It is almost the end of autumn, in the vegetable garden there is little more to do than clean up and pull some weeds. Not enough to write entire blogging about. For the long winter days I have come up with something else namely my 2nd passion rare houseplants and in this blog I take you into the wonderful world of the Monstera. And a specific Monstera namely the variegated form called Monstera deliciosa variegata. In itself, the Monstera is an easy houseplant especially the common green Monstera deliciosa will grow exuberantly in the living room, it requires a constant temperature of at least 17 ° C at night and a maximum of 27 ° C during the day. The Monstera grows in the jungles of south and central America, where it lives among the trees and uses it as a climbing aid. If you look closely at the Monstera you can see all dark strings coming out of its stem, these are aerial roots, with this it brings in food and moisture and they are a useful means of climbing.bonte Monstera

Wat is er nou zo bijzonder aan de bonte Monstera?  Hij is namelijk zeldzaam en moeilijker te kweken dan zijn groene broer. In de natuur komen variaties voor doormiddel van uitzaaiing.

Als je bijvoorbeeld 100,000 Monstera zaden hebt en je zaait ze allemaal dan komt er maar één zaadje op met een ander kleurpatroon, Maar heb je eenmaal zo'n plant in je bezit dan kan je hem wel stekken en krijg je altijd een variegata terug. 

other species
There are many types of Monsteras, I am not going to bore you with it, but I would like to mention one more here and that is Monstera adansonii  which has many subspecies, as you can see below, the most famous 'Monkey Mask'

Other subspecies are the 'Laniata', which gets larger leaves with many smaller holes in the midrib, all Monstera's like to grow against a moss pole and as soon as the aerial root makes contact with the moss pole, the Monstera will make larger leaves, the 'Laniata' can they grow up to 40 cm long. I don't have them that big yet, but on the picture below you can see a cutting of this 'Laniata'

soil type

The Monstera belongs to the Arum family and does not like compact soil, they want oxygen at the roots. When I start cuttings I often put them in a mixture of peat moss, perlite and tree bark in equal parts. This way you get an airy soil in which the cuttings can root well. After a year I add another part of potting soil. the Monstera requires a lot of food, namely from March to the end of October 2 times a month a liquid food in the ratio as on the packaging and in the other months from November to March once a month and then also dissolve half in water. The Monstera prefers to drink rainwater and the variegated species should not be sprayed, but they do require high humidity by means of a humidifier, they grow best when the humidity is slightly above 60%.

In the last species I discuss here you see the Monstera adansonii variegata aurea. This plant has green leaves with lighter parts in the leaf. In the photo you see a new leaf that has just unrolled and the variegation is not yet so clearly visible, but as the leaf gets older, the leaf gets more and more variation.

I hope you like this blog as much as my vegetable garden blogs, houseplants create a comfortable climate in your living room and give a lot of pleasure and are a pleasure to look at, so until the next blog!