Monstera Deliciosa Care for Beginners: Your First Year

Monstera deliciosa care, in one paragraph: put your plant in bright, indirect light within a couple of metres of a window, water it when the top 3 to 5 cm of soil are dry, and grow it in a chunky, free-draining mix in a pot with a drainage hole. Feed lightly from spring to late summer, give it a moss pole once it starts to sprawl, and repot every one to two years. That's genuinely all most monsteras need.

This guide follows a new plant through its first year, step by step. If you want the full reference on light, water, soil and problems, our monstera care guide covers each topic in depth.

Monstera deliciosa care sheet

Want this on the fridge? The plant care card tool prints a one-page card for monstera and 21 other plants.

Is it really a monstera deliciosa?

Before you start, check what you have. Shops label several plants "monstera":

Care is similar for all of them, but adansonii and tetrasperma stay much smaller and prefer slightly more humidity.

Week 1: bringing your monstera home

Plants are grown in bright greenhouses, so a home is a shock. Expect a leaf to yellow or droop in the first few weeks. That's normal.

1. Choose the spot first. East- or west-facing windows are ideal, or a south-facing room set back from the glass. In north-facing rooms, put it right by the window.
2. Check the pot. Many plants come in a plastic nursery pot inside a decorative one. That's fine, as long as you empty any water that collects in the outer pot.
3. Don't repot yet. Let it settle for a few weeks unless the roots are bursting out or the soil is waterlogged.
4. Check for pests. Look under leaves and where leaves meet stems for webbing, sticky spots or small bumps.
5. Don't water by default. Feel the soil. Nursery soil is often moist already.

Months 1–3: getting the watering right

Watering is where most beginners struggle. Monsteras like a good drink, then a chance to dry partly. Our watering schedule builder gives starting check intervals for a monstera in a plastic pot:

When it's time, water slowly until it runs out of the drainage hole, let it drain, and empty the saucer. Our guide to watering houseplants covers the finger test and bottom watering.

Is it thirsty or overwatered? Thirsty monsteras droop slightly and leaves may curl inwards. Overwatered ones get yellow leaves, often the lower ones first, and soil that stays damp for more than a week. If you're seeing yellow leaves, read our monstera yellow leaves troubleshooter.

Months 2–6: light and growth

A healthy monstera in good light produces a new leaf every few weeks in spring and summer. Each new leaf emerges from a sheath on the previous leaf's stalk, unfurls over a few days, and darkens and hardens over a couple of weeks.

If new leaves are small, solid and on long stems, the plant wants more light. Check your spot with our light meter converter. Monsteras grow best in the "Medium light" to "Bright indirect" range: roughly 250 to 1,000+ foot-candles. A grow light is a good fix for dark rooms. See grow lights for houseplants.

Rotate the pot a quarter turn every couple of weeks, or the plant will lean towards the window.

Spring: the first repot

Most nursery monsteras need repotting within the first year. Signs: roots coming out of the drainage hole, roots circling the pot, or water running straight through.

1. Choose a pot 2–5 cm wider. Our repotting pot size calculator suggests the next size up. From a 20 cm pot, it suggests 24 cm (range 22–25 cm). From 25 cm, it suggests 30 cm.
2. Mix a chunky aroid soil. The soil mix calculator scales the recipe: 5 litres is 2 L potting soil, 1.5 L orchid bark, 1 L perlite and 0.5 L charcoal.
3. Water a day before, so the root ball slides out easily.
4. Loosen circling roots gently, set the plant at the same depth, and fill around it.
5. Water well, and keep it out of strong sun for a week or two.

Our step-by-step guide to how to repot a houseplant walks through each stage, including large plants. For the mix itself, see houseplant soil mix.

Spring to summer: feeding

Use a balanced liquid houseplant fertilizer at half strength every 2–4 weeks while it's growing. If the label says 5 ml per litre, our fertilizer dilution calculator shows that a 2 litre can at half strength needs 5 ml (about 1 teaspoon). Stop in autumn and winter, when growth slows.

When it starts to sprawl: adding a moss pole

In the wild, monsteras climb trees. Indoors, a young plant grows upright for a while, then stems start to lean and the plant spreads sideways. A support makes it neater and, many growers find, encourages bigger leaves.

1. Choose a moss pole, coir pole or sturdy stake, a little taller than the plant.
2. Push it into the pot on the side the stems lean towards, avoiding the main roots. It's easiest when repotting.
3. Tie stems loosely to the pole with soft plant ties or Velcro.
4. Point the aerial roots towards the pole. If it's a moss pole, keep the moss slightly damp so roots grow into it.

Autumn and winter: slowing down

As days shorten, monsteras slow down. Water less often (the 25 cm pot above moves from about 8 to about 13 days between checks), stop feeding, and keep the plant away from cold windows and radiators. Leaves may still appear, just more slowly. Don't repot in winter unless it's an emergency.

Split leaves: when do fenestrations start?

Young monsteras have solid, heart-shaped leaves. As the plant matures and gets enough light, new leaves develop slits from the edge and later holes (fenestrations). There's no fixed age. Light is usually the deciding factor. A mature plant that keeps producing solid leaves is almost always short of light.

Monstera deliciosa care outdoors and in the UK

In warm, frost-free climates, monsteras grow outside in shade and can get huge. In the UK and similar climates, treat monstera as a houseplant. Monstera is not frost hardy, so it needs protection from cold. It can spend summer outside in a sheltered, shaded spot if nights stay mild, but bring it in well before temperatures drop below about 12 °C.

Monstera deliciosa in water

Monstera cuttings root readily in water. Cut below a node (the bump where leaves and aerial roots grow), stand it in water so the node is submerged, and change the water weekly. Roots appear in a few weeks. You can keep it in water for months, adding a very dilute fertilizer occasionally, but it will grow more strongly once moved into soil.

Your first-year checklist

• ☐ Bright, indirect spot within a couple of metres of a window
• ☐ Pot with a drainage hole, saucer emptied after watering
• ☐ Soil checked every 6–8 days in summer, 12–14 days in winter
• ☐ Half-strength feed every 2–4 weeks in spring and summer
• ☐ Repotted once into a pot 2–5 cm wider, in chunky aroid mix
• ☐ Moss pole added when stems start to lean
• ☐ Leaves wiped and plant rotated monthly
• ☐ Kept out of reach of pets that chew plants

Sources and further reading

• ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants list, which lists Monstera deliciosa (as split-leaf philodendron) as toxic to cats and dogs.
• Royal Horticultural Society, for monstera cultivation and hardiness.
• Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder, for species information.