how to Care for your Swiss Cheese Plant

What is a Swiss Cheese Plant?

Monstera adansonii, Five Holes Plant, or the Swiss cheese plant is a tropical, vining perennial that is super popular as a house plant! It is one of 41 varieties of the Monstera genus. This plant has gorgeous, bright green, glossy, heart shaped, leaves that will develop holes similar to swiss cheese when cared for properly.

The Monstera Adansonii is a native perennial plant to the Central and South American jungles. It can climb to impressive heights when supported on moss poles or create trailing vines when left to sprawl. The holes in the Adansonii’s leaves are called fenestrations.

Climbing or Trailing

If you want your Swiss cheese plant to grow as large as possible, you will want to train it up a moss pole! This enables the monstera adansonii to climb and encourages the plant to use its aerial roots attach to a moss pole to grow upwards and this encourages larger leaves. If you care for this plant correctly, you can grow a massive plant! Without aerial support, your swiss cheese plant will trail instead.

So, how do you care for the Swiss cheese plant?

Mimic Its Native Environment

When keeping house plants, I think a helpful tip that will really help your plants thrive is to try to mimic their natural environment as much as possible an in indoor setting. Since the Monstera Adonsonii is native to the jungles of Central and South America, it loves indirect sunlight similar to how they would be shaded by larger plants and trees in their native jungles of South and Central America. These jungles are also extremely humid and have moist soil from the consistent rainfall.

In Summary,

1. ) You should not let your plant’s soil dry out entirely as some other house plants may require. Don’t drown the plant though. check to see if your plant’s soil is becoming dried out and then water. Watering too often will cause ‘root rot’ and kill your plant baby.

2.) Keep your plant in a more humid room like a well-lit bathroom or use a humidifier near your plant to keep a higher humidity level. Not enough humidity can lead to your plant developing crispy, brown edges. A nice misting would be helpful as well!

3.) Repot your Monstera Adansonii once a year in a nutritious, peat-based potting soil. I recommend using terra cotta pots without glaze as well. Make SURE you use pots WITH holes. No holes in your pot means the soil cannot properly drain. This will inevitably lead to waterlogged plants dying from root rot.

4.) Your plant needs an environment that does not get colder than 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Remember, this is a jungle plant and the jungle is warm year-round!

5.) Avoid direct sunlight on your plant as this will burn the leaves. Keep your plant in a location with indirect sunlight.

Propagating New Plants

If you are new to propagating new plant babies from an original plant, the Monstera Adansonii will be a perfect entry plant to learn on! You only need to take a cutting from your original plant’s mature stem and let it form new aerial roots in a propagation glass of water. I just rest the stem section of the cutting in the water and wait patiently for the stem to grow new roots. I have tried using a rooting hormone and then planting directly into soil, but this method has not been as successful as using just water and a glass. Once the cutting has grown rotos, you just need to transfer your new little baby to a pot with nutritious, peat-based soil.

Is a Swiss Cheese plant Right for you?

As far as houseplants go, the Monstera Adansonii is a great beginner plant. It doesn’t have any particular pest or disease issue you need to look out for. So if you are looking for a beautiful and unique plant to liven up your space with indirect light, this plant may be right for you! If you have pets, you will want to keep this plant out of reach from your doggos and cats as it is somewhat toxic to them.

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Swiss Cheese Plant FAQs

How much light doe a Swiss Cheese Plant need?

This plant does best in indirect light. Too much light will cause the leaves to burn.

How big does a Swiss Cheese Plant get?

While this plant is easily managed with pruning, it can grow to be around 10ft in size if properly cared for and not trimmed.

How Fast Does a Swiss Cheese Plant grow?

This plant reaches maturity at three years of age! At this point, you will need to regularly prune your monstera adansonii to keep it under control.

Is a Swiss Cheese Plant Poisonous?

This plant is moderately toxic and can make your pets sick. I recommend keeping them up away from your pet’s reach.

Is a Swiss Cheese Plant an Indoor or Outdoor plant?

This plant needs humid temperatures above 60 degrees Fahrenheit. In certain locations, it is okay to take your Monstera adansonii outside in the summer as long as the plant is in a shaded area and the temp does not drop below 60 degrees Fahrenheit during the day or night.

Should I mist my Swiss Cheese plant?

This plant is native to the jungles of Central and South America. This means it will appreciate a gentle misting once a week. I recommend misting in the morning so the water has time to evaporate during the day. Water sitting on the leaves for too long can cause damage to the leaves.