Monster. Home care

The rich South American flora is an inexhaustible source of planting material for planting all kinds of premises. It has given planters many species, genera and whole families of plants, without which it is difficult to imagine the modern floriculture of closed ground. Such plants include monsters, a representative of the extensive family of Aroids, which has been decorating modern apartments, offices, vestibules and winter gardens for decades.

Care for the monster at home is not particularly difficult. The plant is unpretentious, resistant to pathogens, painlessly tolerates a drop in temperature to 15 ° C and tolerates a lack of lighting. Perhaps, this explains the love of landscapers for this tropical vine. But still, like any other culture, a monster needs attention and care. It should be remembered that in nature it lives in moist rainforests, where it is warm and fresh all year round, there is no shortage of moisture, and the soil is loose, permeable, with good aeration. If you consider all these factors, the result will be a truly luxurious monster. Care at home should be aimed at, if possible, to recreate for the plant its natural environment. Let us dwell on the most important points.

Lighting

Contrary to the popular belief that a monster is well tolerated by a shadow, she is photophilous. Of course, like most of the arid, direct sun, it does not suffer, but the light must be bright. Only in this case, you can get powerful carved leaves, for which the monster is grown. Care at home should begin with the choice of a place that meets this requirement. This is important, because when there is a lack of light, the young leaves fade, turn pale, the dissection becomes less pronounced and the decorativeness of the plant decreases drastically.

The soil

The substrate must be loose, light, well drained, air-and moisture-permeable. It can be made independently by mixing leaf and coniferous earth, coarse-grained sand and peat in a ratio of 1: 1: 0.5: 1. It should be borne in mind that in the forests where the monster lives, nutrients are washed out of the soil by endless torrential rains, so do not make a too fertile substratum using a fat, organic land rich in organic matter. In addition, the monster needs good drainage.

Humidification

It is important to consider the conditions of detention. Undoubtedly, the plant is hygrophilous, but it needs plenty of watering only when there is enough heat and light. As a rule, when growing in apartments, the monster is well watered in the spring and summer, using soft, settled water, and in the autumn, the humidification is reduced. But if the plant is refreshed during the off-season and kept in a warm room (22-25 ° C), the regime of irrigation changes insignificantly. In any case, it is important to avoid overmoistening, which provokes decay of the roots and the appearance of brown-black spots on the leaves. Soil over-drying is also unacceptable.

Air humidity plays an important role in the development of the plant. If it is low, it is unlikely that a beautiful and healthy monster will grow up in the apartment. Care at home requires regular sprinkling of the crown with soft water. You can also use a humidifier, place a pot on a pallet with wet claydite, wrap air roots with wet moss and resort to other tricks that make life easier for a tropical beauty in captivity.

Fertilizers

The plant is able to grow long enough without additional nutrition, but if during the growing season twice a month to make mineral and organic top dressing, the result will be a powerful and magnificent monster.

Care at home, in addition, must necessarily include cleaning the leaves of dust with warm water. If this procedure is neglected, the probability of occurrence of a spider mite, scutellum and other pests is high, for which dusty foliage is especially attractive.

An adult plant requires support. You can use plastic props, wrapped in palm fiber. If you fill them with soil and make holes for air roots, this design will look more decorative and will give additional power to the plant.

Transplant the monster only when the roots fill the entire volume of the pot. Too often, this procedure should not be carried out, because the aerial roots of monsters are very sensitive, despite its apparent power.

If you follow all the rules of agricultural technology, after the second year of life, the plant can give the first indoor flower. Monstera has edible fruits, but in the room culture they ripen extremely rarely.