How to care for a monster at home
This large liana is of South American origin, the monstera has taken root well in the tropics of Southeast Asia. When caring for a monster at home is good enough, it reaches several meters in height. An evergreen plant is considered unpretentious, it is not difficult to grow it in an apartment. To do this, it is enough to follow simple rules for caring for a flower. Monstera, leaning on a support, looks very exotic due to large carved leaves and aerial roots. She is able to decorate any interior, give the room a tropical flavor..
The following types of plants are often grown in apartments:
- monstera delicious (attractive);
- oblique monstera;
- punched monstera (full of holes);
- type of monster Borzig;
- Monstera Adanson.
Planting monstera
When a trip to a flower shop ended with the purchase of a young room creeper, the question immediately arises: how to plant a monster correctly? It is clear that its further development and growth rates depend on the flawless planting of the plant. This tropical liana, planted according to all the rules, in an apartment can grow up to 2.5 – 3 m and please with exotic carved leaves from 30 to 50 cm long.To do this, you need two things – a correctly selected substrate and a suitable pot.
You can use ready-made mixture “Palma”, it is sold in stores and is suitable for monstera. If desired and available with a component, you can prepare the substrate yourself. For this, it is important to know what should be the composition of the soil for the monstera..
It can be composed of components:
- sand;
- peat;
- leafy land;
- humus;
- turf land.
Moreover, it is necessary to observe the proportion: there is three times more turf land and one part of the remaining components. Then the tropical liana will delight you with large green leaves. Do not forget about good drainage for the plant. Before filling the container with a substrate, a layer of coarse expanded clay 5 cm high should be poured on the bottom.
It is better to immediately determine which pot to plant the monster in. If the plant is young with a few small leaves, a pot with a capacity of up to 4 liters is fine. It must be heavy and with a pallet. As the flower grows, it will have to be transplanted into a pots of larger diameter – about 8-10 cm.
Planting a monster without roots will not be a problem. You need to adhere to the usual rules for planting plants. Put a layer of substrate on the drainage, place the plant on it and slowly fill the container with soil. It is necessary to immediately thoroughly water the planted vine. The soil should be completely moistened, and water will appear in the pan.
There should be no problem when you need to plant a monster with aerial roots. A moistened twine will come in handy to tie the aerial roots to the trunk of the vine. Over time, small roots will begin to sprout. Then you can cut off a piece of the trunk with leaves and root.
Caring for a monster at home
Monstera is an unpretentious flower. But it still requires knowledge of some techniques to help make growing monstera an enjoyable and easy task. Proper watering is vital for this vine. The moisture-loving vine loves abundant watering in all seasons, except for winter, when the flower is sprayed often enough, especially if it is near heating devices.
From warm spring days to late autumn, watering should be frequent and abundant, but not excessive. This can harm the root system of the flower, black spots will appear on the leaves. Water for irrigation must be allowed to settle for several days. Used liquid at room temperature. 
Spraying monstera is also important in hot weather..
The signal that the monstera needs watering is the drying out of the soil in the pot.
In addition to watering, in caring for a monster at home, such a moment as getting rid of leaves from settled dust is important. This procedure should be carried out monthly by gently rubbing the delicate leaves of the plant with a damp and soft sponge..
An adult plant needs mineral feed. Feeding monstera is another essential component of its successful development. Otherwise, the vine will not add in length, throw out new leaves. Both mineral and organic fertilizers are suitable for feeding. In the spring and in the summer season, you need to fertilize the vine twice a month..
With a lack of lighting, the monstera grows slowly, but she does not like the bright sun either. The best option for a flower is diffused lighting and location near windows facing west or east.
The temperature regime of the monstera also needs to be taken care of. The heat-loving liana feels good in summer, when the air warms up to 23-25 ° C, in winter it is comfortable at 17 ° C. Lowering the temperature will immediately slow down the growth of the monstera.
When caring for a vine, you need to protect it from drafts, they are destructive for the monstera.
