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If you give your Monstera deliciosa a lot of light, humidity, and ample warmth, you can get new leaves every couple of weeks.
Monsteras that are given more standard care grow much more slowly.
Monstera Deliciosa grows pretty quickly in general if you provide them with the right conditions.
This is great for those of you on a budget because it means that rather than spending £70 on a big one, you can buy a little one and wait.
If (and it’s a big if) you’re prepared to nurture it.
But, if you do everything properly, your monstera should have no problem producing new leaves on a monthly basis – more, if your plant is big enough to have multiple points of growth.
But the frequency with which your monstera grows new leaves isn’t something the plant controls.
You control that.
The plant just sits there, doing its best (which it will do – a plant will grow as big as it possibly can, given the opportunity).
It’s up to you to provide food, water, humidity, and light to enable it to grow. The bigger it gets, the more leaves it’ll be able to produce at once.
If your plant can grow one leaf per growth point per month, then the more growth points the plant has, the more leaves it can produce.
You can sometimes convince plants to start another growth point, but we’ll get into that later in the article.
This is a pretty in-depth article about coaxing monstera deliciosa to grow quickly. If you want more of a quick guide about general care, I have an article on that here.
How do you make Monstera grow faster?
Each of these individual care tips will help speed up your Monstera’s rate of growth, but if you combine them all, it’ll grow so fast you’ll be living in a jungle within weeks.
You can make Monstera grow faster by giving them more light
This is the single biggest thing you can do to make your plant grow faster.
Monstera are not plants that will thrive in low light.
They just tell you that so they can sell them.
Your monstera needs light to create energy to grow. In that respect, the more light the better.
However, as you probably know, the sun is pretty hot, and it burns you.
There are two route you can go down – the proper one and the lazy one.
The proper way is spend the time acclimating your Monstera by moving it into brighter light gradually over a few weeks.
The lazy way (which I much prefer because I’m a monster) is to whack it outside, burn every leaf to crisp, remove them, and then wait for the new growth to come in.
Plants produce various pigments to deal with various issues, and if they detect that they may need a bit of sunscreen, they’ll produce more carotenoids*.
*This is laymen’s terms. I’m making botanists very angry right now.
If you have a variegated Monstera, the white portions are more prone to burn, but mine is in a south-facing window and she’s doing great.
Grow lights can really, really speed up growth – and are less likely to burn your variegated Monstera.
I love this MarsHydro light – it really speeds up plant growth BUT it’s a professional grow light so it needs to be suspended, which can be a pain if you don’t want to put a hook in your ceiling. Mine is currently set up like this:
Obvs my Monsteras are not underneath it, because they don’t fit.
Grow lights don’t just produce light, they produce a bit of warmth as well, which can speed up growth, and help them grow year-round.
All lights are not produced equal – grow lights are much brighter than standard LED bulbs, but normal LED lights can provide a bit of extra energy for plants and help them grow.
But if you have your plant in a dark corner with a normal light, don’t expect quick growth. It’ll probably be 100% fine, just able to thrive as much as it could. You could always get a grow bulb though.
Increasing the light can also make your Monstera grow bushier.
If light is abundant, the internodal spacing is smaller. It’s quite hard to see on my Monstera so I’ll demonstrate on a schefflera:
See how the gaps between the nodes at the bottom are bigger? That’s due to the plant being in a lower light environment.
More light means a smaller internodal space, which means that the plant looks bushier. It also makes them WAY easier to stake and they look neater in general.
A large internodal space is what plant people mean when they call a plant leggy. It happens when plants stretch towards the light.
You can make Monstera grow faster by watering them properly
Monstera like to drink a LOT of water, but like most plants, overwatering will lead to root rot.
I know a lot of people would love a plant watering schedule, but let me be clear: we’re on the monstera’s watering schedule; it won’t adhere to ours.
If you’re on a mission to grow your plant super quickly, check the soil fairly often. Water it thoroughly when it’s almost dry.
This is the moisture probe I recommend. It’s super cheap from Amazon and doesn’t need batteries.
- If you’re more comfortable probing it every couple of days, go for it, but I doubt a plant that has soil above a 2 on the moisture metre will dry out to the point of root damage within a week UNLESS it’s in a tiny terracotta pot.
