Monstera - learn to properly care for tropical vines.

Europeans saw this beautiful liana with carved leaves in the tropical jungle of South America and immediately christened it a monster, a monster. So she entered our homes under this name, simultaneously adding the letter "e" to him.

How to provide care and reproduction of monstera at home, we will describe below.

Monstera in nature - plant description

Monstera is a large tropical plant, evergreen liana, Aroid family. Its native habitat is the equatorial part of America, to be more precise - Brazil and Mexico. Later, she was brought to India and successfully settled there.

A monstera can grow up to 20 meters in length, clinging to trees. Throughout the trunk of the creeper you can see the descending aerial roots. The leaves of the monstera are large, up to 90 centimeters, often pinnate and perforated. Monstera blooms on the cob, forming a completely edible berry.

Monstera blooms in nature with large cob flowers

It should be noted that in some species of monster leaves are poisonous, so a person who has eaten a piece of a plant may get burned mucous membranes or poisoning.

The discovery of the monstera by the Europeans is closely related to the legend of killer plants. In those distant times, people saw skeletons of animals and people in the forests, permeated through the aerial roots of this giant creeper. And the imagination painted a picture of how a plant kills all living things with its tentacles, although in reality, the roots sprouted through the skeletonized remains. Perhaps that is why she was called the monster (monstrum), which is translated from Latin means a monster.

In the tropics, the monstera grows up to 20 meters in height, scrambling along tree trunks, and the first Europeans to see this creeper descending aerial roots seemed scary tentacles

In the XVIII century, the plant moved to Europe and began to win the hearts of people and a place in their homes. Then, together with the British colonies, it came to India and spread further east.

Now Monstera is a favorite houseplant. The variety of species allows you to choose a tropical vine of almost any size: for a small room or living room, or for a greenhouse.

To successfully grow in a room, she needs diffused light, high humidity and support for growth.

Philodendrons are often confused with a monster, especially when the plants are young and do not have characteristic openings on the leaves.

Very often in stores they sell us a monster like a philodendron and vice versa. Indeed, young plants are very difficult to distinguish from each other, and until 1763 it was one genus Philodendron. Both species are aroid, both are creepers with cirrus leaves, bloom the same, but there is still a difference. The cut philodendron secrete milky juice of red, orange, yellow color, sometimes the juice is colorless, but when exposed to air it turns brown.

Types and varieties with names

Depending on the room where you want to grow a tropical vine, you can acquire different types. For tall and spacious greenhouses, the following varieties are well suited: Adanson, oblique, and delicious. For the house, choose more compact vines: a delicate one, its kind of monstera Alba, Borzig, thin.

Monstera is delicious. The second name is attractive. The most popular type for indoor cultivation. At a young age, her leaves are whole, heart-shaped, and in an adult, plants grow up to 60 cm in diameter and are strongly dissected. In indoor conditions, the monstera delicate does not grow above three meters, and in greenhouses and in nature - 12 meters. With proper care, it blooms with a large cob, whose length is 25 centimeters and a width of 20 centimeters. After pollination, a berry fruit appears that ripens for several months and tastes like pineapple.

Delicious Monstera Gives Edible Fruit

Monstera variegate, aka Monstera Alba. A variety of delicious, but with variegated white leaves. It grows slowly, makes increased demands on light and nutrition. Sold Dutch specimens often lose their diversity and become ordinary delicacy monsters.

Monstera Alba (variegate) is distinguished by variegated white-green leaves

Monstera Borzig. Very common in Mexico, medium-sized feathery leaves, up to 30 cm in diameter, good for a room. Compared to a gourmet monster, it has thinner stems and grows well. Almost all Dutch plants of the Borzig variety.

Monstera Adanson (punched, full of holes). An eight-meter vine with ovoid leaves 25-55 centimeters long and 20 to 40 centimeters wide. The leaf plate is closed with oval and round holes, unequal, expanding to the petiole. It rarely blooms in the room, with a narrow ear up to 12 centimeters in length.

