Your Monstera Will NEVER Thrive Unless You Do This

Are you tired of your Monstera growing at a snail's pace? Do you dream of proudly owning a green stallion that sends out big beautiful leaves every couple of weeks with lots of slits and holes in the leaves? Maybe you've got one that is suffering with yellowing leaves that you just can't figure out why? Well I've got 18 Monstera plants of all different shapes and sizes in my collection I've been growing for over a year now so I've got a pretty good idea on what makes them tick And thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring today's video. We're at the back end of winter as I'm recording this and it goes without saying that winter is a bit of a tough time for our Monsteras. They're not much fans of the gloomy nights and long nights especially in a temperate climate like mine. They crave vitamin D and there's just not much of it going around. Now that summer is on the horizon though we should be getting our Monstera set up properly to make the most of this golden time. Get it right and we should see some fantastic growth with lots of mature leaves. Mature leaves is a bit of a funny one because they often say that the famous slits and holes in the leaves come with age and maturity and you shouldn't expect to see this on a young plant for years but I say that's a load of rubbish. If your Monstera is showing no signs of sending out mature leaves for years then something is not right. I grew this guy all the way from seed one year ago along with nine of his brothers and sisters and just look at the leaves. Slits aplenty. Mature leaves in less than a year. This guy is exactly the same and this one and this. Oh what happened here? Well two things actually. When I planted these bad boys I didn't really intend on keeping them. I just didn't have the space for 10 more plants in my house but something happened I wasn't really expecting. I fell in love. There was just something about birthing these guys all the way from seed that made me all gooey inside. So I decided to keep them but the problem was I just didn't have the real estate so a couple were shoved in the shade and a few were lucky enough to call the windowsill home where they could bask in the sun all day and here are the results. This is the first golden rule of plant care. Plants love light. Any plant that is but especially Monsteras. Mine absolutely love to sit in the brightest spot in my home. I'm lucky enough to have this conservatory now so they're all sat in great light on these bamboo shelves and I really am seeing great growth even in winter. All except this guy. There's still no room at the inn so he gets to enjoy a sancy grow light over his head instead. A very good compromise but not quite the replacement for the real thing. Now I will temper all this by saying that my climate is temperate i.e. it's cloudy as hell. So keep a beady eye on yours if you do move them closer to the window and you're in a hot climate you might need to acclimate him to the sun if he starts getting fussy. The second thing is a little more pro level settings but if you can do it you'll get your just rewards trust me. It's all to do with the roots and I'm not just simply talking about repotting or anything. I'm talking about a symbiotic relationship between the roots and soil. Sounds complicated but it really is dead simple so let me break it down. Any Monstera is only as good as the roots living down below. They're the foundations that hold everything upright. Give your Monstera the best foundations then slitty holy leaves here we come. But how do we do this? Well there's the obvious things about soil and pots that most of us know about but there is a secret source that turbocharts root growth that only the pros know about. This stuff. Simply sprinkle this onto the roots just once and watch magic things happen. This is mycorrhizal fungi and it's like a plant underground's best friend. It simply works to extend the Monstera's root network in the soil allowing him to drink more juice and eat more vegetables. So root health is massively boosted and so is leaf health. As an experiment last year I gave half of my seed grown Monsteras a fungi sprinkle and half of them I just gave a hope and a prayer. Well the results speak for themselves. I really have seen super quick maturity on the ones I gave the secret source to. Don't let this stuff intimidate you like it did me. It's dead simple to apply and you can easily get this stuff online. The one I use is listed in my Amazon store linked in the description. Now you'll have noticed this weird moldy plastic pole thing living in the pot and pressed up against the bum of this Monstera and probably wondering what it is and why it's there. Before I spill the beans on that though I just want to tease an exciting announcement that is coming up about something I've been working on for the last couple of months that I'm finally launching on Friday the 21st of February. I can't wait to share it with you and I think it'll be something that you'll love. I'm having a blast that's for sure. It's something new that'll bring lots more free planty content your way. Keep your eyes peeled for a video on Friday telling you all about it and if you're watching this after that day I'll leave a link up here to that video. What do you think it is? Let me know down below. So this thing might look a bit ugly at this stage but over time it'll make the difference between having a Monstera in your house that is par for the course and one that you are truly proud to show off to all your friends and family. You see your Monstera is a natural climber. He loves nothing more than to hoist himself up by his hands and feet and point his face in the direction of the sun. By hands and feet I mean aerial routes by the way. The weird brown alien like things that grow out of the stem. Get these things growing into a moss pole like this and your little fellow will be in plant heaven. It turns the aerial routes from a functional accessory to one that really benefits the plant. But how? Let's first talk about Squarespace, the all-in-one platform to build your online presence we've sponsored today's video. Whether you're creating a blog, launching a business or showcasing your work Squarespace makes it ridiculously easy. You can choose from stunning templates that look amazing right out of the box so no design skills required. Plus with drag and drop tools you can easily customise every detail to reflect your style. If you're selling products then Squarespace has built-in e-commerce features to help you manage inventory, track orders and even handle taxes. And if you want to grow an audience then you can use their powerful analytics and marketing tools to drive traffic and connect with your community. Head to squarespace.com to start your free trial today and when you're ready to launch use code SHEFFIELD for 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. So once these aerial routes get their hands onto some