How Often to Water Monstera Deliciosa

Monstera Deliciosa plants were the must-have plant a few years ago. They're still quite popular as houseplants. What makes them popular is how quickly they grow, how big they can grow, and the fenestration (or holes) of the leaves. The proper watering technique is paramount for getting your Monstera to grow big and holey. In this post, I'll discuss how often to water Monstera Deliciosa.

Timing of Watering Monstera Deliciosa

I'm sorry to say there is no set frequency of watering to tell you to follow. It depends on too many factors like pot size, how much water you give each time, how many stems are in the pot, or how much sun it receives. That list isn't even exhaustive. If your plant is indoors though and you're watering it properly, you may be able to stick to a weekly schedule when you learn how much to water each time. In general, watering guidance is to water deeply less often, rather than frequent small amounts.

Water your Monstera during the growing season and then start to pull back on watering when it starts to go dormant. Generally speaking spring, summer, and early fall are the growing season and winter is dormancy. Your plant will go dormant once the length of the days gets shorter. You may get some growth during dormancy, but don't expect much and it's best not to encourage growth either.

Bottom Watering Monstera

If your plant is small enough to move around you may even want to consider bottom watering your Monstera. This is a technique where you fill a sink or tub with water up to a few inches and then place your plant pot directly into the sink. You leave it there for about ten minutes to allow the roots and soil an opportunity to soak up the water from the drainage holes.

When to Water Monstera Deliciosa

Whether you top water or bottom water Monsteras, the most important thing is that you wait until the soil has dried about two inches from the top before you provide your plant with more water. You can do this with your finger by sticking it in the soil. Monstera roots are pretty abundant so I've always had a hard time getting my finger down into any of my Monsteras' soil. You can also use a simple soil moisture meter. In my experience, this tool gives you more information and helps you become better at judging how much water to give at each watering.

Monstera Watering Mistakes

If you follow my blog, you'll know that I had to leave some plants at my office when the pandemic started and we weren't allowed back in to retrieve things. I was sure my plants were goners. However, after over two years away, I finally went into the office to see them holding up, but not well. The well-meaning cleaning folks had been watering my Monstera and other plants while we were out of the office.

I haven't been able to speak to them, but I can imagine that they found a fairly wilted Monstera. At the very beginning of the pandemic, no one was even allowed in the building for a while. I'm sure it looked pretty sad. What must have happened after was an overcompensation of water. I say all of this to explain the very sad pictures I will post below.

Underwatered Monstera

An underwatered Monstera will give you some visual signs, so you'll know when to water. The big heavy leaves will appear droopy. In addition, the tips of the leaves may become brown and crispy. It's best not to wait for these visual cues from your Monstera though. You can proactively check the soil moisture to make sure you aren't underwatering. Refer back to the section When to Water Monsteras for more information on how to monitor soil moisture. In my case, I believe this Monstera started out underwatered and then was being overwatered to compensate.

Overwatered Monstera

An overwatered Monstera will usually have yellowing leaves. The yellow will eventually turn brown. As you can see from the picture above and below, it's like you can almost see lines from each time the cleaning crew watered my Monstera. They're like rings on a tree you can see the damage outlined by a dark line. In addition to having mismanaged moisture, this Monstera almost certainly lacks nutrients since it hasn't been fertilized for over two years. It's also severely rootbound. There are many roots growing out of the drainage hole. I actually cut multiple 10-foot-plus aerial roots off of this plant before I took it home. (Note: aerial roots are for stability and don't indicate any moisture mismanagement.)

I'll have several follow-up posts on this particular Monstera. It's in pretty bad shape. I've decided to chop and propagate all of it. The roots were also very interesting to see and they were a pain in the butt to get out of the pot. Stay tuned for the rest of the story.

Do you have any other Monstera watering questions? Ask in the Comments.