Monstera Adanson has characteristic oval openings on the leaves

Monstera is oblique. It also has the names: Monstera Expilate and Crescent Monstera. Inhabitant of the rainforests of Brazil and Guiana. The leaves are oval, long and narrow, which, due to the dry air in the room, can become very small, which makes the plant look groomed. The best place to grow is a wet greenhouse. It is there that the internodes become short, and the leaves grow up to 25 centimeters in length with a 15-centimeter width.

monstera oblique has long small leaves with oval holes

Monstera is thin. Small liana with openwork leaves. It grows very slowly and even an adult does not exceed 150 centimeters. The sheet unfolds whole, heart-shaped, but eventually become openwork. On one plant at the same time leaves can be in different stages: both whole and dissected, different in length and width. It looks very impressive, unpretentious, but rarely found on sale.

Thin monstera with delicate leaves - quite rare in apartments

Photo Gallery - Monster Grades

House conditions - table

Since the homeland of the liana is humid tropics, for successful cultivation and maximum decorativeness it is necessary to create just such conditions: humidity, ambient light and heat, and then, with proper care, the monstera will live with you for several decades.

Landing and transplanting monstera

It is not always possible to take a sprout of a monstera from acquaintances, then you have to buy it in a store. The instances can be different: from small recently rooted cuttings to adult plants of 2 meters. Therefore, after a purchase, it is worth approaching a monstera transplant individually.

Young plants develop very quickly, deplete the entire amount of soil literally in a year, so every spring they have to be replanted with a replacement pot for a larger one.

Adult plants are transplanted every 2-3 years, and every spring, the topsoil is surely changed, which is easily removed by hand.

Adult plants grown to the ceiling are very difficult to transplant

Huge vines under the ceiling are usually planted in large flower pots and tubs, so even once every 5 years they are not easy to transplant. But often, such old monsters become ugly due to the bare stem, the presence of a large number of aerial roots and a few leaves at the top. In this case, the monstera should be rejuvenated: cut off the whole aerial part, cut into cuttings so that each piece has an air root, and immediately put in separate containers.

Pot

The choice of size of the pot and its material depends on the plant. The more monstera, the more capacity for landing choose more, and preferably heavier. Therefore, they often use not plastic, but clay or wood. For a small stalk with two or three leaves, a pot with a volume of at least five liters is used, and for adult delicate monsters about 15-20 liters. It is important not to plant a small stalk immediately in a large-volume pot, as soil acidification is possible.

The pot for the monstera is selected taking into account the size of the plant

Priming

Use the nutrient soil of a slightly acid reaction, you can prepare it like this:

• 2 parts of turf land, 1 part of peat, 1 part of vermicompost or compost, 1 part of river pebbles or small expanded clay, 1 part of pine bark
• 2 parts of sod land, 1 part of leaf humus, 1 part of biohumus, 1 part of vermiculite, 1 part of coconut substrate
• 2 parts of ready-made soil for palm trees or philodendrons, 1 part biohumus, 1 part vermiculite, 1 part coconut fiber or pine bark

If you decide to use sand, be sure to take a large one.

Ready soil must be porous and nutritious.

How to transplant an adult plant

When replanting a plant with soil replacement, proceed in the following sequence:

1. We water the monster half an hour before the transplant.
2. We select the pot of the right size.
3. At the bottom we pour 4-5 centimeters of drainage - expanded clay.
4. Gently stick a scoop between the soil and the wall, remove the roots. If the pot is made of soft plastic, then you can crush the walls.
   

   The correct sequence of transplanting a houseplant

5. We turn the pot with the monster on its side, and pull out a lump of earth, holding the plant.
6. Carefully shake off the old earth on the oilcloth previously laid on the floor or table.
7. You can wash the roots in a bucket of water.
8. Pour the prepared soil in a small layer into a new pot and place the monstera so that the roots touch the soil. The plant is constantly supported by hand, do not let go.
   

   We put the plant in a pot and gently fall asleep with soil

9. We fall asleep with fresh soil, slightly pressing it.
10. We water the monster and again pour the earth to where the soil has settled.

A transplant of an adult plant with a large earthen lump is best done together.