- Bottom water your monstera. Leave it to soak for a couple of hours. If the soil still isn’t thoroughly wet, then top water as well. This is especially important if your monstera is in a terracotta pot
Accidentally letting your Monstera totally dry out will not kill it (unless you do it a lot), but it will put the plant in survival mode, so all of the plant’s energy will focus solely on staying alive.
Things like growing new leaves and aerial roots will be put on the back burner.
You can make Monstera grow faster by increasing the humidity around them
This is the second most important thing that will dramatically increase how fast your Monstera will grow, after increasing the light.
So why put it third, below watering?
Because you can control how often you water your plant will little additional financial burden.
There’s not a lot you can do about increasing humidity, short of forking out for a humidifier.
Monstera are perfectly happy to survive in normal room humidity, which is usually around 40%.
If you have designs on growing an enormous Monstera (a monster Monstera if you will, lol, lol, lol) then 40% won’t get you there in a hurry.
If you don’t know what your humidity is, get yourself a hygrometer from Amazon. It comes with a battery and displays the humidity and temperature. They’re pretty cheap.
65% humidity is…great. Very good.
But get up to the 80s and you can get serious growth.
If you’re committing to getting your monstera to chuck out more leaves, and your humidity is under 60%, I’d advise you to get a humidifier. Misting can spread disease and fungus, and pebble trays are…fine, but neither are gonna get your humidity high enough.
The humidifier I recommend is the Levoit one. It’s recommended by a lot of plant care gurus for a couple of reasons:
- It produces warm mist as well as cool, so it won’t cool your plant in winter. Warm mist is also more rainforesty.
- It can be programmed to come on automatically when your humidity dips, so you don’t need to worry about remembering to run it
- It has a big reservoir so you’re not constantly filling it
- It’s not too noisy. There are some reviews on Amazon that say it’s noisy, but I defy you to find a humidifier on the market that doesn’t have at least one person complaining that it’s noisy.
And just think, you can make the money you spent on the humidifier back by selling Monstera cuttings.
Realistically, you’re not going to want to live in 80% humidity. 65% is more likely BUT I just want you to know that super high humidity is the key to fast growth. If you want to grow a baby Monstera quickly, putting it in a terrarium is a great way to do that.
Terrariums (or cloches) are an easy way to create a high-humidity environment. You can even keep the plant in their nursery pot to make it easier to take them out when they (inevitably) outgrow it.
Use moss or coir as a substrate and keep the humidity high by spraying down the coir every day. It’s easy to get humidity into the 90s.
You can make Monstera grow faster by keeping them clean
Keeping your monstera dust-free is one of the least sexy ways of convincing your monstera to put out more leaves.
It is free though!
This is the time you can crack out that pretty mister you bought – although I’ve never found a pretty one. I use amber glass spray bottles because I love functional decor.
I used to use diluted neem oil and washing up liquid, but now I like to use an orchid foliar spray. Both are fine. I have no idea which is better, but the foliar spray smells nicer.
Spray your plant liberally, and then wipe each leaf with a cloth or kitchen towel.
I also dust my plants with a makeup eraser cloth – they are SO GOOD for dusting plants.
Using the neem oil or castile soap spray deters pests and kills any that might be hanging around. Other pest control methods I employ are keeping spiders on my plants to eat bugs. It works like a charm if you can get them to stay.
You can make Monstera grow faster by fertilising them properly
I have a whole post on fertilising plants here, but over fertilising can do more harm than good, so stick to using a gentle general purpose monthly, diluted to half the strength the manufacturer recommends.
Always fertilise moist soil, so water first if the soil is super dry, then water in your fertiliser.
Alternatively, you can add worm castings to your potting mix, for a gentle, natural fertiliser.
I use the General Hydroponics Flora series to fertilise my Monstera, because it’s good for leca and soil.
Yes, it is more of a ballache to prepare than other fertilisers, thanks for asking. But it doesn’t smell and seems to work.
The Monsteras that live in the aquarium are fertilised by fish poop only. They seem to do ok!
You can make Monstera grow faster by repotting them
Monstera don’t like to have too big a pot (though they can tolerate a lot of room better than most other plants), but they do grow large root systems quickly.
