I’ve had this monstera in water for about a year now and it’s been doing really well. However, occasionally a leaf has turned yellow and died off. I thought it best to take it out today and try to wash off a lot of the algae that’s on the roots. I realised that there’s so many roots.
What is best to do, stick with it in water or finally pot it. And if so then how should I pot it. I’m slightly nervous as when I repotted this previously it really didn’t go well.
TIA
by OneAd6441
2 Comments
Dude this thing needed soil like a year ago. Plants use the soil to get nutrients up. Its also needed to avoid overwatering. You only ever use pure water as a rooting place, then when it gets some roots you plop it in an aroid soil mix.
What youre probably doing wrong is you were underwatering the plant in the soil at first. These roots are used to 100% water, so its gonna be a shock going to dry soil. For a few weeks, water more frequently. Not saying the soil should be sopping wet, but it should be a little damp. Then as the plant accepts the new soil, slowly phase out the waterings to about once a week, when the soil is fully dry.
Dont freak out if a few leaves die, that is to be expected as the plant is in shock. Repotting might make it look worse in the moment, but its a must if you actually want a bigger plant with eventual fenestrations and stuff. One year for a monstera is a LOT of time and they can grow a lot, so the fact that this one is still so small shows the lack of a good enviroment.
Also just a note, but these full moon albos wont sustain the white leaves. That white leaf will never be able to photosynthesize, so its functionally useless to the plant and will eventually die. Nothing you can do to fix that. If you get leaves with a mix of green and white theyre much more likely to hold up.
Also, it looks like it might be losing the variagation. Take a few pics of the stems. You might need to cut it at a lower node that still has some white in it if you want to revive the nice white leaves.
It’s missing nutrients and light.
While monsteras can grow in water if you are really viguros when it comes to keeping their nutrient levels up to its needs, the easiest method for it to get the needed nourishments is for it to get into soil.
Maybe look for some youtubers that explain their journey and tips while growing monstera in water/semihidro or just explain how to best transfer it to soil, if this is what you want.
Personally, I’ve only had them in soil, and I bought my first monstera this year, but I vaguely remember people with better experience talking about these things all over social media.