My monstera is right by my north facing window where it gets just enough light but no direct light. I’ve had it for about a year and it’s been doing great with a lot of new growth! I recently decided to repot it after it started showing the black spots and yellowing leaves. But after about a week even more leaves started to turn yellow w/ black spots. The soil was a potting soil and peat moss mix. I did some googling and saw that it could be root rot so I took a look at the roots and cut the roots where they had gone soft and brown. But I still haven’t seen a difference to my monstera after a couple days. Although it’s only affecting the lower leaves right now I’m starting to see the larger ones about to grow the black spots. I’m not sure why this is happening and how I can stop this? Any advice would be much appreciated!
Hello, thanks for your question. I checked a book I have – The New Plant Parent – by Darryl Cheng for an answer to your question. He says the plant should be kept on the dry side, and once a week or so loosen the soil with a chopstick (or something similar) so the roots don’t suffocate. When the soil is dry to a depth of a few inches, he says pour water to cover the surface of the pot to a depth of 2 inches. If the plant is thirsty enough, you shouldn’t get any water running down to the bottom of the pot, where it may linger for weeks. It seems like over watering might have been your problem as you mentioned cutting off parts of the roots that were soft and brown. Older leaves do die under the normal course of life – older leaves are found lower in the plant. Darryl Cheng advises to just cut the yellow leaves off – this is the plant abandoning them as the food reserves are depleted without being replenished. You could top dress the surface of the soil with composted manure or fertilize if you see some new leaves growing. About the black spots – they are very tiny on the photograph you sent. I’m not sure they mean anything. When I google brown or black spots on Monstera leaves, the examples shown are much larger blotches. If the spots have a yellow halo that could mean a fungus, but I didn’t see any halo around your spots. You mentioned that you recently repotted your plant. That’s a stressful occurrence for plants and I would wait awhile before fertilizing. A Monstera can grown for decades in the right environment.
Here are 2 links that has a lot of information that you might find useful. They are sites with ads, which generally speaking Master Gardeners aren’t to recommend, however, I find them to have good information.
https://planethouseplant.com/why-does-my-monstera-have-black-spots/
27-Mar-2021