The monstera albo is not too difficult to care for, in fact are very similar in need to their non-variegated relatives, you just need to get their light needs right…

Monstera Albo Care Summary

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Welcome to our article on the Monstera Albo. The variegated monstera albo is a classic, it is a rare houseplant lovers dream plant. They have spread like wildfire over Instagram over the last few years too, and for good reason, they look absolutely immense!

See also: How To Propagate Monstera Albo, Monstera Thai Constellation, Monstera Adansonii Variegated, Monstera Standleyana, Variegated Monstera (Category).

Tip: we recommend Etsy for buying plants. Look for the best rated seller you can, and try to buy as close to your home as possible so the plant does not travel too far.

A note about affiliate links: when you buy a plant, pots, soil, or other goods through links on this article we sometimes earn a commission. It doesn’t cost you anything, but it really helps us out if you do use them. Thanks a lot! An example of this is if you buy a plant on Etsy using this link. Read our privacy policy for more information. Thanks again.

Monstera Albo Care

You can care for your monstera albo the same as a normal monsteras, they need indirect sunlight, and water them when the top layer of sail is dry, they do not want to sit in water as this can lead to root rot, but at the same time they do not like to dry fully. They will do well in normal household humidity, but prefer the higher ends of this range, you can mist them every few days if you like.

Monstera Albo Light Needs

Bright indirect sunshine is ideal, but no direct. The main difference in care to a normal monstera is that this plant needs slightly higher light levels as the white variegated parts of the leaves cannot photosynthesize as well as green areas. So it needs a good amount of indirect sunlight, and this can help to encourage and enhance the variegation. A monstera albo can lose it’s variegation if not given enough light.

However be careful as the white leaves can burn if given too much light, so the key to good monstera albo care is to give them enough indirect sunlight to encourage the variegation but not too much so as to burn the white leaves.

For more on monstera deliciosa care see our guide: Monstera Deliciosa Care.

How Often To Water

They can be easy to overwater which can cause root rot, so you want to make suer that they do not sit in waterlogged soil.

Fertilizer

They don’t need to be fed but should grow quicker if you do. You can use a balanced feed every 3 weeks in the spring and summer. Don’t feed them when it is too cold.

Soil

You want to use a light, airy and chunky mix that aids drainage, I would use a mix of equal parts orchid bark, perlite and potting compost. For more on buying or making your own soil, see our guide here: Monstera Soil.

When to Repot

They can grow quickly, so it is a good idea to check the roots once or twice a year and repot them up when they get crowded. You want the plant to have plenty of space to grow.

Humidity

Aim for 60% humidity in th day if you can. They are tropcial plants and thrive in decent levels.

Temperature

Try to keep them in the range 17-25°C (63-737F) during the day and aim for a minimum temperature of 10°C (50°F) at night or in the winter.

Monstera Albo Propagation

Follow these steps to propagate your monstera albo:

1. Take a cutting with one node and one leaf. You want to wait until a leaf has fully unfurled but before it then grows another so you get one leaf only with no new growth. You don’t want the energy going to new growth, you want it going to the roots. So get a leaf a few days after it has unfurled and started to harden off.
2. The next step is to let the cutting callous over for 4 or 5 hours so the wound is healed. This really helps to reduce rot as the cut is sealed over.
3. The put the cutting in a jar of tap water. I use filtered tap water with a britta jug and use that. I also use a glass jar so I can see the root growth and I can see if the water turns cloudy.
4. Keep all leaves out of the water as they can rot if let to touch it. And keep an eye out for the water turning cloudy which is a sign of rot. Change the water if this happens.
5. Then keep the plant in indirect sunlight for a month or two and it should produce some roots. You don’t want to leave it for too long in water as it can then get shocked when moving it to soil. I would wait for it to have a few small roots started and then move it on.
6. You can then move it to soil after a month or so in water. You want to use a good aroid soil that is chunky and well draining (see our guide here: Monstera Soil).
7. Keep it humid until it has taken to the soil and started to put out new growth from the top. Then you can treat it as a juvenile plant.

If the leaf dies back don’t worry, chop it off and be patient, you should get new growth soon from the node.

For more on propagating your monstera albo see our guide here which covers water, soil, leca, moss and wet stick propagation: How To Propagate Monstera Albo. For different types of monsteras see our monstera category with all our monstera care guides.

Is It Toxic To Cats?

They are toxic to cats, seek vets advice if your pet eats any.

Monstera Albo USDA Zone

They can grow outdoors in zones 10-11. Do not let them get direct sun though.

Other Names

Monstera Deliciosa Albo Variegata. Variegated Monstera.

Where To Buy

Try our list of Rare Plant Shops or Etsy.

FAQs and Common Problems

Browning leaves is an issue. …

Leaf Browning

A common issue with a monstera albo is leaf browning. The thing is with these variegated plants is that the white areas are really sensitive to any issues. Big all-white areas of the leaves are very likely to brown at the edges even if the plant is healthy. For example, those really nice half-moon (half white, half green ) leaves that you see on Instagram are very likely to brown at the edges of the white part of the leaf and honestly the best thing to do is to cut off that area of the leaf (I know it’s heart breaking!). If you get an all white leaf it will turn brown very uqicly and die off, more stable and mixed variegations are better in the long run.

But there are a few things you can look out for when you get brown leaf leaf edges on your albo:

• Check the humidity is high enough.
• Check the plant is not getting burned from too much sunlight.
• Check that the plant is not under or overwatered.

The best thing to do is to check you’re ok on humidity, sun and water, and then consider trimming off the brown edges.

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Technical, Trend and Price Info

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Monstera Albo Pictures

Here’s a few pictures of ours on our Instagram.

Types Of Variegated Monstera

There are a few different types of variegated monstera deliciosa, we run down the four main types here:

Thai constellation: a creamy speckled variegation, rather than big areas of variegation. It has a stable variegation, having been propagated from tissue culture. For more on this see our guide here.

Monstera Albo: this classic has big patches of white. It has less stable variegation than the Thai Constellation, meaning it can revert more easily.

Monstera Aurea: this is rarer than the previous two. It has a yellowy green speckled variegation. These are harder to find and newer.

Mint Monstera: one of the rarest at the moment, it has a light mint green color the the variegated areas instead of white. It looks like the albo from far away, but the minty color is obvious the closer you get, it is a real beauty.

Why is M. Albo so expensive?

These plants can go for up to 5000 US dollars, although some do go for 100 or 200 US dollars /euros on Etsy and Ebay. They are expensive due to huge demand for houseplants as well as monsteras rising in a general trend, as well as the covid lockdown increasing the trend further as people are buying more plants. The supply is fairly limited to a few hundred specialists selling small volumes. The relatively small supply cannot keep up with the huge demand so the price has rocketed.

Monstera Albo Variegata

The Monstera Albo (aka the Monstera Albo Variegata aka Monstera Deliciosa Albo Variegata) is a white and green variegated monstera. It goes by quite a few names to be honest! It is similar to the Thai Constellation which is also a variegated monstera but the Albo has bigger white patches in general and less speckles.

Monstera Albo Borsigiana

What is the monstera albo borsigiana and how is it different to the other monstera albo? The borsigiana is a slightly smaller sub-species of monstera deliciosa. Aswell as being smaller it grows slightly faster too.

M. Albo For Sale

These expensive plants can be found for sale on Etsy, which is where I got mine. Specialist rare houseplant stores will have them as well from time to time, see our list here: Rare Plant Shops.

More Info

You might also like our other articles Monstera Adansonii Variegated, Monstera Thai Constellation, How To Clean Monstera Leaves.

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