 Hi everyone and welcome back to Plants and Lucia. I am Lucia and as you may know this is Lupita and today we're going to be making a remake of a video about the monstera deliciosa that I made last year. But this video is going to be more comprehensive and it's going to have more tips that I have learned since I made the first video. Okay, coming up. Oh, before we start I wanted to tell you that I have created a playlist that is all about the monstera deliciosa. So I have videos there about how to propagate her, how to make a mask pull for her and many other things. So if you are interested in the monstera make sure to check out that list. But now let's get to the video. The monstera species is an evergreen vine or shrub that comes from Central America. So if you're ever in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico or Belize you may be able to see it in the wild. I have never seen it in the wild live but I've seen some pictures and oh my god it is amazing in the jungle. So if you ever get to see it please send a picture on Instagram because I would love to see that. The monstera plants are actually known for the holes on the leaves. That's why this plant is also commonly known as the Swiss cheese plant because it looks like Swiss cheese. And sometimes the leaves already come out with holes. Actually we have many new leaves this season so let me show you. So we have right there one, one over here. Oh it's already unrolling. And this one right here. This one is a little bit younger than the last one and I also have one right here. And a very small one right here. I think this is going to be a stem there. In case of the monstera deliciosa the holes actually grow towards the edge and then they open up as they mature. This plant grows really really big. I think that's why it is called monstera. And if you bring a monstera back home you will see that your home will feel like a jungle. So now let's see how you can keep your monstera very happy growing and healthy at your house. Since the monsteras are originally from tropical areas they prefer warmer temperatures. So keep your monstera in a room that is between 18 to 30 degrees celsius. I can tell you this summer has been really hot in berlin. We are about 30 to 33 degrees celsius every day. And I have noticed that this plant is thriving you guys. So warmer temperatures are very good for our monsteras. I think the lowest that we can go so our monstera keeps healthy is 15 degrees celsius but no lower than that. When we talk about humidity no more room humidity should be fine for our plant. But of course it will be ideal if you can provide more humidity especially in the winter months. I find that in the winter months the air in our place becomes drier because we use a lot of heating systems. And this is not good for our monsteras because remember this plant comes from the tropics. So they like humidity. If you find that the air in your home is very dry you can put your monstera on a humidity tray or in a room with a humidifier. Another way that you can increase humidity is to place your plant with other tropical plants because they help each other with humidity levels. When we talk about light the monstera will thrive in bright or medium indirect light. So we have ours in a room with a south facing window that means that this room gets lots of sunlight as you can see but we try to keep her away from indirect sunlight. This is very important you can provide bright sunlight but not direct sunlight as this may damage the leaves. We usually water our monstera every week during the growing season but what I recommend is that you always check the soil. I find that it is better to let the soil dry in between waterings so we prevent over watering our plant. The way that I check if my plant needs water is with my finger. So I put my finger all the way down in the soil so up to here and once I feel that the soil is dry then I water. So in the growing season and especially in the summer with this heat that we're having in Berlin I find myself watering my plant every week but in the winter I still check the soil and I notice that the soil tends to take longer to dry out in between waterings so then I don't water as often and the method that I use to water this plant is from the top. This is because this plant is really big so we cannot water from the bottom and for this size of a plant we usually use one bucket of water. Okay let's talk about soil. I can tell you this plant is really adaptable when it comes to potting mix. We actually use an all-purpose house plant potting mix for our monstera. If you want to make your own potting mix I would recommend that you add two parts of perlite or pumice. This is for drainage, two parts of worm castings for nutrition and seven parts of coconut water so you retain moisture. We fertilize our plant pretty much every time we water during the growing season which is from spring to summer. This is because we use an organic fertilizer. An organic fertilizer tends to be less concentrated than synthetic fertilizers but of course even if you have an organic fertilizer I recommend that you check the instructions in the package so you don't overfeed your plants. Okay when we talk about propagation propagating the monstera is really easy you guys. All we have to do is to find a node and basically a node is where you see that one branch becomes two stems. Generally you will also see an aerial root coming out of the node so you can cut below the node. This is where the roots are gonna come out. I usually like to propagate in water because it's really cool to see the roots actually growing in the water and you can see how your plant is doing. Actually I can show you an update of some of the propagations that we have done from this beautiful monstera some of them are from last year and some of them are from this year. This is the first propagation actually we have different ones here it's not the same branch I think it's three and you can see the roots there right there they're growing really nicely so I'm just growing this one here and as you can see we have a new leaf here right there and the second one is right here this one is from this year and I can show you so you can see some of the roots there it's growing really nicely too there you go of course if you would like to see how I propagate my monstera step by step we have a video for that so make sure to check it out according to the ASPCA the monstera is toxic to cats and dogs so keep your plant out of the reach just so everyone is safe now in this section I'm going to share two common problems in the monstera but of course if you have other problems in your monstera please make sure to comment below and maybe we can help each other out okay some common problems with the monstera include leaves turning brown and crisps at the edges this may be caused by two factors the first one is under watering so remember always try to keep the soil moist but not wet I usually water every week but please check the soil to make sure that it is drying out and then water the second cause for this is salt buildup so in some regions in the world the tap water has lots of minerals salts and chemicals and this can be damaging to our plants so in order to prevent this you can use filtered water rain water or distilled water we filter our water and it is usually fine with our plants you can also put the water that you're gonna use in a bucket and let it stand for 24 to 48 hours before you use it to water your plant this will get rid of some of the chemicals in the water common problem number two is yellow leaves and black stems this generally means that you are over watering your plant so remember always let the soil dry in between waterings and the way that you can check is using your fingers so put your finger inside the soil until the end of the finger and once you feel that the soil is dry then water letting the soil dry in between waterings will prevent over watering and root rot okay so now I'm gonna share some tips that I have learned while taking care of my monstera for the last year and a half number one mist your plant in aerial roots every day we usually mist our plant in the morning and we try to spray water all around on the leaves and on the roots I have noticed that this is very good for our plant because it really hydrates her and also it is very helpful to provide a little bit more humidity to our plant number two this tip is for you who got a baby monstera in your place so once you see that your monstera is getting to 75 centimeters long it will need some support so this can be either a moss ball a bamboo stick or some other stick so it can actually climb up if you're interested in making your own moss ball I got you we actually have a video in this channel that shows you how to make it step by step so if this is something that interests you I recommend that you watch that number three clean the leaves so once a week or so we like to clean the leaves of our monstera you know this is very good because first of all your monstera will look really good and shiny also it is very good for her because she will be able to take the sunlight more easily without dust or any clutter on the leaves and it will also be a good time to see if there are any pests on the leaves like on the top and on the back of the leaf so I usually use this time to really check the leaves clean them and prevent infestations okay my friends these are some of the tips that I can give you about this beautiful plant did you have a monstera at home how do you take care of it make sure to comment below so we can all learn together of course if you would like to be part of this community you're always welcome so make sure to subscribe so we can see each other every week and talk about plants and as always I will see you in the next video okay ciao