Can I use cactus soil for Monstera?

The Monstera plant originates from the lush tropical forests of Southern Mexico, stretching down to Panama. It has since found its way into countless households as a popular houseplant.

Monstera plants thrive in warm environments with well-draining soil. While it might be tempting to consider cactus soil, there are several important reasons why it’s not the ideal choice for your Monstera. Let’s explore these details further in this post to gain a better understanding.

The Cactus soil for the monstera plants is a bad selection of soil recipe because cactus soil is mainly prepared to maintain dry soil, so it doesn’t maintain enough moisture required for the monstera plants. Monstera plants need a specific recipe of the soil to thrive well, that is good texture, aeration, and drainage.

What kind of soil mix is best for Monstera?

While choosing the soil receipe mix for monstera first we need to see what kind of plant is monstera is. It is tropical based, where it grows in forest. It takes the root in the forest floor and climpbs up with the help of other supporting structure like trees.

The best soil mix for the monstera plant should be nutrient-rich, disease-free, good aeration, slightly acidic (PH level), and well-drainable soil. Proper drainage holes are necessary for pots to flush out the excess water, this will help the soil to retain required moisture and prevents standing water.

Monstera plant are popular choices among gardeners and backyard plant lovers, due to its low maintenance ways and ability to grow in a variety of environments and in moderate temperatures, Whether grown in a garden, backyard, or in a container inside the home.

The popular names for monstera plants are the swiss cheese plant, ceriman, Hurricane plant, Cutleaf-Philodendron, Mexican Breadfruit, and Split leaf Philodendron.

Best soil is forest soil for monstera plant but we cannot bring forest soil to home, so we can prepare good receipe to make similar soil at home.

Components of Soil Mix For Monstera

There are two ways to get good soil for monstera plants.
1. Get good soil from a shop or online. (Usually costlier).
2. Another way is to prepare soil mix, The proper proportion of soil mix is necessary to help the monstera plant grow well.

mixture of the potting soil and perlite in a 3:2 ratio, nothing but 3 times the soil and 2 times the perlite. This mixture gives us 60% potting soil and 40% perlite. This works for me and if your potting soil is too dense or light, you can adjust the mixing portion.

with above mix peat, humus, leaf soil, and sand add equal part to prepare good mix.

This type of soil is good in absorbing liquid (water) and gives good aeration for the young monstera plant to release new roots and grow well.

Organic material for monstera plant

I suggest to use coco peat or peat moss as most of the filler. these are oraganic and supports to retain moisture without burdening the roots of the monstera plant.

Once the organic material started to break down, This also helps in controlling PH level of the plant and also helps in releasing nutrients to soil.

Also improves the aeration of the soil.

Small wood chips, Bark and chunk of organic material

As the monstera is the forest tropical plant, It alwas get all these organic material naturally but we need to provide this manually when we are growing in backyard or indoor plant to thrive well.

Monstera plant will try to stay roots in ground, but its challenging to maintain good drainage while plant roots keep holding on to the soil. Monstera plant will keep upright if you add crushed barks means small wood chips to soil.

Can I use cactus soil for Monstera?

Cactus soil for the monstera plants is a bad selection of soil because its sandy and lacks in texture, no organic material which is more important for monstera plant to thrive.

In Cactus soil monstera plant roots won’t find barks or wood chips to hold the plant upright (no organic material). This is one of the biggest problem for monstera plant. more over we also need to maintain the ph level of soil to 5 to 7 to thrive monstera plant well.This plant also likes acidic soil where we don’t have the same in cactus soil.

Acidity increase in the soil helps monstera plant to increase absorbption power of the monstera plant and it will grow healthy in less time.

Cactus soil is compact in nature this is not good for monstera plant, monstera plant root cannot handle the root pressure as cactus roots.

Increase of root pressure in monstera plant roots increase the chances of root rot.

Cacti are used to grow better on hard ground but monstera plant cannot.

Organic material helps to keep the PH level between 5 to 7 (preferably 6.5) which encourages good growth for monstera plant. This is achieved by breaking down of organic material like wood chips, and barks.

Home made soil for monstera plant

Bark & Pumice: This provides good aeration and drainage. select long and small chunks of bark and black stone (pumice) to aerate the soil mix. I usually select orchid bark, bark fines, and reptile bark. Pumice is small rocks like perlite we select this over perlite because it mixes well with soil mix.

Coconut Coir: This is better than peat mass, I always use this for all of my indoor plants to hold the moisture for a long time and very less weight.

Activated charcoal: This is just a burned bark for the most effective way to remove of impurities. It acts as an antibacterial and antifungus to prevent root rot diseases.

Worm Castings: These contain nutrients and beneficiary microbes that help plants grow well.

soil mix with a ratio of 3:3:3:1:1. 3 parts of bark, 3 parts of pumice, 3 parts of coir, 1 part charcoal, and 1 part of worm castings. The easiest way to take scoops is as 1 part as 1 scoop.

FAQ:

Does Monstera like cactus soil?

Using cactus soil for Monstera plants isn’t the best choice because it’s designed for dry conditions and doesn’t hold enough moisture, which Monstera plants require. Monstera plants thrive with a soil mix that has the right texture, aeration, and drainage.

Is it okay to blend cactus soil with regular potting soil for my Monstera plant?

Choosing cactus soil for your Monstera plants may not be the best idea. Cactus soil is designed for arid conditions and doesn’t retain the necessary moisture that Monstera plants need. Monstera plants thrive when planted in soil with the right texture, aeration, and good drainage.

Final Thoughts:

I would advise against using cactus soil for your Monstera plant because it doesn’t retain sufficient moisture, provide the necessary nutrients, maintain the right pH balance, or offer proper aeration for the Monstera to thrive effectively.