Monstera is a beautiful large plant with large leaves, related to tropical vines. Under natural conditions, it is found in the tropical forests of Brazil, in Mexico. Recently, the plant has been successfully grown indoors. Due to its large size, the liana is often used to decorate halls and offices. Care for the monstera at home (see photo below) is simple, and its appearance is attractive.
Features of the plant
The genus monster has about fifty species. The plant got its name because of its huge size. Although there are opinions that this one comes from the Latin word monsterotus, which means bizarre.
Caring for a monstera at home is so simple that anyone, even a not very lucky grower, can handle it.
In nature, the liana reaches forty meters in height, in room conditions the plant is much smaller, although it canreach ten meters or more. Because of this size, the liana is placed in spacious offices, halls. She has roots with which she is attached to trees. With them, she is able to cling to the wall of the house, but it is better not to allow this, but to put a support on the plant. Hanging aerial roots cannot be cut off; it is better to direct them to the ground, tying them to a support. When the roots reach the ground, they are sprinkled with soil.
When caring for a monstera at home, attention should be paid to the support. This powerful plant is heavy, and not every support is able to withstand it. To secure the vine, it is worth looking for special supports for liana-shaped, large flowers.
Monstera can not only decorate the room, but also ionize the air in it.
Types of monstera
There are more than fifty types of monster. At home, the following are most often grown:
- Attractive. This type of vine is the most common. When caring for a monster at home, it grows up to three meters, and in greenhouses - up to ten. With good care, vines bloom every year. After that, their fruits ripen. Monstera attractive has a variegated variety. It grows slowly, capricious, needs a lot of light, high humidity.
- Climbing. In nature, this species is found in mountain forests, in the tropics of Central America. The variety is characterized by large leaves with a heart-shaped shape, up to sixty centimeters in diameter. Liana blooms with long cobs, after flowering fruits are formed withthe smell of pineapple. It's edible.
- Leaky. For the creeper of the species, perforation of the leaves is characteristic, because of which they look unusual. This type of flower is found in the American tropics. The length of the oblong ovoid leaves reaches a meter in length and about thirty centimeters in width.
- Slanting monstera. Planting and caring for this species at home is practically no different from keeping an attractive one. However, the oblique does not bloom at room conditions, unlike other species. This variety is characterized by elliptical leaves up to twenty centimeters long and about five centimeters wide.
- Borziga. This is a Mexican variety that cannot be called a powerful liana. It is characterized by a thin stem with a diameter of about thirty centimeters.
- Liana Adanson. In the tropics of Brazil, its height reaches eight meters. The plant has thin leaves with holes. When grown at home, the vine rarely blooms.
How to care
To get a monster like in the photo, home care is simple and insignificant, every beginner can handle it. When growing a flower, it is necessary to prune, monitor the level of humidity, temperature, transplant in time, water and feed.
Lighting and location
Caring for indoor monstera flowers at home comes down to creating conditions similar to tropical ones. Since the plant grows in the tropics, where there is a lot of tall growth, it lacks light, therefore, it does notneed direct sunlight. Moreover, they are able to cause sunburn, injuring green leaves. However, the lack of light has a bad effect on the plant. In this case, the leaves become smaller, the aerial roots become thin. All this causes a nutritional deficiency, which makes the plant lose its attractiveness.
Care at home for the monster is the right choice of the location of the flower pot. It is better to choose a western or eastern, northern window. The plant cannot be placed on the south side, as the vine can get burned.
Be sure to provide support to the plant. To do this, you can use a cut tree trunk, special supports for vines.
Feeding and watering
Growing monstera and home care involves creating conditions with a high level of humidity. The plant loves high humidity, abundant watering, but be sure to let the top layer of soil dry out. When watering a flower, you should remove the remaining water from the pan: this is usually done half an hour after watering.
In winter, the interval between waterings is increased by a couple of days. Otherwise, the process of root decay begins, brown spots appear on the leaves. The soil should not be allowed to dry out, just as waterlogging should not be allowed. For irrigation, use soft water: rainwater or settled tap water.
To maintain high decorativeness, fertilizers are applied twice a month. Without recharge, a large representative of the plant world will have to starve. So that the plant does not lag behind in growth, mineralcomplex fertilizers, organic. The latter is applied as a mulching layer. For this purpose, leaf humus is used. Mineral fertilizers are diluted according to the instructions and used for irrigation or spraying. Home care for a monstera flower involves fertilizing from April to the end of summer.
Temperature and humidity
Tropical guest easily adapts to any, even the most difficult conditions. But in order to grow a beautiful monstera flower, as in the photo, home care involves observing the temperature regime. For growing creepers, it is quite extensive - from twelve to twenty-five degrees. For normal wintering, exotics provide temperatures up to eighteen degrees, and at other times of the year - from twenty. The flower must not be allowed to be at a temperature of ten degrees or lower, as it will freeze.
In nature, the vine grows in conditions of high humidity. These are the conditions that should be created for the plant at home. To do this, spray the foliage and stem with water at room temperature, remove dust from the surface of the foliage.
