How to get Your Monstera to Grow More Leaves | 5 Easy Tricks

Monstera are fast growing plants that grow leaves along a strong vine. To encourage your plant to grow more leaves along the vine provide it with humidity, regular fertilizer and good quality soil. Filtered light is also essential for monstera to grow more leaves. One easy trick to encourage monstera to grow more leaves fast is to put it outdoors when there is summer rain.

Putting your monstera outside for an hour or so in heavy rain is the best way to thoroughly soak the plant. It will wash the leaves off allowing them to transpire more efficiently and will give it a natural boost.

I recently put my monstera outside for around one hour when we were getting the last of our summer rain. After bringing it back inside it is sprouting 2 new leaves within a few days after spending weeks without new growth. This is my secret trick to encourage your monstera to grow new leaves.

Make sure you only leave the monstera outside for the time that it is raining and avoid leaving it in direct sunlight otherwise it can burn. Without doing anything else this encouraged fast leaf growth and was an easy way to water my plant.

This article will explore how to get your monstera to grow more leaves at home. I have 5 easy tips to encourage healthy plant growth and lots of large, healthy leaves.

Top 5 ways to get your monstera to grow more leaves

Here are my top 5 tips and tricks for getting your monstera to grow more leaves at home. If you get each of these factors right your monstera will thrive and quickly grow into a large, dense plant.

1. Humidity

Humidity is key to a healthy and thriving monstera plant. They are tropical vines originating from the tropical forests of southern Mexico so love a humid environment. While they hate being overwatered they love humidity levels above 50%.

In the area that I live we often get summer humidity levels anywhere from 60-80% which helps my monstera plants to thrive. They grow happily outdoors in our area due to the high humidity levels and rainfall.

If you do not live in a humid area you use a small, indoor plant humidifier. Place it near your plants and leave it at around 60-70% for an hour or two. This will give your monstera that tropical feel and encourage it to sprout new leaves.

2. Regular fertilizer

Slow release indoor plant food is great for monstera plants twice per year.

Regular fertilizer is key to fast and abundant leaf growth on monstera plants. The best way to fertilize monstera is to use an all purpose indoor plant food because it will contain a balanced mix of nutrients the plant needs. Apply this in spring and again in fall for year round nutrients.

If the plant is lacking in any particular nutrient, especially nitrogen its growth can slow. It is reliant on you, the soil it is growing in and the fertilizer you provide it to be happy.

Put it in your calendar to feed your plant at the start of spring and start of fall and it will have the nutrients it needs to grow new leaves over spring and summer.

Monstera plants can grow new leaves all year round in tropical and sub-tropical climates where the winters are mild. If you live in a cold region monstera plants will go through a dormant period when the weather turns cold but will be ready to grow new leaves rapidly in spiring.

3. Good quality soil

A new leaf poking out from behind the old ones.

Planting potted monstera in good quality soil is essential to help it to grow new leaves and a strong healthy root system. Always plant your monstera in the best quality potting soil you can afford. I like to choose an all-purpose potting soil that contains slow release fertilizer.

Premium potting soils will list the ingredients and nutrients included so you can see exactly what you are getting.  You can choose an indoor potting mix but an all-purpose mix will work well. I like to look out for potting mixes with added seaweed to help with healthy root growth.

4. Soaking rain

My favorite trick for getting monstera to grow new leaves fast it to take it outdoors in a summer rain shower. Taking indoor monstera plants outdoors 2-3 times per year when the weather is warm is a great way to promote new leaf growth.

Take the plant out of its cache pot without drainage holes and put it in a position outside where it can get the summer rain. I found that my pot was tricky to stand up because it has large leaf growth and a small put. Leaning it against a wall is a great way to keep it upright outdoors.

Leave the monstera outside in the rain for around an hour to allow it to soak through. This will give it a gentle water without washing large amounts of nutrients through the drainage holes. The potting soil will be soaked thoroughly, and the leaves will be cleaned by the rain.

Cleaning the leaves on monstera is a great way to allow the plant to transpire better as dust can block up its pores. This allows the plant to absorb carbon dioxide, release water from its leaves and grow fast.

5. A bright position

Put monstera in a bright position that gets plenty of bright but indirect light. Long daylight hours is a signal to the plant to grow and sprout new leaves. I like to keep my monstera around 2-3 feet away from a window that gets bright light in the morning but is shaded in the afternoon.

Providing your monstera with bright, filtered light will allow it to photosynthesize effectively and grow large, healthy leaves. Avoid placing your monstera in a position that gets direct sun because this can quickly burn the leaves.

How to get Your Monstera to Grow More Leaves | Summary

Monstera plants can be encouraged to grow new leaves fast with warm weather, high humidity, regular water and fertilizer. If the plant is not stressed it will happily grow a long healthy vine and climb its way up a grow pole. Monstera don’t like having wet roots so if you notice any black marks on its leaves it is time to slow down your watering.

For more on how to tell if you monstera is overwatered, check out my article here: How to Tell if a Plant is Overwatered or Underwatered | 7 Signs and Solutions

Happy growing.