How to get Monstera-Deliciosa to Produce Gigantic Fruit

[LEOOEL]

Today I ate some of the flesh of a gigantic fruit from my Monstera-Deliciosa plant, for the first time ever. It tasted like Sour-Sop, but better, and with no seeds!

The width of the fruit at the base was the size of a large Sugar-Apple, and only decreasing in width about 3-4 inches before reaching the pointed tip of the fruit. The fruit was over one foot long.

I've never seen Monstera-Deliciosa fruit of this size before. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the fruit-tree fertilizer I gave it about 5 months ago. Consequently, this tells me that to get good fruit size, the plant likes/needs to be pushed. Now I'm thinking of propagating this plant to other locations in my yard. I need/want more of this fruit.

[Ethan]

Very nice Leooel, thanks for your observations and congrats on the monster sized monstera fruits.  I started dumping leftover water with fertilizer in it on the monstera plants this year and now have 6 blooms and giant lush green leaves.  They seem to like being fertilized!  Hopefully winter wont damage the fruits and I can get to try some homegrown monstera.

[murraystevena2]

Do you have any photos of the fruits? I have gotten monsteras from different sources and have noticed that the fruits are very different looking between different strains. Best tasting one came off a variegated monstera that had relatively small fruit. I have three plants that are producing for the first time. I try not to give them much fertilizer because they are hard to keep in pots with out running away and their roots keep going into all the surrounding plants. A cool thing about monstera is that they will grow on the ground underneath tables. You might have a superior cultivar. Is this the plants first fruit or have the fruits dramatically increased in size? Try propagating it, there is nothing easier to make more of. I have 50+ plants from just 5 starts. Red Sea I would like to see how your fruits look too. 

[Fruitguy]

The width of the fruit at the base was the size of a large Sugar-Apple, and only decreasing in width about 3-4 inches before the pointed tip of the fruit. The fruit was over one foot long.

Is that large sugar-apple as in FloridaGreenMan-sized?  Can you please give the size (circumfrence?) in inches or centimeters?  I would like to know how my fruits measure up. Thanks.

[LEOOEL]

Very nice Leooel, thanks for your observations and congrats on the monster sized monstera fruits.  I started dumping leftover water with fertilizer in it on the monstera plants this year and now have 6 blooms and giant lush green leaves.  They seem to like being fertilized!  Hopefully winter wont damage the fruits and I can get to try some homegrown monstera.

It seems like they're fond of plenty of water and adequate fertilizer. This is the very first time that it has produced this giant fruit. I suspect that it's the regular type Monstera, and that it just reacted positively to the fertilizer. Right now it has other regular sized fruit on it. The curious/interesting thing is that the part of the expansive developed plant that developed the fruit is right on the spot/location where there is an exhaust runoff of rainwater that comes from the roof of the house. So probably the combination of fertilizer and excessive water is what contributed to the giant Monstera fruit. Now, I'm 'gonna' put cuttings of the Monstera Deliciosa at other similar locations around the house.

Do you have any photos of the fruits? I have gotten monsteras from different sources and have noticed that the fruits are very different looking between different strains. Best tasting one came off a variegated monstera that had relatively small fruit. I have three plants that are producing for the first time. I try not to give them much fertilizer because they are hard to keep in pots with out running away and their roots keep going into all the surrounding plants. A cool thing about monstera is that they will grow on the ground underneath tables. You might have a superior cultivar. Is this the plants first fruit or have the fruits dramatically increased in size? Try propagating it, there is nothing easier to make more of. I have 50+ plants from just 5 starts. Red Sea I would like to see how your fruits look too.

I'm embarrased to say that, although I've tried, I haven't learned how to upload photos from my Apple I-Phone to my computer and then on to The Forum, but I haven't given up.

Maybe you're right and I got lucky to get a good strain of Monstera Deliciosa. A relative of mine brought it to my house. I was of the thought that all Monstera Deliciosa were the same, but based on your observations, I guess not.

