Gadenin日本語Get the appThe year at a glance
A monstera grows in a warm half of the year and effectively pauses in the cold half. Everything that stresses the plant, repotting, dividing, propagating and hard pruning, belongs in the growing half.
| Season | Watering | Position | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring | Weekly, then more often | At the window behind sheer curtain | Repot, divide, take cuttings. Restart feeding |
| Summer | Every four to seven days | Back from the window, out of afternoon sun | Mist, check for mites. Ease off feeding in real heat |
| Autumn | Every seven to fourteen days | Back to the window | Bring outdoor plants in. Stop feeding |
| Winter | Every two to three weeks | Window by day, into the room at night | Do not cut, do not feed |
A heated room is dry even when it is warm, and the leaf tips brown. Keep misting through winter, and keep the plant out of the direct draft from a heater.
Spring is when the work happens
As the room warms and the light strengthens, the plant starts moving and can recover from disturbance. Repotting, dividing and taking cuttings all belong here.
Start feeding again once new growth is visible, not before. Feeding a plant that has not started moving simply loads salts into the compost.
Summer
Growth is fastest and water use is highest, but so is the risk of scorch. Move the plant back from the glass or to a less intense aspect, and keep misting the leaf undersides to hold spider mites down.
Ease off the feeding in genuinely hot weather. When the roots are struggling in high temperatures, fertilizer does damage rather than good, and the usual result is dropped leaves.
Do not leave the autumn switch too late
As light weakens, a position that was right in summer becomes too dark, so move the plant back towards the window. At the same time start stretching the watering interval, because the plant is using less.
Stop feeding before the temperature falls. Anything still in the compost when growth stops stays there over winter and damages roots.
Overwintering
The winter job is to hold the plant rather than grow it. Water rarely, do not feed, do not cut and do not repot. Keep it away from cold glass at night and away from the draft of a heater during the day.
One or two leaves yellowing and dropping over winter is a normal turnover. A succession of leaves dropping is root rot, and the cause is almost always watering on a summer schedule.
Adjusting for your conditions
The calendar shifts with your climate and, more than that, with the room. An unheated room and a heated one behave completely differently even in the same house.
| Conditions | Outdoors from | Bring in by | Winter concern |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mild climate | Late spring | Mid autumn | Cold at the window overnight |
| Average | Early summer | Early autumn | An unheated room drops below 50F (10C) |
| Cold | Midsummer only | Late summer | It will not overwinter in an unheated room |
| Indoors all year | Not applicable | Not applicable | Leaves get smaller from lack of light |
The commonest mistake is feeding in winter to make up for lost time. Fertilizer on a plant that is not growing only damages roots. Wait until spring.