Hello any advice re my beloved Monstera Adansonii? My husband left part of one long vine out of the light (when I was away for a week) and there are about 7 yellow leaves right in the middle of the vine. Should I cut back the whole vine to the green leaves and try to propagate the remainder - and in which case should I cut the remaining green leaves back to about 3 leaves in each...or could I put the remainder of the vine (at least 10 good green leaves) into the pot to propagate? Or just take off the yellow leaves and live with the long stem...? I hope the pictures help this make sense...Hope you can help guys - I'm a bit sentimental about this plant as was the first of my plant brood...

There is a serious problem with your Monstera. They prefer medium bright to bright light. Yours is suffering from a lack of light.
When grown in poor light they tend to get very leggy, long and lean, as they search for better light.
You could try moving it to much better light, trim it back 2/3 to 3/4 and hopefully you will get new, stronger growth to emerge.
You can root cuttings in water and later transfer them to soil.

BigBill said:There is a serious problem with your Monstera. They prefer medium bright to bright light. Yours is suffering from a lack of light.
When grown in poor light they tend to get very leggy, long and lean, as they search for better light.
You could try moving it to much better light, trim it back 2/3 to 3/4 and hopefully you will get new, stronger growth to emerge.
You can root cuttings in water and later transfer them to soil.

Thanks for advice. I will trim it back and root the cuttings. Please understand that many people live in places that aren't ideal. This plant is right in front of the only window in our small flat in rainy dark London. It's the best we can do. It has been thriving apart from the recent problem with the one vine in the image as described. Thanks though for getting back.

Has anyone else got any ideas about what to do specificly with the bit of vine - to save the plant and vine? Be very grateful for any constructive thoughts.

I know that every body's home is not ideal for plants. But you asked a question and I just gave you an opinion about your plant. It is not my fault.

You could consider plants lights. They make so many good ones that fit any budget and decor.
Monsteras are not easy plants to grow. Many people struggle with them.

Welcome to the NGA and I am hopeful that others will offer opinions.

BigBill said:I know that every body's home is not ideal for plants. But you asked a question and I just gave you an opinion about your plant. It is not my fault.

You could consider plants lights. They make so many good ones that fit any budget and decor.
Monsteras are not easy plants to grow. Many people struggle with them.

Welcome to the NGA and I am hopeful that others will offer opinions.

Ok Bill. Appreciate and grateful for your experience and knowledge. We are all sensitive to critism in these extraordinary and difficult times. I did not even slightly imply it was your fault - of course it's not. (Have been on this forum for well over a year and always found it supportive but thanks for welcome)

Good luck.
Just remember, we are all here for you. I can't tell you how many houseplants I have killed in my life! It is a lot.

In fact, in 1975 I turned to orchids, they are easier then most houseplants to grow for me. My home in Michigan suffers from 9 large oak trees in my front yard, south facing so I find adequate light to be limited. But I went to lights, here is my front window.


Those are Phragmipedium orchids growing on a double wide windowsill. They have been there 5 1/2 months and two of them are in spike ready to bloom soon.
When we can't meet a plants needs, we can always modify our conditions. But honestly good luck and keep growing!!!

BigBill said:Good luck.
Just remember, we are all here for you. I can't tell you how many houseplants I have killed in my life! It is a lot.

In fact, in 1975 I turned to orchids, they are easier then most houseplants to grow for me. My home in Michigan suffers from 9 large oak trees in my front yard, south facing so I find adequate light to be limited. But I went to lights, here is my front window.


Those are Phragmipedium orchids growing on a double wide windowsill. They have been there 5 1/2 months and two of them are in spike ready to bloom soon.
When we can't meet a plants needs, we can always modify our conditions. But honestly good luck and keep growing!!!

Cheers Bill. Will do! Have a great rest of weekend.

AlexMurdoch said:

Thanks for advice. I will trim it back and root the cuttings. ...

Has anyone else got any ideas about what to do specificly with the bit of vine - to save the plant and vine? Be very grateful for any constructive thoughts.

I got confused at this point. If you're going to cut it back and keep the removed part(s) to take root, what is the other bit of vine in the later question?

purpleinopp said:

I got confused at this point. If you're going to cut it back and keep the removed part(s) to take root, what is the other bit of vine in the later question?

Thanks. So the problem is just this one long vine - which starts with several healthy leaves - then has about 6 or 7 yellow leaves then has at it's end a lot of good green leaves. Where would I cut and how would I best propagate the good leaves at the tip?

I had the same issue with my Adansonii earlier, it was looking exactly like yours within a certain area along the vine, It ended up having a mealybugs which completely not noticeable and it was in the first stage of development while Adansonii is a very sensitive plant and foliage is superfine.

Have you tried to treat it with pesticides ? though im not sure but it might help as my case.

Regards,

hghareeb said:I had the same issue with my Adansonii earlier, it was looking exactly like yours within a certain area along the vine, It ended up having a mealybugs which completely not noticeable and it was in the first stage of development while Adansonii is a very sensitive plant and foliage is superfine.

Have you tried to treat it with pesticides ? though im not sure but it might help as my case.


Oh no! How do you treat mealybugs? A specific pesticide?

Regards,

I use a product called ( Prev-an ) as far as i know its natural extract out of orange peels or something like that but its effective, Mealybugs isn't a big issue to beat it BTW, you just need to repeat the order twice or every week for 2-3 times and you are done

Alex, I'm not finding any pics of cuttings of this Monstera in particular but it works the same way as Pothos. Lin's excellent pic of anatomy is a good place to start:


Any node has the potential to take root and start a new stem. Often some leaves are removed to take a cutting, but your long stems already has leafless nodes.


Cut off as much as you want and put the cut end in a bottle or vase of water with at least 2 nodes in the water until roots have formed. Your rooted nodes won't have leaves attached, but this should give you a visual of roots forming @ nodes.


If you want to take a 2nd cut to remove more leafless stem, there's no harm in sticking it in the water too, it will probably take root and grow. Put it in the same direction as it was growing, with the end that was farthest away from the plant out of water.

hghareeb said:I use a product called ( Prev-an ) as far as i know its natural extract out of orange peels or something like that but its effective, Mealybugs isn't a big issue to beat it BTW, you just need to repeat the order twice or every week for 2-3 times and you are done

Brilliant thanks so much.

purpleinopp said:Alex, I'm not finding any pics of cuttings of this Monstera in particular but it works the same way as Pothos. Lin's excellent pic of anatomy is a good place to start:

• Pothos (Epipremnum aureum)
• Uploaded by plantladylin

Any node has the potential to take root and start a new stem. Often some leaves are removed to take a cutting, but your long stems already has leafless nodes.

• Pothos (Epipremnum aureum)
• Uploaded by purpleinopp

Cut off as much as you want and put the cut end in a bottle or vase of water with at least 2 nodes in the water until roots have formed. Your rooted nodes won't have leaves attached, but this should give you a visual of roots forming @ nodes.

• Pothos (Epipremnum aureum)
• Uploaded by plantladylin

If you want to take a 2nd cut to remove more leafless stem, there's no harm in sticking it in the water too, it will probably take root and grow. Put it in the same direction as it was growing, with the end that was farthest away from the plant out of water.

So so useful thanks very much!

My pleasure!

Alex: hang a (large?) mirror directly behind your vine, it will increase the light. No guarantees though, as this will not increase the QUALITY of light, as each exposure (North, South, etc.) has a different quality of light. As we know, growing things is always a learning curve! Good luck, they are beautiful vines.