The Monstera Delicosa is very popular and sought upon right now. Luckily it is getting easier to find, and not so expensive anymore. Unless, it is vareigated. That is still another story. However, as it boomed in popularity with #monsteramonday more and more people wanted it. Including this sucker. I looked for quite some time to find one. I’m cheap, so I looked for awhile. After some time I was lucky enough to find a larger one that got damaged in a freak hail storm here. It was a little damaged, but the $20 price tag was well worth it. I brought that sucker home and just let it be for awhile. After he settled I found a smaller one that was super affordable so decided to use the larger one as a propagation experiment. Turns out they are easy to propagate. I cut it down to a few pieces and put those in vases. Currently am letting them live there until the brutal summer temperatures relax and then will repot it and let it live outside for the winter. So far each piece cut off is growing both roots and leaves very well. I have learned that with most Monsteras they are quite fast growers in the proper environment. I tend to move them around and pay attention to the growth patters for a few weeks before I decide on leaving them there. They do like more indirect sun. This will help that growth be fast and steady. The less light they have the slower they will grow, and also tend to lose preferations in the leaves. Just pay attention to the growth and leaves, they will tell you if they are happy or not by that.

This is what I find to be the trickiest to get right. They do well in most environments with light, but definately do better in brighter locations. A good test is if they cast a shadow on the wall with natural lighting. I always pay attention to the speed of the growth as well as the preforations. If you are getting solid leaves, or small preforations then move them closer to the light.

I try not to let these dry out too much. A good soaking every week/week and a half seems to do well with them. Pay attention to the leaves. they will yellow or darken based on the amount of water they receive. You will want to have a descent soil mix that retains some moisture, but not to where it keeps it too wet. I’ve learned they can go a little dryer if it is more humid as they have aerial roots that can pull that extra moisture in.

Soil is fairly easy. Fast draining that does not tend to hold a lot of moisture is best. I have found that mine does not like to get root bound. However I see a lot of people that say they do better if they are a little root bound. So this might be something that you have to play around with. What I noticed with my bigger plant is that it will drain, but hold moisture in the bound areas causing root rot and the newer leaves just die off right away.

Propogating these guys can be scary, but easy and beneficial to the plant. If you cut them off whith nodes and put that in water then the node should grow roots creating yourself a brand new plant. I have seen as well that you can take the larger aerial roots and get them in soil to start sprouting new roots as well. This method I have not purposely tried. I do have one that grew an aerial root down towards the soil and rooted from there, so should not be too hard!