To check if your Monstera needs repotting, check its roots.
Roots protruding from the drainage holes is sometimes a sign, although if you bottom water you can find that some plants grow roots straight down to get to the water.
Hence why you shouldn’t let plants sit in water, since it encourages roots to grow down.
If the roots are growing in a circle around the outside of the soil, it’s best to repot. I like to keep Monstera Deliciosa in terracotta pots because they naturally semi-epiphytic (they don’t necessarily root in the ground) and like a lot of soil aeration.
It’s perfectly fine to keep your monstera in regular house plant potting mix, with a bit of added perlite or orchid bark for aeration. However, if you make your own (I have a recipe on this post) it can encourage the roots to grow stronger because they have to work harder to keep the plant upright.
I honestly think Monstera dgaf when it comes to potting medium.
I kept my Monstera in a terracotta pot for YEARS. It…didn’t like it.
Now it’s in a plastic nursery pot and is waaaay happier and growing faster.
If you’re a bit of an overwaterer, terracotta is GREAT. It dries out incredibly quickly, so you’re less likely to end up with root rot. BUT if you have a tendency towards underwatering, or have suffered from plant ennui* in the past, then consider using something that will retain more water.
*Anyone that has ADHD or experienced depression will know the guilt that comes from accidentally neglecting your plants. Terracotta is your enemy here.
Variegated Monstera grow more slowly than green ones
I thought I’d just mention this, since variegated monstera are somewhat, ahem, pricey, that they don’t tend to grow as quickly as green Monstera.
The reason for this is, I assume, that they don’t have as much chlorophyll with which to photosynthesise, so they have can create less energy.
That being said, these tips will help increase the speed of growth, even if it still doesn’t grow that quickly.
My Thai Constellation goes through phases of producing loads of leaves and then…none.
I’ve also noticed that Thais are more prone to root rot than regular green Monstera and Albos. I assume there’s a glitchy gene somewhere in there. Mine has thrived in the aquarium, and many people swear by putting them in leca. If you prefer soil, I’d recommend keeping it in a clear pot (so you can see the roots) with a nice, airy potting mix.
Can a Monstera have multiple growth points?
Yes, but unless you give it an abundance of resources (light, humidity, water, food), it probably won’t.
A Monstera that’s surviving won’t grow. A Monstera that’s thriving will grow quickly.
Again, this is simple but not easy.
Here in the UK, you’ll probably need a terrarium to get multiple growth points.
As far as I’m aware each node on the Monstera can only produce one leaf BUT you may notice that there are some nodes with no leaf. Monstera tend to grow a lot of nodes, that’s…just what vining plants do.
As I mentioned before, my Monstera is waaaay too big to be in my terrarium (for now! I need a bigger one) but my RT is THRIVING:
LOOK AT HER GO
Apologies to people who are feeling queasy at the sight of those aerial roots. That’s what they look like in 90% humidity.
As you can see, rhapidophora can clearly have multiple leaves per node (unless the nodes are extremely close together), but I’m assured Monstera deliciosa can’t. If anyone knows differently please let me know!
For comparison, my RT outside of the terrarium grows pretty slowly. This thing grows like a weed.
So, that covers the ways we can grow Monstera faster, but what about growing them bigger?
The good news is that Monstera grow bigger leaves as they mature, and hopefully, you’ll get those gorgeous splits and fenestrations as you go along.
Here are a few additional tips to help your Monstera leaves grow BIG.
Staking your Monstera can help it grow bigger leaves
So if you’re after a big plant quickly, stake it up rather than propagating it. A lot of vining plants create bigger leaves when they climb upwards because…
...ok pretend you're a plant. Why are you climbing up a tree? To reach the sun (the sun is always up, for there are no ceilings in the rainforest). With more light (from the sun you're climbing towards) you can grow bigger leaves and use those to capture even more light to make more leaves.
So if you allow your monstera to climb, it’ll grow bigger leaves.
Plants don’t seem to know the sun can’t penetrate through the roof of your house. If you grow them upwards even without increasing the light, they grow bigger leaves.