It would be great if it was a superior cultivar. Or maybe it's undergoing a mutation. All I know is that now I'm hooked/addicted ( ) and I want more, you better believe I'm gonna be propagating it  Just imagine biting into the best tasting soursop (but better), a full mouthful and with no seeds, I tell you, I was blown away. Or maybe there's a good connection from my taste buds to my brain.  Thank you for posting/responding.

The width of the fruit at the base was the size of a large Sugar-Apple, and only decreasing in width about 3-4 inches before the pointed tip of the fruit. The fruit was over one foot long.

Is that large sugar-apple as in FloridaGreenMan-sized?  Can you please give the size (circumfrence?) in inches or centimeters?  I would like to know how my fruits measure up. Thanks.

The fruit was (I've already eaten one third of it) over 3 inches at the base. It just blows away in size the other regular sized fruit that it has now, has had in the past, or fruit that I've seen at other locations.

I tell 'ya,' if someone, perhaps a scientist or a propagator, were able to develop a strain where you didn't have to wait for the scales of the fruit to fall off, but instead the whole fruit ripened evenly, then the quality of this fruit would be greatly increased.

I'm now 'gonna' be putting Monstera Deliciosa cuttings at most of the roof rainwater runoff exhaust spouts around the house.

[Sven]

Leooel,

I’m with you.  It’s a fantastic fruit, tastes like a cross between apple and pineapple and easy to grow.  By the way, if anyone is looking for one you can usually find them in the indoor houseplant section of Home Depot in small 3” or so pots.  They have small heart shaped leaves when they are young and don’t get the giant holey leaves till they are older.

Cheers,
Sven

[KarenRei]

By the way, if anyone is looking for one you can usually find them in the indoor houseplant section of Home Depot in small 3” or so pots.

Wow, I had no idea it was grown as a houseplant!  I'm going to have to check Bauhaus, they have a pretty wide selection of houseplants, maybe I could pick one up! 

[Triloba Tracker]

By the way, if anyone is looking for one you can usually find them in the indoor houseplant section of Home Depot in small 3” or so pots.

Wow, I had no idea it was grown as a houseplant!  I'm going to have to check Bauhaus, they have a pretty wide selection of houseplants, maybe I could pick one up! 

Yeah, pretty wild! We enjoy spotting them in offices when we're out in public, or in TV and movies. They're fairly ubiquitous I think. I've even seen a lady wearing a dress with monstera leaf print on it!

[davidgarcia899]

Ive always avoided this fruit because I have been told it gives you a scratchy feeling when you eat it

[Sven]

It only gives you the fiberglass in the throat feeling if you eat part that isn’t ripe yet.  To ripen them put them in a paper bag and check them every day.  You need to only eat the part every day that the scales have separated from, if you go too far you will know. 

The leaf on the little plants (juvenile leave) have no holes and are quite small so they look like a different plant.

[murraystevena2]

My only comment to add to svens is to not get overzelous when harvesting them. The scales should already be popping off before you start eating them. Otherwise you get the whole mouth itchyness thing.
How do you guys tell when they are ripe? I can't really tell. I tried one fruit that was from a variegated plant and it tasted far better than any other I have ever tried, the scales all just fell off at once. Favor was banana, pineapple, and annona with a annona/banana texture. Fruits are much smaller than other monstera and plant is much more vining, with few of the long roots coming off. I'll take some photos of it when I get back this weekend. (With the nutrient program maybe able to get them bigger) plants are really hardy and probably the hardiest house plant that produces fruit.

If the plant had small fruit and then switched to larger fruits, I would say its due to nutriants. If this is its first fruit and it continues to produce giant fruits then you might have your own variety. I don't even know if there are any selected varieties out there but it could be a superior strain or growing in a better position. What ever the case you are doing some thing right!

[Triloba Tracker]

We'd been warned about waiting until the scales started popping off, and we still got the tingling, but only on the lips (not in the throat or mouth). We were very careful to only eat parts that had the scales off

But definitely wouldn't keep me from eating again. .. amazing flavor.

[LEOOEL]

Sven, thanks, indoor plant, who knew!