Video - transplanting into a larger pot

Monstera in the interior

It is very important to understand that a huge heavy vine grows out of a small compact bush sold in a store, and it grows up and in breadth. Often, in order to reduce the amount of occupied space, they put supports on it.

Everyone wants to have such a compact bush of monstera, but it grows and stretches quickly.

In nature, the monstera climbs up the tree, in the rooms there is no point in planting tree branches, it is better to use special tubes wrapped in coconut fiber.

Most often, the monstera is tied to supports covered with coconut fiber

But the best option is to make the support itself from a plastic pipe with a cross section of 2-3 cm. A thick layer of sphagnum moss is wound on it, which perfectly retains moisture and will be an additional source of water for the aerial roots of the monstera.

Sphagnum moss is the perfect filling for homemade support

A stick of plastic coarse mesh 1 * 1 cm is wound on a stick with moss and fixed with wire or fishing line.

You can make a support from a large diameter plastic pipe, drill many holes for the roots on the side, and pour moss inside the stick. For good stability, this support should be installed on the cross and fixed in a pot even before planting the plant.

Monstera is often installed on stands, placed on a table or table.

Photo gallery - a plant in the interior

How to care for a monster at home

Monstera is rather unpretentious in leaving, only variegated forms require improved conditions of detention.

Watering and feeding

Despite the fact that the monstera loves high humidity, often it should not be watered. The soil in the pot should dry from above. Due to a slight wax coating, the leaves evaporate not so much moisture. When hibernating, the monsters on the insulated balcony are watered after the majority of the earthen coma has dried.

It is advisable to use warm, settled or rain water.

With the annual transplantation of young plants into fertile soil, monstera can not be fed, but adult plants, in which the soil does not change, are in great need of mineral and organic substances. Use in the warm season liquid organic and mineral fertilizers 2 times a month.

In the warm season, you should feed the monster with liquid fertilizers

Very large old plants are additionally sprayed with fertilizers on the leaf, spreading them in accordance with the instructions on the label.

In winter, a monster can continue to be fed only if it is kept in a warm room and there is enough light for it, new leaves are as large as summer ones. If the leaves become smaller and lighter, then the plant should be rearranged closer to the light source or illuminated with lamps.

Bloom

Most often, delicate monsters bloom in the rooms. But for this it is necessary to create optimal conditions for it for growth.

Monstera flower - an ear with a white or cream pericarp.

Monstera flower with buds

After flowering, the veil of the flower falls and the cob turns green. It matures from 8 to 10 months. In exotic countries, delicious monstera fruits are sold in local markets.

The monstera’s fruit is edible and tastes like pineapple.

Eating an unripe fruit is very dangerous, as you can be poisoned, and the ripe berry of an exotic creeper tastes like pineapple. It is also desirable to eat it with a fork, pricking individual grains, like a cob of ordinary corn.

Monstera fruit can be eaten like corn

The fruit of the monstera himself will say about ripeness: the green scales will fall off.

Rest period

In the wild, the monstera does not have a specific rest period. However, in apartments, especially in the northern parts of the country, where daylight is sharply shortened in autumn and winter and the brightness of the sun decreases, the temperature of the monstera should be reduced. It is optimal to keep it at 18-20 degrees, while reducing the amount of watering. This is done so that new leaves do not appear too often and do not stretch, because with a lack of lighting they become smaller, and the internodes increase. If you have a sunny winter or a monstera is in the greenhouse, where the same temperature and day length are maintained all year round, then leaving in winter is no different from summer.

Crown formation

Get a lush bush of monsters from one escape will not work. It stubbornly grows upwards and if there is no support, it spreads along the surface. If the liana has grown and the lower part of the stem is bare, then you can cut the crown with an aerial root and root it, and the remaining trunk can give new side shoots.

If you plant several monstera cuttings in one pot at once, then a more magnificent vine will grow than usual. But she also needs support and a guide garter.

In nature, the monstera clings to the trees with aerial roots and leaf cuttings.In addition, aerial roots absorb moisture from the air and additionally nourish the vine, and when they reach the ground, they grow into it.