Some plants, like pothos, are almost always photographed and sold in their immature form. Only by growing them upwards do they start growing mature leaves – with splits in the leaves and everything.
Can’t afford a variegated Monstera? Cheat! Get yourself a Marble queen Pothos, grow it up a stake, give it a TONNE of light and humidity (I didn’t say it would be easy!) and it will, over time, start putting out huge leaves with splits in them.
How to stake your Monstera
It can be as easy as zip-tying one of these bad boys:
…but that’s not the easiest way.
You see, these moss poles are a PAIN to keep moist. And if you want the plant to attach by itself, you either need REALLY high humidity (if you want to see some pictures of what high humidity does to aerial roots, take a look at this article) or to keep the coir consistently moist.
It’s really hard to keep these poles damp without also keeping everything in the immediate vicinity damp too.
Step 1: pick a stake
I like a moss pole that you can keep damp more easily. Check out this video if you want to make a homemade one.
You can also buy something similar from Amazon.
You can also use a plank of wood (you’ll have to treat the bottom or you could end up with it rotting). This is a great option if you cba watering a moss pole.
Step 2: stake it
There’s no trick here – just attach the stem (not the petioles, which are the bits that attach the leaves to the stem) to the moss pole.
I like to use plant ties (which are basically plant ties) or rubberised garden wire. You can also use zip ties. Don’t use string or twine that can cut into the plant’s stem.
You may have to cut bits off (or do what I do, which is have it look a little wild) to make it into a shape you like, but with the tips above you can easily restore it to its former glory.
If you’re using a plank of wood, use tape. Nothing too strong, just regular tape.
Step 3: convince it to attach to your stake
It may take a while, but as long as you keep the moss pole damp, the aerial roots should eventually attach to the moss pole.
You don’t need to dampen the plank, the aerial roots should just attach by themselves.
High humidity is the key to success here. If you have low humidity, you may struggle to get the roots to attach.
Are Monstera easy to grow?
This is a loaded question and it doesn’t exactly have a straightforward answer.
Monstera are easy to keep alive. In fact, unless you’re overwatering it or keeping it somewhere that’s too cold for a long time, they’re pretty hard to kill.
Like, really hard to kill.
Monstera are simple to grow huge and fast BUT you need the correct conditions. All the light and humidity you can throw at it, and plenty of food and water. Simple, but not exactly easy in darkest North Yorkshire in the middle of winter.
Are Monstera easy to propagate?
I have a whole article all about Monstera propagation here.
Yes, they’re SUPER easy to propagate. You can make another plant by taking a cutting here:
Then either stick the plant in soil or water.
Propagating a plant and then putting the cutting in with the mother plant is a great way of making plants look fuller.
You absolutely can do this with monstera but those things have HELLISH roots, so prepare to buy some big-ass pots. I prefer to keep my monstera separately, and only propagate if I want a separate plant.
Monstera are one of the few plants I recommend propping in soil.
I’m an underwaterer by nature, so a lot of my soil propagations end up drying out way too quickly and, er, dying.
If this sounds like you, try propagating in leca – it’s by far the best way for lazy people to propagate plants.
For those of you struggling to propagate your Monstera, I have a troubleshooting guide here.
Final thoughts on how often Monstera put out new leaves
The general ballpark figure we’re looking at when people ask how quickly Monstera put out new leaves is monthly BUT it depends so much on the care you provide that it’s hard to say.
Some plants might only put out a couple of leaves a year, some might produce a new one every couple of weeks.
The two most important things to increase are humidity and light.
As well as growing bigger, the plant will also grow stronger (think of humidity and light being the equivalent to a human eating a healthy, balanced diet, and doing plenty of exercise) and be able to better fight off pests and diseases.
I loved reading your article! I recently got both a monstera and a variegated one, and I’ve been anxious to know how often they usually produce leaves. And I like your style of writing
Thanks so much! I have noticed that not only do variegated monstera go much more slowly than regular ones, but they take longer to get established in your home too, so don’t be surprised if you don’t see any new growth for a while. As long as your plant isn’t actively declining, it’ll be fine.
Putting my regular Monstera outside had a MASSIVE impact on its rate of growth – I put it in the shade for a few hours whenever the weather’s good (not often in the UK tbh) and it really made a difference.
