Monstera Acacoyaguensis – Ultimate Beginners Care Guide
When you first lay eyes on a Monstera Acacoyaguensis, it’s hard not to think “I MUST HAVE ONE!“.
At least it was for us, when we first saw these beautiful plants in our local nursery. They are truly a sight to behold, with their large umbrella green leaves and Swiss cheese holes.
And if you are skilled enough to train them to grow up a moss pole, you can create a showpiece that will capture your visitors hearts in an instant.
The good news is, once you are familiar with their care requirements, these stunning plants are quite easy to maintain.
Today at the Garden Bench Top we are excited about featuring the Monstera Acacoyaguensis. You can expect to learn:
- where these beautiful plants originate,
- how to care for them successfully, and
- answers to all your frequently asked questions.
So if you are ready to get up close and personal with this Monstera, grab your gardening gloves and let’s begin.
Why we love the Monstera Acacoyaguensis
If you can’t tell, we are big fans of the Acacoyaguensis Monstera. It is a big, bold plant that can become quite a centerpiece in your home.
Being Monstera, these plants belong to the Araceae (or aroids) family. They share many similar characteristics with their cousins within the family, such as growing behaviors and care requirements.
Let’s take a closer look at the background of the Monstera Acacoyaguensis, so that we can begin to understand how this translates into caring for these magnificent plants.
Name Guide
Those familiar with our plant care guides will know we like to refer to plants by their botanical names. In this case, the Monstera Acacoyaguensis. Even though this may be a mouthful to say, we find it helps to avoid any confusion between species and subspecies of plants.
If you want to get completely technical, the scientific name for this subspecies of Monstera is Monstera cacoyaguensis Matuda.
There are no other ‘common’ names that we are aware of for the Monstera Acacoyaguensis.
However, it can be incorrectly labelled by some retailers with other Monstera plants, such as the rare Monstera Adansonii. This can be quite confusing for the novice gardener, who can be taken advantage of, by being charged a higher price due to the rarity of the Adansonii.
If you are thinking about purchasing a Monstera, be sure to familiarize yourself with our visual comparison check between the Acacoyaguensis vs adansonii, below in our frequently asked questions section.
Origin of Monstera Acacoyaguensis
To see these plants in their natural habitat, you will need to travel to the continent of South America, where the Monstera Acacoyaguensis is native to countries like Guatemala and Mexico, and even in parts of Belize.
These countries have tropical climates that are quite humid and warm.
The Acacoyaguensis love to grow in the undergrowth of the local rainforests, where you can see them attaching themselves to larger, taller trees, so they can reach for lighter positions. If there is enough light reaching the forest floor, they will grow on the ground.
Appearance
Monstera Acacoyaguensis are beautiful plants – that’s all we have to say.
Just kidding! Generally speaking, when you purchase an Acacoyaguensis Monstera, it will be a small to moderate size in a planter pot. However, given the right conditions, love and care, we have seen them grow in the home up to 4-6 feet in length.
Without formal training (or provided with available support), the Monstera Acacoyaguensis will grow by sending out creepers. We do highly recommend gifting your plant some sort of structure to climb, as that is what they innately seek to do.
Monstera Acacoyaguensis plants towers of large luscious green umbrella leaves, spotted with oval holes making each leaf look like its own unique masterpiece…
We have seen beautifully crafted dead (or artificial) logs, planted next to Acacoyaguensis plants for them to climb. This creates a stunning natural look and feel, that we absolutely adore.
Alternatively, you can establish a moss pole in the center of a large planter for your Monstera Acacoyaguensis to climb. Moss Poles are fantastic, as they have water retention properties that help you provide the necessary care for a healthy Monstera plant.
Monstera Acacoyaguensis Care
In this section we will cover all the husbandry duties you need to be aware of to successfully keep Monstera Acacoyaguensis.
Is the Monstera Acacoyaguensis Difficult to Care For?
Put simply, the Monstera Acacoyaguensis is an easy-to-care plant. They are perfect for indoor plant enthusiasts, or even individuals buying their first plant.
As mentioned above, they make a great ornamental indoor plant, or you can choose to cultivate them outside. If you decide to go down the outside path, we do encourage you to do a bit more research about the best positioning for them externally. Simply because, once they have been established, it will be harder to move them, when compared to individual planters when they are located inside.
Lighting
For best results, we recommend positioning your Monstera Acacoyaguensis in a place where it can receive plenty of indirect light.
Direct sunlight will be too intense for your plant, and can dehydrate the leaves quickly.
If you have no other option, a position that receives dappled morning or evening sun will be fine. And on the other end of the spectrum, your Monstera Acacoyaguensis will also tolerate medium levels of indirect light.
Unfortunately, low levels of light will result in your plant losing color on the leaves, and muted growth.
Temperature & Humidity
Given the Monstera Acacoyaguensis is from tropical climates, it is no surprise they like warmer conditions with high humidity. So the closer you can replicate their natural environment, the happier they will be.
Ideally, you should keep them in a position that is within the temperature range of 65-85° Fahrenheit (18- 29° Celcius) and the humidity range between 60-80%. If you are unsure about the humidity levels in your house, you can pick up an inexpensive hygrometer online or from your local nursery.
Water Requirements
The frequency of your watering will depend on many factors, including the type of soil you use (discussed below), whether it is a growing season for your Monstera Acacoyaguensis, the temperature and position you have your plant in.
As a general rule, you should check the topsoil of your planters each week on the same day. When you test the soil, we recommend employing the soil finger test. This useful test helps to determine whether you should be topping up the water for your plants or, whether you should give them a few days before checking again.
