Monstera Deliciosa| Growing and Training This Fascinating Plant
The Monstera Deliciosa is also known as the Swiss Cheese plant.
Let me start by saying I really and truly dislike this common name for the plant. Not only it’s “cheesy”, (no pun intended), but it is misleading and confusing.
Many people use this common name for other similar plants, making it too confusing. For this reason, I won’t refer to this plant as the Swiss Cheese plant. Not in this article, not in my Insta posts, not on my Pinterest Pins. Just never.
Now that I am done with my rant, let’s continue…
The Monstera Deliciosa is a fascinating and extremely popular houseplant.
This plant is mostly known for its unique fenestrated leaves, (leaves with holes).
However, to me, the most fascinating aspect of the Monstera Deliciosa is its ability to climb over other plants and trees in the wild, and over poles and trellises indoors.
Its aerial roots give it that extra “wild jungle” look, as if the giant fenestrated leaves weren’t tropical enough!
The Monstera Deliciosa, and in particular its “holy leaf”, has been all the rage all over Instagram for years. Together with the Fiddle Leaf Fig and the Rubber Plant, it has become an iconic plant used to stage architectural interiors, products still life, and blog images all over the web.
But there is more to this plant than just its leaf!
So let’s dig in!
MONSTERA deliciosa ORIGINS
The Monstera Deliciosa is a tropical plant native to the tropical forests of Southern Mexico.
It has subsequently been introduced to other tropical areas, where it has become mildly invasive.
The Monstera is an epiphytes, a plant that grows on top of other plants and trees, (like many types of ferns and orchids). It uses its long aerial roots to crawl, climb and anchor itself to these plants.
The name MONSTERA comes from the monstrous size the plant can grown into, while DELICIOSA refers to its edible fruit.
A young Monstera has small heart shaped leaves with no perforations. As the plant grows and matures, the leaves become progressively darker and deeper in colour, bigger in size, and with more and pronounced fenestrations.
As mentioned before, there is much misconception and confusion about what the real Monstera Deliciosa is. The common name “Swiss Cheese” plant definitely doesn’t help the situation, as there are other plants with holes.
Here below are three different plants that are often mislabelled and called interchangeably Monstera Deliciosa, Philodendron Monstera or Swiss Cheese plant.
This is a Monstera Deliciosa Leaf from an adult plant. It’s not an old plant as the size of the leaf is not that big yet, and it’s colour is not as dark as it will become with age.
Photo Credit: Isabell Winter on Unsplash
This is a Split Leaf Philodendron leaf. Clearly different from the Monstera Deliciosa leaf. It is not a fenestrated heart shaped leaf. The Split Leaf Philodendron does not have any holes in its leaves. Just split leaves.
Photo Credit: Huy Phan on Unsplash
And this one is a Monstera Adansonii leaf. Its leaves are not heart shaped like in the Monstera Deliciosa. They have the “cheesiest” look of them all as their holes are mostly holes and not long cuts like in the Monstera Deliciosa. In addition, both plant and leaves are much smaller in scale than the Monstera Deliciosa.
Monsteras and Split Leaf Philodendrons are inherently different plants.
So, if like me, you bought a plant that has been labelled as “Philodendron Monstera”, and it has heart shaped leaves with a few perforations, you’ve got yourself a Monstera Deliciosa, NOT a Philodendron!
Monsteras climb. Philodendrons, by nature, trail. However, the Split Leaf Philodendron doesn’t even trail, and its leaves are split. They do not have perforations.
My Monstera Deliciosa newest leaves standing tall reaching for the South facing window light in my home office.
MONSTERA deliciosa IN THE WILD
The Monstera Deliciosa really does grow to a monstrous size in the wild!
And so does its inflorescence and fruit.
Picture a lush tropical rainforest in Central America…Monsteras crawl all over the forest with their aerial roots, anchoring themselves to other plants and trees that provide them with the perfect environment to thrive.
In this environment, Monsteras can grow up to 20 meters, (66 feet) in size!
They tend to climb up high into the trees to reach the sunlight, but they are still low enough to be sheltered by those tall trees’ leaves that host them.
The Monstera flower rarely grows in indoor plants, and it is very similar to the Peace Lily specialized leaf, composed of a Spathe, (the white hooded leaf protecting the central stem), and a Spadix, (the central stem, which in the Monstera is the actual fruit).
The fruit is edible to humans. However, if eaten before it’s ripe, it can be quite irritating to the mouth!
This fruit takes over a year to ripen and during this time it gives a sweet and strong scent, similar to those of pineapple and bananas.
Photo Credit: Olena Shmahalo on Unsplash
This is the Monstera Deliciosa inflorescence, (flower). The middle Spadix, (stem), will take over a year to ripen and become an edible fruit.
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MONSTERA deliciosa CARE INDOORS
The Monstera Deliciosa is an extremely popular indoor plant, due to the tremendous publicity its beautiful mature leaves get!
The one thing people often are not aware of, is that even indoors, if properly cared for, Monsteras grow really big! In-fact, they can grow up to 2-3 meters, (7-10 feet) big!
You need space for Monsteras! Unless, you want to trim them…
Monsteras are pretty easy to grow and maintain, so it’s not that hard to find yourself with a pretty big plant in a relatively short period of time!
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, to me, one of the most fascinating aspects of this plant, is its ability to climb over poles or trellises. There are so many creative ways you can get your plant to climb!
Monsteras leaves are so beautiful that is important to keep them clean at all times! Gently rub the leaves to remove dust following these simple steps.
Clean leaves are not only beautiful; they are also healthier! A layer of dust on your plant’s leaves can make the process of photosynthesis less effective!