Bloom
In wildlife, monstera blooms are a natural thing. The conditions of the apartment are not very suitable for this. Nevertheless, if you study well how to care for a monster, strictly follow all recommendations for watering and feeding it, from the age of two, a vine can give inflorescences. Her flowers are large, white, in the form of an ear.
Aerial Root Care and Pruning
At home, caring for a monster is not limited to watering and feeding. The peculiarity of the liana is its long aerial roots. They should not be cut off, but it is imperative to take care of them. They should be directed to the pot of soil where the flower grows. If they do not reach it, each such root will require an additional planter with a suitable substrate to root them. It is best to dip the short aerial roots of the monstera into a transparent bottle with settled water suspended from the liana. Another care option – aerial roots can be wrapped in wet moss.
In good conditions, the monstera quickly stretches in length and always needs a support. Coconut-braided bamboo supports are suitable, they come in different heights, they also use sticks or trellises. When the vine becomes too long, it becomes necessary to stop its growth. How to shorten the monster? Its top is cut off, the cut is sprinkled with charcoal. This pruning provides an incentive for side shoots..
Transfer
Spring transplantation of monstera is carried out regularly in the first three years. Each time, the diameter of the flowerpot is increased. Over the next few years, the monstera begins to grow rapidly. Therefore, sometimes it is necessary to transplant it twice a year. When the flower becomes very large, it is no longer transplanted, only the top of the soil is replaced annually with fresh substrate.
The best way to transplant a monstera would be to reload it:
- This manipulation must be carried out by two people, otherwise the plant can be damaged..
- Before transshipment, the vine is watered so that the soil in the pot is moistened.
- The pot is placed on its side and the plant is carefully removed along with an earthen lump..
- In a prepared new container, there should be drainage at the bottom – a layer of pebbles or expanded clay.
- It is covered with a layer of soil, and an earthen lump with a monster is installed on top..
- The roots of the plant must be straightened, without this, the monster cannot be planted, it will not grow well.
- Then the container is covered to the top with soil, while it is tamped several times.
After transplanting, the plant must be watered abundantly until the water is in the pan.
The transplanted vine begins to grow well.
Breeding monstera
Monstera reproduces in several ways:
- stem cuttings;
- leaves;
- apical cuttings;
- aerial roots;
- seeds.
Most often, the liana is propagated by the method of cutting the stem cutting, it must necessarily have a kidney. Take the process from the monstera, cutting it off with a pruner. It is placed in wet sand, adding peat there. Each stalk is immersed in a separate container. Moistened moss will do for this and the purpose. The pot with the handle is covered to keep warm, then it takes root faster. Moisturizing and airing is a regular procedure.
In another way, the vine is propagated by leaves. They are placed in a vessel of water until the roots appear, and planted. When the apical cuttings are cut for monstere breeding, they are also dipped in a bowl of water. When several root outgrowths appear, the cutting is transferred to the ground for rooting..
To propagate a vine with aerial roots is somewhat more difficult, but possible. To do this, moss is attached to a healthy air root and moistened regularly. Over time, a layer appears, which needs to be cut and rooted in the soil. The most difficult option is growing a monstera from seeds. This requires high-quality seed material, which is wrapped in moss and kept in a warm place with a temperature of about + 28 ° C. The wait for results can last up to one and a half months. But even then in the soil the seeds will grow rather slowly..
Young shoots of monstera are planted in small pots, as they grow, they will have to be transferred to containers with a large diameter. The monster needs to be planted, like adult vines, providing good drainage and a suitable substrate in terms of composition. Young plants require diffused lighting, regular soil moisture and stable heat. They may not withstand temperature changes.
Diseases of monstera
When the plant lacks moisture, its leaves darken and dry out. Excess watering leads to decay of the root system. The lack of nutrients results in the absence of cuts in the leaves. Lack of lighting will lead to the fact that the leaves begin to fall off, and the stem is deformed. Sometimes the plant affects the scale insect or spider mite, in these cases the leaves are treated with a soap solution.