Check your indoor plants weekly to see if they need a water top up.
As with most indoor plants, the Monstera Acacoyaguensis enjoys a readily available source of water. But, this does not mean waterlogged or soggy soil which can lead to other problems like root rot.
We recommend using a specially crafted soil that is made specifically for indoor plants, which is the perfect segue into our next care tip – the best soil for your Monstera Acacoyaguensis.
Growing Medium & Supplements
Monstera plants love light, aerated soil that has good water retention properties – and the Monstera Acacoyaguensis is no exception.
A good potting soil mix of coco coir or peat moss, perlite and vermiculite is ideal for growing indoor plants. If you are into the DIY scene, check out our recipe for indoor plant potting mix to create your very own loamy soil (which ironically, isn’t really soil!).
Like most other indoor plants, we do recommend mixing in slow release fertilizer as a supplemental feed for your Monstera Acacoyaguensis to help provide the necessary nutrients and minerals for your plant. We would also recommend increasing your supplemental feeds during the growing seasons.
General Maintenance
As a general rule for indoor plants, we do recommend exposing your plants to drafts or sudden temperature changes. This includes open doorways and in direct line of any heaters or air conditioners. The sudden and direct change can result in unsightly marks and discoloration on the leaves, and will affect your plants’ health.
Monstera Acacoyaguensis Propagation
Okay, let’s get into the fun part of owning and cultivating your own plants – propagation. This has to be one of our passions at the Garden Bench Top. Partly because there is something satisfying about creating life and being able to share it with other like-minded gardeners. Also, in part because this is the part where you can get your hands dirty!
In this section we will walk you through the process of propagating a cutting from your Monstera Acacoyaguensis.
Required Materials Checklist
- Healthy Cutting
- Sterilized Knife/Blade
- Rooting Hormone (or agent)
- Pot/Planter
- Clear plastic bag
- Distilled Water
- Loamy Soil (refer to growing medium section above)
How to Propagate Your Monstera Acacoyaguensis
- Find a healthy stem. To begin, you will need to find a healthy cutting from your main plant. The stem should be approximately 4-6 inches long, with no signs of disease or weakness (like yellowing of leaves). It should also have a minimum of two leaf nodes along the stem. Take your sterilized knife, and cut the stem as close to the main plant as possible. You need a sterilized knife to avoid transferring any diseases or bacteria to the cutting AND your main plant.
- Fill Pot with Loamy Soil and Water. Fill your pot/planter with the loamy soil and water generously. Keep topping up the water in your pot until the excess begins to drain out from the bottom. We use distilled water to eliminate any unwanted bacteria or nasties that may sneak in. Ultimately, this will give your cutting the best opportunity to successfully take and grow. If you do not have distilled water available, tap water should be okay.
- Rooting Time. Dip the cut end of the stem into the rooting hormone and plant it into the pot. You want to ensure at least two nodes are in the loamy soil for roots to emerge. Cover your cutting with the clear plastic bag and secure loosely around the bottom of the pot. This will help to maintain a high level of humidity and encourage more growth. Place the pot near the mother plant in a brightly lit position.
- Maintenance. Occasionally, check the moisture levels in the pot and mist if required. It is important to keep the moisture levels high for the roots to grow quickly and take into the loamy soil. Ensure the cuttings leaves do not touch the plastic bag, otherwise it can encourage rot and bacteria to form.
- Transplanting your Cutting. After a few weeks, your plant should develop roots and begin to generate new growth. This is a good indication that your cutting is beginning to develop independence and a proper root structure. Once the roots are mature and approximately 2 inches long, you can transfer your plant into its final pot.
- Continued Maintenance. From this point on, just take care of your cuttings as you do your mother plant.
Frequently Asked Questions
In this section we attempt to answer all your ‘other’ questions that may not be addressed in the care guide.
If you don’t find an answer to your question, please send us a message via our CONTACT page. We will endeavor to respond with a timely answer, and include it in our growing FAQ section below.
How to tell if my plant is a Monstera Acacoyaguensis Juvenile?
Many gardening enthusiasts look for juvenile versions of the Monstera Acacoyaguensis, so they can train the plants to grow according to their vision. You will find juvenile plants at local nurseries, and they will generally be small, with a bunch of leaves.
You can tell a juvenile apart from a mature plant because the leaves are mostly smaller and won’t have formed that trademark Swiss cheese look with the oval holes.
Monstera Acacoyaguensis vs Adansonii
Given these two magnificent plants belong to the same family, they will have many similarities, like growth patterns and general overall look. They can even get mislabelled as one another in local nurseries and retail outlets.
However, if you take a closer inspection at the leaves side by side, you will notice some subtle differences. Monstera Acacoyaguensis leaves tend to be a little larger and broader.
To be honest, both plants are equally spectacular and will become a feature in your home.
My Monstera’s leaves are yellowing – what can I do?
Yellow leaves on an indoor plant can be caused by varying factors. The most common cause is water stress, which can be too little water or too much. To avoid both problems, we use the topsoil test strategy which helps you decide if your plants need more water or not.
If you feel you watering regime is on point, check out other possible causes of yellow leaves on our troubleshooting guide for yellowing leaves.
Does the Monstera Acacoyaguensis Climb?
Yes – Monstera Acacoyaguensis plants naturally climb and use other plants as hosts to climb upwards to their preferred lighting conditions. If you are planning on owning one of these beautiful plants, we recommend giving some thought to how you envision your plant to grow. It will ideally require some vertical space to grow upwards along some supporting structures (like a trellis or moss pole).