Repotting Store-Bought Monstera! What To Consider First.

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Most commercially available Monstera plants are sold in 4-inch to 12-inch pots and are on the verge of becoming root-bound. Monsteras have two unnegotiable needs – their roots demand access to air, and the leaves require a lot of light.

Plant purchasing is generally based on foliage conditions, with little consideration of root conditions. Healthy foliage indicates general plant health, but progressive root compaction prevents proper root aeration, which is only noticeable during the crisis. This article will show you what to look for when buying a Monstera and what to do once you have it.

Because there are about 43 species in the Monstera genus, we’ll use the Monstera deliciosa as a reference for practicality. This big-leafed, vibrantly green plant is more than a decoration – it’s a feature. There’s a reason why the Monsteras are the most common houseplant globally – they bring the tropics to your living space.

The Monstera deliciosa gets its name from the fruit it bears. It tastes like a fruit salad of bananas, pineapple, strawberries, passion fruit, and mangos. The Monstera deliciosa is appropriately also known as the fruit salad plant. Yum. Regrettably, indoor plants are not known to produce flowers and bear no fruit. However, they can be cultivated outdoors in Florida to produce fruit – I would love to taste some.[Source]

Special Offer

Simplify Gardening has partnered with NatureHills.com, America’s largest online plant nursery, to offer special deals on Monstera deliciosa.

• Luscious Tropical Green Color
• Unique Segmented Leaves
• Stunning Indoor Houseplant
• Easy to Care For
• Grows in Bright Indoor Rooms
• Can Be Pruned to Fit Many Spaces
• White Colored Spathe Flowers

Suppose you’re looking to take your kitchen, living room, or home office and turn it into your own little piece of paradise. In that case, there’s no better way to do so than by adding a Swiss Cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa) or two…or maybe a few more!

Swiss Cheese is native to the South American rainforests but has become a houseplant sensation due to its unique leaves and attractive height.

As the name implies, Swiss Cheese’s leaves grow into slits as they mature. They’ll end up looking like someone took scissors and cut segments out of the sides of each leaf, and sometimes it’ll even have an entirely closed hole in the middle!

These plants rarely bloom when outside of their natural tropical habitats. However, you won’t notice as the intricate and glossy leaves are a stunning luscious green that catches all eyes in the room!

Swiss Cheese is straightforward to care for, and it will flourish with just a few moments of attention every so often! Seeing as these plants are native to rainforests, it makes sense that they’ll appreciate living in a humid environment.

Direct sunlight can damage the leaves of this plant. It’ll grow just fine in a bright spot in your indoor room!

Swiss Cheese is the type of plant that doesn’t mind infrequent watering. In fact, it thrives when you allow its soil to dry out a bit before watering again. Try sticking your finger up to your second knuckle into the soil. Is it dry? Go ahead and water! If it’s still moist, let your plant be for another day.

After a few years, it might be a good idea to prune it back to the shape you’d like. This can be done by cutting back as many leaves as you’d like at the nodes during Spring!

Deciding where to put this gorgeous houseplant can be a bit hard; you’ll want to put it everywhere! Swiss Cheese looks fantastic in the corner of living rooms, offices, or hallways, just to name a few!

Spice up your home or office with a touch of the tropics with the Swiss Cheese plant. You’ll be so delighted with the quality! Order today!

Purchasing a Monstera Deliciosa

Growers typically offer plants under 18 months old, which come in containers between 4 and 6 inches in size – the one sold by NaturesHill Nursery is in a 6-inch container. There are a couple of things to look for when purchasing a Monstera:

Number of Stems

You want to look for the plant with the most number of stems. You want a Monstera that can produce ample foliage, so aim for the plant that has the most stems. On average, the planters come with three stems, but if you’re physically shopping for a plant and the shelf has containers of Monstera with five stems, take that one.

The more significant number of stems means that your Monstera will have a more substantial presence in the room as your plant grows.

Number of Leaves

You want a Monstera that provides the most foliage. The more leaves the plant you plan to buy has, the healthier it is and the better it will display. The beauty of the Monstera lies in the abundance of these leaves that look like Swiss cheese.

