Monstera Care: Why Yours Has No Holes, and 8 Other Fixes

The monstera is the plant most people buy second, right after they have kept a pothos alive for a few months and feel ready for something bigger. It is a good choice. It grows fast, forgives a lot, and rewards a bit of attention with genuinely dramatic leaves.

It also generates more confused questions than almost any other houseplant, and most of them have the same handful of answers.

Why your monstera has no holes

This is the number one question and the answer is usually reassuring: it is too young.

Monstera deliciosa produces solid, heart shaped leaves as a juvenile. The splits and holes, called fenestrations, appear as the plant matures, typically from the third year onward and usually once leaves get past about 25cm. A small plant from a garden centre may be a year old. Nothing is wrong.

The other two causes are worth checking though.

Not enough light. Fenestration is expensive. A plant in a dim corner puts out smaller, solid leaves because it cannot afford the holes. Bright indirect light is what triggers the change. This is the most common fixable cause.

Nothing to climb. In the wild a monstera climbs a tree trunk, and leaf size increases as it goes up. A plant sprawling sideways across a shelf stays in juvenile mode far longer. Give it a moss pole or a plank and it will mature noticeably faster.

Once a leaf has unfurled solid, it stays solid. You are waiting on the next one.

Light

Bright indirect. In practice, within a metre or two of a window with a clear view of sky, or a few feet back from a south facing window.

Direct midday sun scorches the leaves, showing as bleached or brown crispy patches. Too little light gives you small leaves, long gaps between them, and no fenestration. Some direct morning sun is fine and often good.

Rotate the pot a quarter turn every week or two, otherwise it grows lopsided and drops the leaves on the dark side.

Water

Water when the top third of the soil is dry. Roughly weekly in summer, every two to three weeks in winter, but check rather than counting days.

Water thoroughly until it runs from the drainage hole, then empty the saucer. Little and often is the worst pattern, because it keeps the surface permanently damp, which breeds fungus gnats, while the roots at the bottom stay dry.

Yellow lower leaves with damp soil means too much. Crispy brown edges with dry soil means too little, or dry air.

The aerial roots

Those thick brown roots coming off the stem are normal and healthy. In the wild they anchor the plant to a tree and pull in moisture.

You have three options and all are fine: point them at the moss pole, tuck them into the soil, or leave them. Do not cut them off unless they are genuinely in the way, and never cut more than one or two at a time.

Give it something to climb

This is the difference between a monstera that looks like a plant and one that looks like the photos.

A moss pole, coir pole or plank of untreated wood set in the pot gives the stem something to attach to. Tie the stem loosely to the pole and let the aerial roots find it. Keep a moss pole damp and the roots will grip it.

Each new leaf up a support tends to come out bigger and more fenestrated than the last. Without one, the plant sprawls and the leaves plateau.

Common problems

1. Yellow lower leaves, damp soil. Overwatering. Let it dry further between waterings and check for rot.Water
2. Brown crispy edges. Low humidity or underwatering. Group plants together or use a pebble tray.Humidity
3. Brown mushy patches spreading from the centre. Bacterial or fungal spot, usually from water sitting on leaves. Remove affected leaves, improve airflow.Disease
4. Leaves small and far apart on the stem. Not enough light. Move closer to a window.Light
5. Fine webbing under leaves and pale speckling. Spider mites, which love dry indoor air. Rinse and treat weekly for three weeks.Pest
6. Weeping droplets from leaf tips. Guttation. Normal, and usually means it is a little overwatered.Harmless
7. New leaf stuck and not unfurling. Usually low humidity. Mist that specific leaf, do not force it open.Humidity
8. Whole plant leaning hard. Reaching for light, and no support. Rotate and add a pole.Light plus support

Is it actually a monstera?

A lot of plants get sold as monstera that are not.

Monstera adansonii is the smaller one with oval leaves full of holes that stay enclosed. Often labelled swiss cheese vine. Great plant, different growth habit.

Split leaf philodendron is a name used loosely for both true philodendrons and for monstera, and they are not the same genus.

Rhaphidophora tetrasperma is the mini monstera, and it is neither a monstera nor a philodendron. It grows much faster and stays small.

The distinction matters because water and light needs differ. Photograph a leaf with the stem attached and Identium will tell you which one you actually own.

Feeding, repotting, propagating

Feed at half the label strength every few weeks during spring and summer only. Nothing in winter. A stalled plant does not want more fertiliser, it wants more light.

Repot every couple of years, one size up. Roots out of the drainage hole are the signal.

Propagate by cutting just below a node, the small bump on the stem where a leaf and aerial root emerge. A cutting with a node roots in water in a few weeks. A cutting without a node never roots, no matter how nice the leaf is. That is the single thing people get wrong.

And note the toxicity: monstera contains calcium oxalate crystals, so chewing it causes mouth pain and drooling in cats and dogs. Unpleasant rather than dangerous, but worth knowing before it goes on a low shelf.