In rooms, aerial roots are advised to be tied with wet moss or sent to a support with soil (if used) or to a bottle of water.

Never clip aerial roots.

Monster Care Mistakes - Table

The most common care errors lead to the appearance of whole sheets, their crushing, yellowing.

Monstera Diseases and Pests - Table

Monster’s diseases are practically not affected. The main reasons for the deterioration of the plant are associated with violations of care: dry air and soil, lack of light or excess moisture. With good care, the monstera does not get sick, but pests do not bypass it.

Photo Gallery - Diseases and Pests, Care Mistakes

Breeding

Monstera gained its popularity not only because of its spectacular appearance, but also because of its simple and easy reproduction.

Cuttings

It is easiest to propagate the vine by cuttings, and it doesn’t matter where it comes from: whether it is the top of the plant with leaves, or part of the stem with one leaf and aerial root, or side shoot - the rooting technology is the same:

1. Sprinkle the cuttings with powdered charcoal or slightly dry.
2. A layer of drainage and soil for the monstera are poured into a small pot.
3. The apical cuttings are placed vertically in the ground, deepened by a couple of centimeters, and short stem cuttings with an air root and one leaf can be laid flat and secured against displacement by a bracket.
   

   Part of the stem with a kidney and aerial root can be laid horizontally on the ground

4. Water the plant and cover it with a cap from a transparent bag, creating a humid microclimate inside.
5. Put the pot in a warm and bright place, but without direct sunlight.
6. Water regularly in the morning and evening in small portions of warm, settled water.

When propagating with an apical cuttings, on which there are no roots, it is better to use a glass of water instead of soil, where to put a tablet of activated carbon and lower the cutting itself. Only after the appearance of 3 roots can it be transplanted to a permanent place.

If there are no roots on the handle, it is better to root it in a jar of water, putting it in a bright, warm place, but without direct sunlight

Video - planting monstera rooted in water

Propagation of monstera leaves without a piece of stem often does not give the desired result, but even it can take root if put in water.

Sometimes even a monstera leaf can give root

If the monstera has powerful aerial roots, then try to propagate it by layering, to do this, put the selected roots in a water bottle and wait until they become fibrous. When the roots reach splendor, a cut is made on the stem under the root and the stalk is separated. The slice is sprinkled with charcoal and planted in the ground monstera.

When propagating by a monster by layering, the root mass is first increased, and only then the cuttings are cut from the plant

In any case, the best time for cuttings is spring and the beginning of summer.

Seed cultivation

This is a rather long lesson, but sometimes it’s interesting to see how a huge vine grows from a small seed. Then she becomes like a member of the family.

Seeds are needed fresh and are usually not found in stores; it is easier to find them on special sites dedicated to exotic plants.

Sowing is carried out in pots with drainage and soil for monstera. At a temperature of 20-25 degrees, it emerges within a month. During this waiting period, the soil and air humidity should be constantly maintained, so it is better to cover the pot with a transparent bag.

In the first six months, the monstera will have juvenile leaves, that is, without cuts and ovals inherent in the planted variety.

Young monsters require the same care as adults: heat, humidity, ambient light. For 2 years, a vine grown from seeds can grow with nine leaves, it will be very hardy and adapted to your conditions.

Video - growing monstera from seeds

To look spectacular in the interior of a monstera, you need to choose a beautiful support, periodically wipe the leaves from dust, and you can spray them with special sprays.

Special leaf sprays protect them from dust

Remember that she loves space and it’s better to put another indoor flower in a small corner than to push a huge vine.