Before I cut the giant fruit from the plant, I noticed the scales had fallen off a 2 inch length section at the base. This is how I was able to eat the flesh by the mouthful (after I cleaned the flesh with running water as best I could).

The rest of the fruit still has the scales on. I've put it in a plastic bag and in the fridge, I don't remember exactly where I got this idea from, but I hope it works.

I really liked that 'eating it by the mouthful.' I'd love to find a technique where a big section of the scales fall off at the same time, so that I can 'chomp' into it again. 

Triloba tracker, I have to say that all of a sudden, it's a monstera deliciosa world. I love it. Also, I'm with you, the part that I'm trying to get used to, is to wait for the scales to completly fall off.

davidgarcia899, I would never eat it unless the scales were off the flesh. The 2 inch long section I ate, had no scales on it, and it tasted absolutly, pleasantly, delicious.

murraystevena2, my thoughts exactly, it's either a nutrition thing (fertilizer and water) or a new strain/mutation. I'm certainly going to keep an eye on that part of the plant to see what happens next. I tell 'ya,' the size of that fruit was really freaky.

You say that all the scales of the variegated Monstera Deliciosa strain that you have access to, fell off at the same time? Then, I have to borrow a phrase from another T.F.Forum Member and say: I'm jealous! How did you accomplish that? By the way, thanks for sharing.

[fruitlovers]

We'd been warned about waiting until the scales started popping off, and we still got the tingling, but only on the lips (not in the throat or mouth). We were very careful to only eat parts that had the scales off

But definitely wouldn't keep me from eating again. .. amazing flavor.

The effect from eating unripe parts of monstera is from oxalic crystals, similar to eating uncooked taro. Kind of like eating glass shards. I wouldn't just call it tingling. But even when fully ripe there will still be some traces of oxalic crystals, and some people, maybe yourself, are super sensitive and still feel them as tingling even when fully ripe.
They fall off when fully ripe and turn orange in color. You can ripen them faster and more evenly by putting the whole fruit in a brown paper bag.
Yes this is a very popular house plant. Here it grows wild all over the place, especially along seashore.

[murraystevena2]

I am growing 5 or more clones and have lots of plants now. Currently 3 plants are fruiting. The one with smaller fruits is off of the the once variegated plant, the other one with lots of fruit has very different looking fruit. Later on I will be able to compare flavor.

[plantlover13]

anyone know where you can find these plants?

[Sven]

I’m not sure if they are available in your area but check the house plant sections of your local nurseries.  They will look like the picture above.  Once you put them in a larger container and they start to get larger you will get the bigger leaves with holes in them like in this picture

[plantlover13]

I’m not sure if they are available in your area but check the house plant sections of your local nurseries.  They will look like the picture above.  Once you put them in a larger container and they start to get larger you will get the bigger leaves with holes in them like in this picture

Interesting. Will it go by any other name?

[Sven]

M. deliciosa, split leaf philodendron, or Mexican bead fruit, there are probably other names but in the nursery it should be one of the first two.

[LEOOEL]

I've had this M.D. fruit plant for over seven years. It's only this year, when it produced that giant fruit, that made me harvest it and eat it. So, I guess it could be said that I'm somewhat out of practice when it comes to consuming the fruit.

What I'm trying to say is that I put the rest of the unripe fruit inside of a plastic bag, because I just didn't have a paper bag. Well, what was left of the fruit spoiled inside the plastic bag, as they say, you live and learn.

Now, I have paper bags and I'm waiting for the next ripe fruit. The plant has pretty much spread in several directions, it's thriving and is full of fruit. I've come to the conclusion that it takes really well to fertilizer. Fertilizing once a year is important, twice a year is probably better, but I wouldn't go over that.

It's important to note that I had never fertilized this plant, and only after I fertilized it for the first time this year, did it produce that giant fruit.

I'm looking forward to paper bag ripe fruits, having all the scales come off at the same time, like with Murraystevena2, so I can eat it by the mouthful. And, I'm especially looking towards finding another giant fruit.