You can also read this other article I wrote about the Monstera Deliciosa for more in-depth maintenance and care instructions.
Before we dig into the care details for this plant, it’s worth mentioning that the Monstera Deliciosa is toxic to cats and dogs, as listed by the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). If any part of the plant is ingested, it can cause severe symptoms.
BEFORE
This is how my Monstera Deliciosa looked like the day I took it home. As you can see, there are only 3 fenestrated leaves, (the biggest ones at the top).
AFTER
This is how my Monstera looks 20 months after! This is why I am telling you that you need space for these plants! This is not even 2 years worth of growth! You can definitely notice how many more fenestrated leaves the plant has grown. And the more the plant grows, the bigger the leaves become!
LIGHT
In the wild, Monsteras are never exposed to direct sunlight, as the foliage from trees they are anchored to filter the majority of the direct sunlight.
Indoors, Monsteras thrive in bright, indirect light. Ideal locations are North or East facing windows.
The more bright light they receive, the more fenestrations you’ll notice on their leaves.
Monsteras are suitable for medium light areas as well. However, I have personally noticed the difference in growth and development from having the same plant in medium light and in bright, indirect light.
The plant definitely thrives in bright, indirect light. Its growth and development in medium light was much slower, and the leaves were smaller, with less fenestrations.
You can see my Monstera is basking in some direct light in this picture…As much as I have been telling you NO DIRECT light for this plant, I haven’t been good at following my own recommendations! That’s because these are very soft and early winter morning South rays. AND, this type of exposure has been limited only to the few weeks the Christmas Tree was up and I had to move my Monstera to make room for the tree.
WATER, HUMIDITY & FERTILIZING
Like the majority of tropical plants, the Monstera Deliciosa thrives in highly humid environments.
Having said that, this is one of those plants that does quite well in the average home humidity. It doesn’t struggle for humidity like Prayer Plants or Calatheas.
In addition to its regular watering, I mist my Monstera twice a week with distilled water. I use distilled water because I live in an area with really hard tap water, and I like to avoid water stains on my plant’s leaves.
As far as water goes, Monsteras need to be watered when the top 1/4 or 1/3 of its soil is dry to the touch. For our environment it corresponds to once a week. It also really depends on the size of plant you have and the type of pot you have your plant in.
It is critical that you have your plant in a well draining pot, so that no water is accumulated at the bottom of the pot.
Stagnant water causes root rot, and eventually plant’s death.
I recommend fertilizing your Monstera every time you water it from Spring to Fall, by simply adding liquid fertilizer to your water.
SOIL AND REPOTTING
Monsteras are epiphytes, and they barely rely on soil in nature, as they climb over other plants and trees.
For this reason, it is really important to provide this plant with well draining soil.
I recommend adding a good amount of perlite to your regular soil mix and to use a terracotta pot that promotes great drainage.
You know it’s time to repot your Monstera when the plant starts to tip its pot!
Or, when you lift it from its pot and you see its roots are crammed! Even though Monsteras like to be slightly root bound, there is a point in which, there is more roots than soil in the pot.
When it’s time to repot, don’t go too big! One size, max two size bigger pot is what your Monstera needs! For example, if your Monstera has outgrown its 8″ pot, repot it into a 10″ pot.
When you go out to buy, (or peruse online for), a new pot, consider buying a coco coir or moss pole too!
As soon as you notice your Monstera branches trailing down, I recommend you start training them to climb on a central pole.
Repotting is a great time to place a central pole in the middle of the pot for your Monstera to climb on.
TRAINING your monstera to climb
“Training” a plant to climb a pole or a trellis, or even a wall, simply means to manually anchoring it to such support.
SIDE NOTE: You can even train indoor English Ivies to climb walls by initially fastening their long stems to the wall with small transparent adhesive clips. Eventually, the plant will literally grow its own sticky feet, and will naturally and independently climb the wall by itself.
The sooner you start training your Monstera Deliciosa to climb a central pole, the easier it will be to continue to shape the direction of your plant.
I know I waited too long for mine, and I did have a hard time untangling a mess of branches and long aerial roots…
All you need is a central pole and some gardener soft wire to fasten your branches in strategic spots along the pole.
For more details on training Monstera Deliciosa and to access step by step instructions, check out this more in-depth article I wrote about Monstera Deliciosa Maintenance and care.
I had to train my Monstera to climb on this coco coir pole after repotting it into a bigger pot. Its branches and aerial roots were falling all over the place so I had to give the plant some support. It wasn’t easy to untangle branches and long aerial roots, but with patience I got it done. When you first secure your branches to the pole, your plant will look like a mess, but after a few weeks all the leaves will adjust and twist to face the sun.
PROPAGATING
I propagate my Monstera Deliciosa by stem cuttings.
I know another common method is by air layering but I have never done it that way, so I don’t want to recommend it.
Propagating Monsteras by stem cuttings is no different than propagating any other plants by cutting.
Simply cut the stem right under a leaf node. Remove the bottom leaves and root in water for a few weeks. No need for any rooting hormones.
Some place the cutting directly in soil, but I like to watch the roots grow in water, week after week.
Propagating your Monstera is a great way to reduce the size of your plant if it’s getting too big for your home, and to spread the plant love with the people you love! 💚
I am going to leave you with this “leaf in a leaf” picture I am so fond of!
There is nothing like watching a new leaf growing right through one of the holes of another leaf!
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Hello. I’m having a problem with my new monstera leaves turning brown before fully opening. What could be causing this?
Hello Gail,
I am sorry to hear that! Why don’t you send me a picture of your monstera at my email address you’ll find in the CONTACT section of my website?
Cheers!