Florist reviews

My monster is 4 years old. Growing fast. True, I do not often feed, I buy top dressing in a store for non-flowering plants, I regularly spray leaves with water. But often watered, but she was sick from this. Then I was confused, panicked a bit, looked closely, when watering, many small insects climbed onto the top of the soil. The flower disappeared before our eyes, the leaves were dropping, some were turning yellow, in general, here it was. Just in case, I tore off a healthy leaf into the water to grow in a new way. But there was a way out. It is necessary to water no more than once a week in the winter with settled water, and in the summer it is necessary to determine by soil, if it is slightly wet I do not water, if dry, then you need to moderate water. Proper watering for these plants, as well as for the rest, is very important. This is the first. And secondly, I sprinkled the soil with sand in a very dense layer, about 1 cm in height, so that the soil was not visible. Thus, I managed to get rid of annoying insects that wound up in moist soil. And then transplanting to another soil did not give effect, although I definitely didn’t have them in the new soil and I washed the roots, but nevertheless a lot of these same insects again attacked the flower immediately. Sand and very moderate watering helped. Now she has completely moved away from the disease, regularly gives new shoots. That's how I managed to reanimate my beautiful monster! Now this plant pleases me with its beauty, gives comfort to my home. Thank you for your attention, I will be pleased to help you with your advice.

• Ani •

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At first I wanted to call a review - "A flower for the lazy." But then I remembered how difficult it was to transplant this heavy bush, how to have to either drag it to the bathroom every month, or take a basin of water and a soft sponge to wash the leaves the size of a good shovel. But my elder bush is only three years old. What will happen in 5-10 years? And the monster needs a lot of space, which is up, that in breadth - narrow window sills and small-sized apartments are not for her. And you have to periodically go broke into a large pot and all kinds of supports. So if you prefer to live with flowers without hassle - do not take the monstera. Although she is a worthy representative of exotic plants. Not that beautiful, but rather original. Sometimes the monstera cries, predicting rainy or snowy weather. It’s also interesting how long the young leaves are folded into a tube before opening. I bought the first monster at a cheap price in Auchan - she had 5 small leaves without characteristic cuts and she looked like a small bouquet of young burdock))) But then the liana began to show its essence - it was not very beautiful to stretch upwards. I went online, figuring out how to make the monstera look like a lush bush. They advised to cut several cuttings and, having rooted them in water, planted them in a bunch. I did so. The fact that several branches were removed from it is now almost invisible: Monstera is a delicious photo, And this monster (the same bunch) is one and a half years younger than her mom. Monstera gourmet photo It stands on my fridge in the kitchen. It is a little dark, hot and a little dry there, but it does not reflect on it - it grows for itself, turns green, well, unless it is as fast as her mother. But decorates the kitchen. It cleans the air (I try to believe in it, but frankly, I don’t feel the real effect))) And the monster mommy is standing on my southeast window, the sun shines on it for half a day - and it also feels good, there are no burns . But it needs to be rotated periodically - it always actively pulls leaves towards the light, it may crash one day, it’s a lot. In this regard, the plant is not capricious - it grows under any conditions. Only watering should not be forgotten, after all, such a juicy monster needs a lot of water. I water every other day, but I don’t do swamps in a pot, of course. I feed with universal liquid fertilizer all year round. The soil is also universal, purchased. I transplanted the monster mom once all. Tormented. It is heavy, leaves are large, it is better to do this with an assistant.

Mona liza

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... For a long time I was looking for exactly the variegated form of this monster so that in childhood I would have a spectacular look - and because I love the variegated-painted color of the flowers. And found her) The difference is only in the coloring of the leaves. The rest is just like an ordinary green monster. It grows slowly, likes to bathe (I arrange a periodic hot shower for all colors), stands in a moderately lit place - its variegated shore, with a lack of light, color may suffer. I water it every 4-5 days, spray it, sit in an average pot. I love her bright, painted leaves) And I’m glad that my cats are completely indifferent to her. Do not chew, do not pinch, do not even smell. I recommend) A good, strong, almost problem-free plant.