Good luck with your Monstera!
Hi, I live in England, and Ive3 just seen these plants in my local Aldi, I’m going back to buy one, after reading your article, Many thanks,
Keep safe, best wishes, from the UK.
Yesss go Edina! Mine has been growing like mad because I had it outside, but since it’s done nowt but rain for the past week, he’s back in again.
I bought a large and possibly old, monstera delicious several months ago but it hasn’t produced any new leaves. I have followed every piece of advice I can find (especially yours) to encourage new growth but without success. Is there a possibility that the plant is a lost cause? Please help!
Noooo! Some plants really, really hate being moved, and can take a while to get established in a new place. As long as it’s not declining, I’d leave it be. I bought a lot of plants early last year that haven’t started growing until this month, nearly a year later. Now they’re growing really quickly. I assume they were concentrating their energy on growing roots, or supporting existing growth.
You could try taking a cutting or two – it can encourage new growth to emerge from where you cut.
Your article is ever so helpful! Thank you! My Monstera Albo seems to be growing a new growth point from near the soil level and I wasn’t sure if it was an aerial root at first. I’m new to plant parenting and I Didn’t know it’s possible for this plant to have multiple growth point until reading your article. I’m so excited now!
You’re welcome, I’m glad it helped! and more growth points can mean more cuttings. Maybe you can make the money back on the albo! Plants are awesome.
My 15 year old monstera has loads of new very small leaves growing but they quickly die off. Any idea why this might be?
First off, check for pests. Thrips and aphids both love new growth, and they can hamper growth.
The small leaves could be due to lack of light or lack of nutrition.
Over time, the larger leaves block out light from new growth – that’s thought to be why Monstera grow fenestrated leaves over time – it allows light to get to the lower leaves.
Train it up a pole or move it to brighter area. Grow lights would work too, but I’ve found putting mine outside in the shade for a couple of hours works wonders.
If you haven’t fertilised, do so, but dampen the soil first and dilute the fertiliser so it’s half as strong as the manufacturer recommends. Go for either a balanced one or ones that’s higher in nitrogen.
Check the roots too – I’d be surprised if a 15 year old plant has suddenly developed root rot, but you never know! It may be time for a repot too.
Great article, very helpful. I have a Monstera that is almost 3 years old and has grown big through every spring summer however over the past year it has not grown a single new leaf. Recently a few of the very old leaves turned yellow and died off but other than that it looks good but it just doesn’t grow. Any advice? Thanks
I’d check to see if it’s rootbound first, and repot if so. If there’s plenty of room in the pot try adding fertilizer. Mixing in a few worm castings will do fine, but you can use a regular fertiliser if you’d like – just be sure to dampen the soil first.
If that doesn’t work but the plant looks healthy, then take a cutting or two. This can often kick a plant in grow mode.
My monstera is fairly new and young (no fenestrations yet) but it has a bunch of smaller leaves towards the bottom of the plant. I’m wondering if I should trim those back to help it put more energy into bigger leaves?
I personally wouldn’t – leaves absorb light so more leaves = more photosynthesis = more energy. To be honest though, I don’t think either cutting them off or leaving them on would result in a noticeable growth rate increase.
If you want your monstera to grow quickly, give it more light – I noticed a difference literally overnight when I moved mine.
Thank you for this! We have four monstera plants, and only one of them is producing leaves right now. And to think we live in Fiji! I will take your advice and let the other three have more light. Although I do have them by the windows, maybe it’s not enough. I hope it works!
It’s really surprising how much more light there is outside (that sounds ridiculous but you know what I mean), so even shady spots are brighter than window sills.
I saw a difference in my monstera after a day, which is great because here in the UK there aren’t many days when it’s suitable to put tropical plants outside!
Great info, lots of much bedded info. My monastery is thriving!
Thanks! I’m glad they’re thriving!
GREAT article, thanks a bunch! I got Fergus, my monstera, a few months ago. I was afraid I wasn’t doing a good job, but I feel so much better after reading your article. His leaves are healthy, his soil has a few buggies that I’m treating, and I’ve adjusted his watering schedule bcuz I think I may have been overwatering. Lastly, I moved Fergus to a sunnier spot. Now I’ll patiently wait for him to get acclimated and GROW! Oh yeah, patience, ha!