water and nutrients as well as a bed for the night they turn into proper roots that give the plant energy. This is when growth really does take off. Plus by encouraging your guy to grow like his friends in the jungle you're showing just how magnificent he can be. So that's what this is. A plastic cage filled with moss for the plant to grow up and latch his roots into. It's mimicking the tree he would grow up in the jungle. Do this as early as possible and things really do start to speed up. Now these moss piles aren't for everyone of course. I mean at this stage they do seem to dominate and take all the glory plus they can be a bit of a pain to maintain. That's because you want the moss to stay nice and moist so the roots start growing inside and then stay healthy. Let the moss dry out and you have a real hard time getting it moist again. So this means keeping it topped up every few days. It is a lot of work but I do think it's worth it in the long run. The alternative is to choose something more aesthetically pleasing like these trellis trellises. The aerial routes won't transform like they would in moss but they will still use it to climb and that's a win. I think these trellis trellises are great and their details are linked in the description along with the 10% discount code. Now it might seem scary but doing this can be a real game changer at the beginning of spring. You might think I'm mad but chopping a little guy's head off can be one of the best things you do. Normally I wouldn't really recommend this for a Monstera because you'll have to grow a new head and the first few leaves on that new head will be less mature than the leaf you cut off. But do this in early spring and your little guy has tons of time to sort himself out and the best part is you get to have a brand new plant for free. Pop the cut off peas in a glass of water and roots will soon appear under the node and it's already starting to happen with this guy. Monstera albos are still fairly expensive so cloning this guy for free is a real boon. Now to tell you the truth the real reason I did this was because I wasn't best pleased with how Mr Albo Sr was growing. All the leaves were facing away from the room which is really annoying when you're trying to create a plant paradise. So I showed him who's boss and cut his head off. I really do recommend this if something is not growing to your liking. You get to start afresh and a new stem will grow on Sr Albo that'll hopefully be more disciplined. And then we have crooked leaves or leaves that are just making the place look untidy. I'm in the habit of just chopping these off. Plants are there to look nice right? So what are some other pro level moves that'll turn your Monstera into a sexy beast? Well I've got one and it's all to do with water. There's two parts to this and the first part only works if you get the second part right. So stay tuned. The conventional wisdom is that pretty much all plants not just Monstera grow best when their foundations are housed in soil. It's how they grow in the jungle right? Lovely nutrient rich soil to spread their legs into and grow happy and strong. Well just look at the roots on this bad boy. It's a right ramen party and this guy is not living in soil. He's living in just perlite. This is a semi-hydro setup and simply involves putting your little guy into an inner rock-like substance sat in a reservoir of water instead of soil. Lekker or little balls of hardened clay is a popular choice as is pon which is basically a mix of pumice and lava rock. I tried perlite for this Monstera which is just another fancy type of lightweight volcanic rock and the roots have exploded. Not literally of course. I've been experimenting with semi-hydro for about a year now and for some reason plants do seem to love it. The roots grow super quick. Too quick if you ask me. I'm not sure why. If you do then do let us know down below. The aim of the game is to have your plant sat in a plastic pot like you normally would with lekker, pon or perlite. Then have that pot sat in a puddle of water that is laced with hydroponic fertilizer. The puddle of water makes sure the substrate doesn't dry out you see. And no, there's no need to worry about root rot. There's plenty of oxygen knocking around so everything should be fine. So what's the second part that we need to get right that I mentioned earlier? Well this basically applies just as much to Monsteras living in soil as it does to those living in semi-hydro. If the water we give is off balance then no amount of fertilizer we add will reach the plant and we end up in plant misery. It'll be like trying to eat soup without a spoon. Nothing will get to the belly. So why would our water be off balance? Well it largely depends on what part of the world you live in. If you're North American then chances are your water is slightly alkaline and this is bad for Monsteras. Most tropical plants prefer slightly acidic soil and when the soil is too alkaline they can't access the nutrients. Crazy isn't it? It blew my mind too. The easy thing to do here is to test your water and there's no need to send anything off to a lab or anything daft like that. Just simply get these test strips that are used to test the water in a swimming pool and the mystery will be solved. Too alkaline? Then it would be a good idea to get a pH balancer and apply that to the water before watering your plants. Watering Monsteras is something that lots of beginner plant folks tend to get wrong but follow a couple of basic principles and it becomes so much easier. The golden rule of houseplant watering is to check the soil first. Don't let the blind lead the blind or something to that effect. I mean if we don't check the soil how on earth will we know if Mr Monstera's private parts are a sopping wet mess? We don't. We're just guessing and this is where the problems come in. There are tons of apps out there giving planty folks a schedule to water their plants and this isn't the way to go. All sorts of things can change how quickly a plant dries out So watering is dead simple when you do two simple things. First is to check the soil. You can stick your finger in as far as it will go and feel for moisture or you can use a moisture meter. I use the moisture meter because it takes the doubt away completely. If it's dry then step two is to water thoroughly. I mean thoroughly. We really do need to get that root ball fully drenched. Give as much as you like. You won't hurt him. You'll only hurt him if you do so again before he's ready over and over and over again but when you do come to water him he needs all his soil to be fully wet. So earlier you saw me pruning off some leaves that I wasn't a fan of and because I'm a friend of the earth and all that I didn't simply chuck them in the bin to go to waste. I found a way to turn pruned leaves into plant gold and the process is dead simple and I go through it all in the video up here so make sure you click to watch it and I'll see you there.