sulvelu

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We have been growing Monstera for a long time, almost 9 years. At first it was an ordinary flower, less than 1 m in height, the leaves were not very large, it grew slowly. But then we rearranged it into a winter garden in our house - a room with large windows to the south and west, there is a lot of sun there, places too. And the monstera began to grow. The leaves became larger in diameter, a new sheet appeared once every 2-3 months. Now the average leaf size is 90 x 80 cm. The height of the vine from the ground level is 3.5 meters, and if the vine is laid out in a straight line, it will be at least 5 meters ... I note that I look after the monster like any other flower - I regularly water it and a couple Once a year my husband brings a stepladder and I wipe the leaves from dust. I NEVER prune aerial roots; they must not be touched. When they grow long enough, then I just send them into the pot and they take root. Even in the winter garden, we constantly have a humidifier. That's all. And now the most interesting. Monstera is BEARING with us !!! One fine day, SOMETHING appeared. It was not a leaf, but some kind of beige roll, similar to a very large banana. After a few days it became clear - this is a flower! He opened, inside he had a lump, similar to a large peeled corn cob. A couple of days later, the beige flower fell off and the lump remained. I began to look for information and found out that it was the fruit of the monstera, and that at home (really? !) Monstera does not bear fruit. The fruit ripens within a year and it is edible, it is impossible to eat unripe fruits, it may be a burn of the mucous membrane, you need to wait until it ripens. We decided to wait. Almost a year passed, new leaves appeared, and the fruit still hung. And then one evening I hear a roar, I run up - and the fruit fell off! Well, I think it's time. The green peel was easily peeled off, under it was a light flesh. The fruit is really very similar in structure to corn: in the very center there is a hard inedible core, around it is a light flesh like corn seeds, and on top is a green peel. The fruit tastes like pineapple with a slight flavor of mango. Very tasty! Some time after the first fruit fell off, two more flowers and, accordingly, two fruits appeared on the monster. Then two more. More recently, just a month ago, two fruits ripened and we ate them, now two more are ripening.

vergo

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Hello everyone! I liked this plant with its fantastically carved leaves. I bought a small copy in the shopping center. I tried to plant it in different vessels. At first I planted 20 liters in a clay pot, but apparently the monster did not like it. She grew up poorly, began to languish.It was thought that the reason was that it was 1.5 m from the south window and from excessive watering: the very thick walls of the pot and the substrate did not dry out for a long time. I looked at her a new plastic pot with the same volume as the previous one and moved it to the window 1 m , the sun began to fall on her regularly. When I transplanted, I made 3 out of one monster. It so happened that I had to leave for six months. And take the monstera and trample! Especially one of the shoots. Upon arrival I found a very overgrown plant. My big mistake was that I did not buy a support for him, and the plant was left to my own devices. Having decided to fix the omission, I bought a stick with a coconut fiber 1.5 m long. But no matter how I tried, I could not give it a normal look, by extorting one of the trunks with a diameter of 3 cm. It seemed to me that the only way out was to renew the plant in a new way, cutting all 3 of its shoots into cuttings. It turned out 7 pcs. The most outstanding stalk: petiole length 65cm, leaf plate more than 40cm. And one more grew as a result of an experiment from a segment of the trunk. Just put a piece, as it seemed to me, with growth points on top of the substrate, and lightly sprinkled it with earth. I did this with two trimmings, but the second is still lying. trunk trimming kid trunk trimming kid I now have 8 monsters in one pot, neatly arranged in a circle around the support. And all the leaves are different: ordinary, carved, carved with holes. top view of the top view They say that it has weak roots, nothing like it - an earthen lump, 20l sprouted right through. At the moment I see that after 2 months only one of the cuttings has grown. while only one stalk has set out on the road, only one stalk has set off; I don’t know if 8 pieces get along in one pot? Has anyone had a similar experience? I water once every 10-14 days with a minimum dose of fertilizer. Sometimes I wipe the leaves with a damp cloth. The top of the substrate is strongly oxidized to put moss cuckoo flax on top of it to give it a more aesthetic appearance. The pot with the plant is not heavy, I had to buy a mobile stand for mobility. I read a lot that this plant is not for home because of its large size. You can prevent the plant from growing in size by adjusting the size of the pot - no more than 3 liters.

Marina Petrova

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Many people, having seen this beautiful and original creeper in offices and shops, fall in love with it and acquire such a plant for an apartment. But the fast-growing monstera is growing and it becomes crowded. Therefore, before deciding to grow a monstera in a living room, evaluate its dimensions, how harmoniously it fits into the interior, and whether you can look after a heavy multi-meter vine.