Thanks again,
Pam
I’m glad I could help! Monstera are really responsive to increased light, so fingers crossed Fergus will start growing soon!
Hi Caroline
Thank you for a great article on how to care for Monty the Monster!
Monty seems happy and is growing up and up so I took three cuttings today to grow new plants.
Is there any way of getting the bottom bushier or will I just need to plant the rooted cuttings back in the mother pot to get a fuller look?
Thank you
You could definitely plant cuttings back in with Monty, BUT that could lead to an, ahem, monster monstera somewhere down the line – a lot of plant experts tell you not to do this. Their roots are enormous and you’ll either be repotting all the time or they’ll start outcompeting one another. They’re also very tangly roots and they’ll be a bugger to separate.
To make Monty bushier naturally you’d have to wait until he bushes out at the top then take one big cutting and hope he roots. Basically you’d be removing the barer bottom section.
However I have three cuttings in one (very big) pot and my monstera’s growing like a weed. It hasn’t smashed the terracotta yet, but I’ll be sure to let you know if it does!
Annoyingly, plants don’t go in for aesthetics in the wild, so monstera are pretty bare at the bottom.
I’m having a similar issue with philodendron hastatum – it didn’t have any leaves on the bottom FOOT of stem and I was debating cutting off the bit with leaves and hoping it rooted, running the risk of the cutting not rooting and the bottom dying because it didn’t have enough leaves to make energy.
‘Luckily’ it got spider mites so what have I got to lose?
If it does root, it’ll be super bushy on the bottom, which leads me to think that this is how growers get their monstera so bushy – they remove the original stem and prop the top. Risky, but I guess they know what they’re doing.
Thank you, that makes complete sense – I had a feeling it wouldn’t send out new leaves on the existing stem.
Waiting to see how the three cuttings go and will keep extracting sibling plants from Monty if they work (may need an extension to house them all eventually!)
I got a cutting with one leaf and one long root. The “stem” part of the cutting is about an inch long…should that part be completely covered by soil? Thank you!!
I’d lay the stem on top of the soil if possible, and submerge the root. The more the stem is under the soil the more likely it is to rot. Maybe try planting it in perlite or moss until it’s a bit more established?
Wow! This is the Best forum ever for Monstera Deliciosa! I have learned so much! I have 3 Monstera’s . My house has horrible lighting so I have Grow lights all over my home. I have 55 houseplants. The Biggest Monstera’s at my front door. It’s staked and Its probably 8 feet tall if not taller. The problem is its leggy. What advice to get it fuller. Should I take it off the stake somewhat?
Thanks so much!
Monstera do grow kinda leggy – the only thing you can do (other than keep cutting it back and putting the cuttings in the pot with the mother plant) is increase the light. I don’t think taking it of the stake would make a difference.
I’d recommend you put it outside for a few hours once a week, but moving an 8 foot plant isn’t that easy!
Hi,
Ive learned so much lol. I just got a Monstera from a lady who was selling it. Its in an average sized pot. Its only got one huge leaf… Its got a thick as stem. So i guess my question is the stem part looks like it needs to be under the soil am I correct? And will it grow more leaves? Or will it only be just that one?
https://leafandpaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Monstera-1-791×1024.jpg
I figured the stem was sticking out by seeing the above picture.
Thanks.
You want as little of the stem under the soil as possible, since it’ll most likely just rot. Take the plant out of the soil and check the roots – they’re the only bit that need to be under the soil (and don’t confuse soil roots with aerial roots – the roots in the pic are aerial). If there’s a decent amount of roots, it’ll grow a new leaf. If there aren’t many, it should still grow a new leaf, but it’ll take longer.
Monstera like to be snug in their pots, so it’ll take it’s time to fill the pot with roots before bothering with a new leaf. This isn’t a problem in itself, but it may test your patience! You’ll have to be extra careful when watering too, because if you have a lot of wet soil and not a lot of root, it can lead to overwatering. Underwatering is better than overwatering.