Transfer
Adult and young specimens of the plant are demanding on the soil. Young flowers prefer slightly acidic to neutral soils, with an acidity level of 5.5-6.0 pH. The soil should be loose, well pass air and water. A soil mixture based on one part of sand, two parts of humus and one part of peat and sod land is well suited. For adult plants, soil with an acidity of 6.5 to7 pH. It is made on the basis of the same components, but leafy ground is added, and turf is taken more, three parts.
Timely transplantation, care for the monstera at home, proper watering and fertilizing will ensure the rapid growth of a beautiful plant with powerful stems and large leaves. In those cases, if you don’t want to make the soil yourself, you can buy a ready-made composition, the soil is suitable for aroid.
For planting creepers, you should choose the right pot. It should have drainage holes in the bottom. Young specimens are transplanted every year, and mature ones - once every three years. If a transplant is not planned, then a layer of soil is necessarily removed from a large bush and fresh is added.
Young plants are transplanted by transshipment. To do this, a vine is removed from the pot along with an earthen clod and placed in a larger container. At the bottom of the new pot should be expanded clay or other drainage material. A little substrate is poured on top. Then the plant is placed in a pot and sprinkled with earth. After transplantation, the vine is watered abundantly. The first top dressing is made no earlier than a month later. Transplantation is carried out in the spring.
Reproduction
Care and reproduction of monsters at home involve periodic renewal of the plant. To do this, you can use seeds, cuttings, air shoots. Since the plant rarely blooms in captivity, it is almost impossible to obtain seeds. The most popular material is the handle.
Propagation by cuttings
The simplest and most common method isThis is propagation by cuttings. The technique allows you to rejuvenate the plant and get many new specimens.
For cuttings, take a sharp knife or pruner. For rooting, use a part of a plant with one aerial root. Cut points must be treated with charcoal to prevent infection.
Slices are made just above the root and slightly below. The blanks are placed in water. After a month and a half, the plant is ready for planting in the ground.
Old, bare vines are cut in such a way that there are three eyes on the stem. Sections are immediately treated with charcoal. Blanks can be put in water or planted in a mini-greenhouse. In a month, the stems will sprout new shoots.
Reproduction by roots
For this method, you will need moss or a container of water. The upper roots are wrapped in wet moss or lowered into the water. As soon as small roots appear on the air roots, the top of the plant is cut off, sprinkled with charcoal, the cutting is planted in the ground. After such pruning, the plant produces side shoots.
Seed propagation
If you can find monstera seeds, you can try this breeding method. Sowing requires diffused light and a stable temperature. Seeds are sown in the ground to a depth of about 0.5 cm. During germination, care must be taken that the earth does not dry out.
In six months, the seedlings will release leaves, and a year after sowing, the plant will become strong and ready for transplanting. When breeding, picks are carried out in larger containers as needed.
Possiblegrowing problems
Sometimes monstera diseases appear due to improper care. At home, the most common problems are:
- Root decay. Due to improper watering, excess moisture at the flower, the roots begin to rot. The same thing happens when watering with cold water.
- Yellowing of the leaves. With a lack of fertilizer, the leaves begin to turn yellow. In this case, you should immediately feed the plant with complex fertilizers. You can also replace the top layer of soil with a new one.
- Pests. Creepers can be affected by thrips. Their appearance is indicated by light dots on the leaves. If you turn the diseased leaf over, then on the reverse side you can see the pest colony. You can get rid of the pest only with the use of special preparations.
- Curvature, falling of young leaves. With the defeat of the mealybug, the curvature and fall of the leaves occurs. To get rid of the pest, the leaves are treated with Actellik, wiped with a damp sponge.
- Spider web on a flower. She talks about the spider mite infestation of the vine. To destroy it, it is necessary to increase the humidity: spraying, wiping with soapy solutions. In case of severe infection, they are treated with special preparations for ticks.
- The appearance of brown plaques, falling leaves. These symptoms indicate that the plant is infected with a scale insect.
If suddenly the whole plant began to turn yellow, then this indicates a bay, and the gradual yellowing of the leaves indicates a lack of nutrition. A small number of leaves at the bottom of the vine indicates a lacklight, and their massive drying out - about the high temperature in the room.
Cutting
Monstera is trimmed when leaving at home for the purpose of sanitation. During the procedure, old and damaged leaves are removed, giving new ones the opportunity to develop and grow properly. This method helps to preserve the decorativeness of the bush.
If the vine is already large and has slowed down growth, then stimulation is carried out by removing the crown. It can be rooted. On the remaining part, new shoots will begin to actively grow. This method helps rejuvenate the plant.
Interesting facts about the monster
Monstera is a unique plant with many legends and myths associated with it. In every country where a flower grows, some kind of story is associated with it. In some countries, the liana is used for medicinal purposes.
In Asia, this plant symbolizes good luck and good he alth. In Cambodia and some other countries, it is believed that if a pot of liana is placed near a seriously ill person, then healing comes to him. In some countries, the liana is planted near the house to attract prosperity and he alth.
In Mexico, monstera is a breadfruit tree used to make a cure for arthritis. On some islands, creepers are used to make snake medicine, and in Peru, ropes are made from creepers. And this is not all the methods of using a wonderful plant.
