How Often to Water a Monstera Through the Year

Wait until the pot has actually dried

There is no schedule that works for every monstera, because how fast a pot dries depends on the pot, the position and the room temperature far more than on the plant. Two identical plants in the same house can want water twice as often as each other.

Find where your plant sits in the table below and read the rest of this page with that in mind. The commonest mistake by a wide margin is watering to a routine while the compost in the middle of the pot never dries.

A monstera that droops from thirst stands up again within half a day of watering. If it has not recovered by the next day, take it out of the pot and look at the roots.

Rough intervals by season

These are for a plant in a pot around ten inches (25 cm) across. A smaller pot dries faster, a large or plastic pot slower, so treat these as a starting point and adjust from what the compost is actually doing.

How to tell whether it is dry

The surface tells you very little. Use two or three of these together and you will not get it wrong.

1. Put a finger in Push your index finger in to the second knuckle. Dry and loose at your fingertip means water it. The surface is often dry while the middle is still wet.
2. Lift the pot Learn what the pot weighs just after watering. When it is clearly lighter, water. The weight difference shows up long before the leaves do.
3. Leave a stick in the compost Push a wooden skewer halfway down at the edge of the pot and pull it out to look. Dark and damp means wait, dry means water. Most useful in a large pot.
4. Do not rely on a moisture meter A meter reads one point at one depth. The pot dries unevenly, so use it alongside your finger and the weight rather than on its own.

Cut right back in winter

In winter the plant is barely growing, so it uses very little water and the compost stays wet for weeks. Almost all winter monstera losses are root rot from watering on a summer schedule.

1. Water in the morning Water in the evening and the wet compost meets the cold of the night. Water in the morning so the surface is dry again by evening.
2. Use water at room temperature Cold water straight from the tap damages the roots. Let it stand, or take it off warm enough that it feels tepid.
3. Below 50F, move it before you water In a room below 50F (10C), change where the plant lives before you change the watering. Watering a cold, weakened plant accelerates root rot.

Saucers and standing water

Drainage is only half the job. Water that runs out of the pot and then sits under it puts the base of the compost permanently wet, which is exactly what you were trying to avoid.

1. Always empty the saucer Tip away anything left within half an hour. Left standing, the base of the pot stays wet, which is where root rot and fungus gnats start. This matters most in winter.
2. Take it out of the cachepot Watering a plant while it sits in a decorative outer pot means you never see the water collecting in the bottom. Lift it out, water, let it drain, put it back.
3. Self watering pots Let the reservoir run empty and leave it two or three days before refilling. Kept permanently full, only the lowest roots are in water and they suffer.

Crocks in the bottom of the pot do not prevent root rot if you leave the saucer full. Drainage only works if the water actually leaves.

Misting is not watering

Misting the leaves does nothing for the roots and does not replace watering. It is useful for two other things, though, and both are worth doing.

1. Aim at the undersides Spider mites live under the leaves. Spraying upwards to wet the undersides helps keep them down. Wetting only the top surface does very little.
2. Wipe the dust off Large leaves collect dust and stop transmitting light. Once a month, support the leaf with one hand and wipe it with a damp cloth, and the plant photosynthesises properly again.

Reading the symptoms

The same symptom means opposite things depending on whether the compost is wet or dry, which is why checking the compost first is the whole diagnosis.

When you cannot tell, slide the plant out of the pot and look. Plenty of white root means it is a watering problem. Black, soft roots mean rot.