Monstera Plant

Growing A Monstera Plant

May quickly propagate The monstera plant from cuttings. Doing so is an excellent method to boost the time they spend in your house.

If you want to start a new Monstera plant from a cutting, the best way is to cut off a piece of the parent plant just below the node of an aerial root.

The node may be planted straight in soil or placed in water to start it off. After some time has passed, roots should begin to sprout, which will result in the creation of a whole new Monstera plant for you to add to your collection!

Monstera Plants For Sale

Are you interested in purchasing some Monstera plants? In this day and age, carrying out the task online is by far the most convenient option. You may find that there are more options available to select from when you do your plant shopping online.

Here are some of the most well-known types of Monstera that are now available online. Make sure you read up on the proper maintenance techniques for the species of plant that you decide to keep!

Not Your Typical Creature Of The Night

Monstera Plant Care

Monstera Plant Care

If you've been following along so far, you'll probably acknowledge that we're right when we say that monsteras don't have anything sinister about them.

On the other hand, Monstera plants are stunning, low-maintenance, and incredibly eye-catching no matter where you put them, which is to say, in the best possible way.

We have high hopes that you have already decided on one or two pieces to bring into your house or that you will do so very shortly. Enjoy the tropical rainforest ambiance that your Monstera plants bring into your home or backyard.

We appreciate you, plant.

Please do not hesitate to contact us or post a response in the comments section below if you have any further inquiries we have not yet addressed. We'd be thrilled to get some feedback from you!

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I trim the yellow leaves and the leaves that have started to decay off of my Monstera?

Monstera plants are known for their resilience, as they can survive in various harsh environments for extended periods. It is recommended, however, that you remove these parts of the plant to permit the healthy parts to continue developing typically. Be sure to give them enough water and check for any common infections.

Where should Monstera plants be placed while they are kept inside?

You must position your Monstera plant in a location that receives adequate indirect sunlight. Do not put your plant in an area with insufficient light because doing so will slow down the growing process. Also, avoid storing it in a place that might be damaged by direct sunlight.

Do Monstera leaves become bigger?

The leaves can be grown more than a meter in length as the vine grows since they grow alongside it and can reach a height of up to 20 meters. It entirely depends on the type of Monstera you have and the environment in which it is placed. When cultivated inside a tiny container, the leaf growth will be restricted, however, when grown outside in the soil, it will be unrestricted.

How much light does a Monstera deliciosa require to thrive?

Monsteras require brilliant indirect solid light, and the more light they receive, the better. They follow the standard diet when living in their native surroundings. You should avoid exposing them to direct sunlight since it might cause them to get sunburned. These are not the types of plants that should be grown in the shade! Learn more about the proper care of Monstera plants here.