Heart-shaped leaves can come in many forms, and younger leaves will often not yet have fenestrations (holes). If the plant you buy has many leaves, the grown plant will be a dense presentation of lush, attractive foliage. As the plant matures, the leaves will change, and some will have fenestrations, and others will look like a rib cage – quite extraordinary.

Buy Small – Grow Big

Smaller plants are less expensive. The Monstera deliciosa, and all the Monstera species and sub-cultivars, are easy growers. As these plants are relatively easy to grow, paying less for a smaller plant and growing it into the delicious monster you want is worthwhile.

Many people get confused over the Monstera Minima or mini monstera (Not a True Monstera) latin name is Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma. This plant, despite its name, can get up to 15 feet and is a fast grower in good conditions.

Check the Roots

While this is not always possible, check the roots of the plants you buy. This is impossible if the grower uses polybags to grow their plants. If the plant is in a container, it’s relatively easy to secure the top of the planting soil with one hand and tip it out.

The Monstera has an extensive root system, which may present as root-bound. This is normal. You should only be concerned if little soil is visible or the roots have started emerging from the drainage holes. What you are checking for is root rot.

As I said at the beginning of this article, Monstera roots demand access to air, and their shoots demand light. If either of these is lacking, your plant will be in distress. The best way to ensure your Monstera’s roots are aerobic is to limit extended periods of excessive moisture. When the Monstra plants have wet feet for an extended period, their leaves grow yellow or get brown tips.

If you tip the plant out and there is wetness at the bottom, that could be a problem. If there is a mass of roots, the shape of the container, and they are dry with visible soil – buy that plant. The roots should be a combination of thick and fine roots and should be white.

Leaf Quality

The Monstera plant’s natural habitat is Central America and Southern Mexico in rainforests where humidity levels are 70 percent. Healthy leaves have a gloss caused by the high moisture content. Suppose a Monstera plant is subject to prolonged low humidity levels. In that case, the evidence is in localized dehydration in the form of a dry brown edge – usually on the edge of the leaf.

Dry, brown edges are caused by extended low humidity. If the plant you plan to purchase already has this type of localized damage, consider buying elsewhere. Remember that new leaves have less developed lignin networks and are slightly lighter than older ones. That said, the fenestrations are related to the age of the plant, so you may have older, darker leaves that are whole (without fenestrations) and younger, newer leaves that show the Swiss cheese look.

Warning

If you have a cat that thinks all plants are catnip or a pup in its teething stages, you must keep your Monstera deliciosa out of their reach. The Monstera deliciosa is listed on the ASPCA’s website as a poison [Source]. The plant contains calcium oxalate, a chemical that can irritate animals but is less harmful to humans – but doesn’t get the sap into your eyes.

When You Get Your New Monstera Deliciosa

Repotting your Monstera

The Monstera is not a fussy plant. Put it this way – it’s as easy to grow a Monstera as it is to keep a succulent. The Monstera and Cacti soil requirements are similar – both require good drainage.

You could purchase your Monstera and keep it in the pot you bought it with. Suppose the pot you bought it in is not the prettiest thing ever. In that case, you could put the container in a more aesthetically pleasing container (for “optics”).

Essentially, you want a plant with some presence – a thing of beauty. The Monstera deliciosa can be that. A mature Monstera can have height, abundant attractive, large, glossy,  and interesting leaves. This spectacular plant can be shaped to fit into your environment to meet your needs. But! To do that, it will need some care, light, and space to grow. The first need is better to root space.

That said, the Monstera roots love their own company. Transplanting your Monsterafrom from a small container into a much larger container is not advised. You must keep the plant happy by incrementally increasing the space available for the roots.

I would always repot a newly purchased Monstera, but only into a slightly larger container. Adding the new plant to an environment that could cause the roots to stand in water should be avoided. You need to be a bit pedantic about this. Too much water prevents the plant’s root system from accessing air – suffocating the plant.

I recommend that when you repot the Monstera deliciosa, more often into incrementally bigger pots to keep the roots relatively compact.

Using The Right Potting Mix For Your Monstera Deliciosa

When you do these incremental repotting routines, it’s essential to provide the plant with, you guessed it, the opportunity to drain well. Like with cacti, the soils should provide nutrition, be slightly acidic, and, ideally, have an extensively diverse population of microorganisms.