Also be aware than monstera seem to be very aware of seasonal changes – mine WILL NOT grow between October and March, even though other ‘softer’ plants like alocasia grow year-round. You may not see new growth till next year, but it’ll have had time to get established so should spit out new leaves quickly.
Hi! Thank you for all that info! My monstera is putting out a new leaf at the moment and has started unwrapping, but today I noticed what looks like another leaf growing off this new one, is that possible or am I misreading the interesting growth it has…
Sounds like you just have an overachiever! Could be weird growth, but most likely your plant has grown a new node and is shooting out two leaves at once.
I live in the UK too and my monstera was fine for ages but recently started turning a yellowy green colour and the leaves have brown spots! Is this a sign of overwatering?? I only water every other week but I think I accidentally put too much water. I need that moisture meter!
Yeah, most likely! I probably water mine monthly, but it depends on where it is. Mines right next to a south-facing window so gets a decent amount of light. If yours is in a darker spot it’ll use less water take much longer to dry out
Hi! I just got into plants and I must say I LOVE your website! I got a Monstera three days ago (I’m not sure what kind it is, but it looks like a Deliciosa). It’s not very big, about three inches. How long does it take before the leaves fenestrate? She’s got 3 big ones and let’s say 10 small, but they’re all full leaves.
Thank you so much! There isn’t a hard and fast rule about when Monstera start to fenestrate, BUT you can speed up the process by making the plant believe it needs to start. Monstera develop fenestrations to allow light to penetrate to the lower leaves, and possibly to help them remain upright in windy weather.
The easiest way to convince a Monstera to fenestrate is to increase the light – a couple of hours outside (in the shade, or at least protected from super bright light) or by an open window will really help.
Other than that, all you can do is look after it well – water when needed, keep the leaves clean (lint roller for the win!) and feed every month or so.
Some plants really respond to being grown up a moss pole or plank of wood, but my Monstera is intent on growing horizontally across the floor and she has fenestrations, so that isn’t a hard and fast rule.
Great blog.! I’ve got a monstera named Dave, recently propagated it and have grown the cuttings in water – now repotted in soil. I was wondering if there’s anything I should do to encourage growth for the cuttings? How long till new growth can be seen? (There’s already a point growing on one of the cuttings but not on the others, just growth on the roots).
Thanks :))
There isn’t a specific timeline here but Monstera do have a habit of concentrating on growing a tonne of roots before any new growth, so it can take a while. Like, several months. The good news is that once they do eventually start growing foliage, they grow pretty quickly.
Making sure the roots are quite snug in their pots (go down a pot size if you’re impatient) can encourage leaves to grow faster, but it isn’t a guarantee.
Hello, I nearly lost my big 6 year-old monstera over the winter in a really bad January cold snap in the conservatory in Northumberland UK. I was distraught! I had to remove a lot of dead leaves and now it just has one big healthy leaf remaining and a lot of stumpy arms. I have checked the roots and they look fine and have had it in a warmer part of the house for the past few months. I now hope to stimulate some rapid leaf growth. I’m wondering how much water/food to give it as the soil is fairly dry at the moment, but the spring is coming & the days will hopefully be warmer soon. Should I start to feed it each week? I’m buying a humidifier too!
Monstera are super resistant so if you put it back in the conservatory over spring/summer it should grow quickly. You don’t need to feed every week – monthly is plenty. Water throughly so the soil is evenly moist (but make sure any excess can drain away) then wait until it’s fairly dry again.
Don’t repot unless it’s absolutely necessary (I have an article on that here) because monstera like to be snug in their pots – if you give them too much room they’ll concentrate on growing roots not leaves.
So, summer has started here in Malta (very strong sunlight – right on the equator) and I took my monstera, that had already been sitting outside in a shaded spot for a year, and put it in a sunnier spot under my yucca. It gets an hour of direct sunlight a day. It’s only been 2 days and the leaves are already turning pale and the centers of some have turned brown.
How literally did you mean to whack it outside and let it burn to a crisp? Should I leave it in its new spot or move it back and hope for the best?
If you want to keep the old leaves, move it back into the shade – it’s still better light then it would have inside. If you leave it where it if, new leaves should be able to handle the higher light so they won’t burn, but the old ones will die off. If you keep it hydrated and we’ll field it should grow quickly though.