Monstera deliciosa is a tropical plant with huge, lustrous, dark green leaves. It is also known as “Swiss cheese plant” due to its property of developing holes in it’s gorgeous leaves, known as fenestrations. It gives a striking appearance to any room as an indoor plant. Originally from the tropics of North and South America, where it can reach upto 70 feet tall. However, only 3-8 feet as an indoor plant. It’s also a popular houseplant among newbies and professional plant keepers because its easy to grow and has very few pest and diseases.
There’s a lot of confusion about the Monstera plant as there are many species. The plant category, or genus, is called Monstera, but several different species of Monstera go by the same common name of “Swiss cheese plant.” But mostly it’s Monstera deliciosa with long lobed leaves and elongated holes (absent in young leaves).
Under natural conditions, this plant grows under the canopy of huge trees. So, it likes indirect sunlight or filtered sunlight. It may take some direct sunlight but not more than a few hours per day. Let the plant acclimatize in your home under indirect sunlight as it’s leaves scorch easily. Also, under very low light levels, it will not develope it’s characteristic leaf holes.
Monstera deliciosa or Swiss Cheese plant requires warm and moist climate to grow upto it’s full potential both under outdoor and indoor conditions. Make sure your pots and grow bags have drainage holes and keep the soil moist, don’t overwater. Under growing period (summers) feed the plant a healthy mix of organic compost like vermicompost or kitchen waste compost. Do not provide fertilizer in winters when the plant is not actively growing.
Small plants are weak and needs to be staked with the help of a moss pole or stick, on which they’ll climb. If you don’t stake them, the plant produces more branches which is also good depending upon one’s choice. The leaf size increases as the plant matures with more number of holes. Under natural conditions, the Swiss Cheese plant produces an edible fruit, hence the name Monstera deliciosa.
It’s better to keep the pets like cats and dogs away from the tropical plants like Monstera deliciosa as they contains calcium oxalate crystals, which are toxic to pets. If ingested, may cause irritation in mouth, tongue and may cause drooling and vomiting.
This plant is quite easy to propagate. You just need to take a few stem cuttings with each one having a leaf node. You can use some rooting hormone, aloevera gel acts as a natural rooting hormone, if desired. Plant the stem cutting containing leaf node within the soil. Stem cuttings can also be propagated in water. Usually it takes one month for roots to grow under favourable conditions however, you should wait for atleast two months for the roots to develop properly.