Suppose you’ve been researching planting and caring for Monstera. In that case, you may have been advised to plant your Monstera in vermiculite or pumice. While you’re free to do this and will probably have great success, I’m more inclined towards reproducing the natural habitat as closely as possible.

Rainforests have great drainage (else they would be swamps) and have a fungi-to-bacteria population ratio of 100:1 to break down all the available organic matter. The soil is rich in humus and humic acid, sustaining more plants per square yard than the best farms anywhere. I prefer providing my Monstera with an environment that resembles nature. To me, anything less feels like I’m taking the jungle king and putting it in a cage.

To improve acidity, we’ll use some untreated woodchips and conifer bark. It’s also good to know that cedarwood contains plicatic acid, a natural fungicide, so avoid planters made of cedarwood or using its shavings in compost and potting soils.

You always want to maximize your fungal population and diversity in your soil. Peat moss can also boost acidity, but remember that it drains water poorly and is prone to creating anaerobic conditions. Instead, use the wood chips to boost acidity slightly and coconut coit to replace peat moss.

I’m going to slip in some additional knowledge here. If you’re asthmatic, avoid the conifer bark as it contains abietic acids, which have been shown to cause chronic lung damage with excessive exposure (source).

Monstera Potting Soil Drainage

Coconut coir is a renewable resource (unlike peat moss) that offers exceptional drainage and water management. While some would advise you to use vermiculite, substitute with perlite instead. Vermiculite is the common name for hydrated laminar magnesium-aluminum-iron silicate. EPA and CDC list this substance as potentially containing asbestos (EPA & CDC).

While vermiculite and perlite aid in water retention, perlite allows water to drain more readily, a vital factor for Monstera (and cacti). Perlite is a white material that almost feels like polystyrene but is expanded amorphous volcanic glass. Perlite is commonly used as a growth medium in hydroponics or cultivating cuttings. Adding it to our mix increases aeration and prevents soil compaction over time.

Boosting Organic Matter in Monstera Potting Soil

Monsteras need ample organic matter and diverse soil biota to flourish. Ensure that your final potting mix is at least 50% compost – well-made aerobic compost that is still damp and less than six months old.

Compost increases the diversity and population of microorganisms in your soil, an essential mechanism to improve soil quality, buffer pH variations, increase nutrient bioavailability, and improve disease resilience. Including leaf mold in your mix will boost fungi populations while providing all the benefits of traditional compost.

You can check out my house plant grow room set-up on YouTube

You may also want to view my “How To Improve Soil Quality In The Garden” playlist on my YouTube channel.

Monsteras’ Need of Light

Monsteras are vines that grow up the sides of trees to reach heights of up to 70 feet in their pursuit of light. Did you know that, in forests, mycorrhizal fungi develop a network of mycelium that helps larger trees support smaller trees?

That way, tall mother trees can provide smaller trees with the benefits of photosynthesis, even if the smaller trees get less light. (Source)

It’s fascinating and helps us understand how smaller plants, like juvenile Monstera plants, still get what they need amidst the shade of bigger trees.

The bottom line is that Monsteras need light, preferably not extended direct sunlight. Artificial light can work too, but not as well.

These relatively hardy plants are easy to grow – just give them enough light and don’t overwater them.

Protecting Monsteras from direct sunlight during the spring and summer (March to September) is advisable. In its native rainforest, your plant would be shielded from the sun’s rays by the canopy of trees surrounding it. Alternatively, find a spot in a well-lit room away from the window.

The plant requires more direct, bright light in the winter. The gorgeous large, glossy leaves attract gardeners to this plant, but they’re not ornaments – they’re there to trap as much light as possible while still allowing some to pass through.

Adding the Monstera to your home or offices will add vibrancy throughout the year, as long as it gets enough light and can grow in soil that isn’t waterlogged. Insufficient light is known to retard leaf fenestration (the holes in the leaves).

Conclusion

The Monstera can be a centerpiece of tropical presence in an office environment, home, or outdoors (weather permitting). Buying a Monstera can be valuable as the cuttings are easily propagated and grown. Caring for your plant is easy – simply allow the roots to breathe and ensure the plant gets enough light. Wishing all the very best in making the world a healthier place.