To ask if you own a monstera deliciosa plant?

[mumlife2021]

I love these plants. But how easy are they to maintain and can they survive in a cold conservatory over winter? (I wouldn’t have room to move into the house). Any advice very welcome!

I do - it’s my new baby and I’m a bit obsessed. I kill every plant I ever buy, but so far so good with this one. Mine is in a low light corner in the house. It prefers humidity, so I’m not sure how a conservatory would work unless you’re heating it or using a humidifier.

Thanks! I’m looking for a big and beautiful plant for my conservatory that does get cold in the winter. Perhaps the monstera isn’t the one? I do love them though!

We’ve done well with ours and we have seen off many many house plants over the years.....had it 4 years....it’s tripled in size...leave still a nice dark green....in a low light area....it’s in a room that’s often unheated in winter ( use log burner in other room ) .....we don’t water it much in winter....maybe once a month....we water It weekly in summer...and feed it fortnightly in summer......we have had to re pot it and also put in 2 moss poles to train it up....it is becoming quite triffid like now...but i do Love it 😊

I had one years ago, which I used to move from the unheated conservatory into the house every winter. Eventually it became too big to move, (about 8 feet high) so I left it, expecting it to die, but it actually survived several winters, including several nights of sub zero temperatures, until one night the temperature fell to -17°C and that did for it.

I have one!

I bought it when it was about 20cm tall and 7 years later it takes over a whole alcove by my fireplace.

I’m not green fingered at all. If anything it’s been neglected so they’re very easy to care for. If I remember to I water it about once a week in the summer and probably monthly in the winter. It’s been repotted 3/4 times hence the growth. I think if left in a smaller pot it would restrict it.

If you do any DIY and it gets dusty give the leaves a wipe. It got a bit yellow but recovered once cleaned. Other than that I think they’re quite robust!

Oh and if you have a cat they enjoy swatting the leaves as they’re quite springy 🤣

I love these plants which I've always known as Swiss Cheese Plants. I've never tried growing one in the conservatory as I'd be worried about it being too cold/hot/dry/bright so interested to hear others' experience. I grow mine on a West facing window sill and it fills up the whole window. It's probably on it's third pot and ready for the next size up but then it will be too big for the window sill. I'm not sure where to move it next.

Thanks! Our conservatory also gets hot in the summer and is very light and bright with some direct sunlight. Can it survive that sort of environment too?

@RustyBear

I had one years ago, which I used to move from the unheated conservatory into the house every winter. Eventually it became too big to move, (about 8 feet high) so I left it, expecting it to die, but it actually survived several winters, including several nights of sub zero temperatures, until one night the temperature fell to -17°C and that did for it.

😢

@mumlife2021

Thanks! I’m looking for a big and beautiful plant for my conservatory that does get cold in the winter. Perhaps the monstera isn’t the one? I do love them though!

How about a Japanese / ornamental banana? There are some really pretty ones, and they could stand quite a wide range of temperatures as in your conservatory. If you are really adventurous, I think there's even one variety that could fruit indoor. A friend managed to get a small bunch in one of recent hot summers (I think 2017? or 18?). With additional growlights though.

Not a fig they are really moody!

But rubber plants are cheap and can be propagated easily and could be loved to another room if they don't like the cold. They grow tall if you feed them

advice on keepin them alive

Mine is in a south facing kitchen but out of the direct reach of sunlight. I think I’ve had it for 3/4 years? It was about a foot tall and now it’s about 8ft. I often forget to water it, dust it or do anything for it, but it carries on taking over the kitchen!

Could you keep it in the room next to the conservatory, as it were, so it gets the indirect light and doesn’t experience the same temperature extremes?

I have two large ones which are about 18 months old now. They LOVE light a s warmth and grew like the clappers this summer. They are slowing down a bit now that it's cooler. Unless it gets really cold, they won't die if they're cold, they'll just spend longer in dormancy. I don't know much about conservatories though, how cold are we talking.

Fyi you don't need to buy a big one. My first one was six quid in Sainsbury's and it had 5 leaves, only two of which had splits. It now has dozens, 3 of which have now got inner fenestrations as well.

Fatsia Japonica would thrive I think. But it might look a bit ‘suspicious’ to people who don’t know better...

Top tip for quick growth is to dangle any long aerial roots in some water - I did this over the summer and my monstera went bananas.
As a pp said they'll just stay dormant longer in the cool but if you can move them somewhere warmer I would.