Hi,

I'm trying to revive a Monstera deliciosa which is apparently under-watered. The problem is my cuttings never root and the cutting point become black and mushy. Therefore, I tried to avoid cutting and put the root system in the water, but plant doesn't seem to catch up.

A little background. I've had this plant for over two years now. It was three distinct cuts and each one had two leaves on. There were always some curly leaves, even when it was making new leaves. This picture is the plant probably at its best condition and red ovals shows leaning back leaves:



About two months ago, I got nervous of stopped growth and excessive droopy leaves. I picked out the plant to examine deep down bottom for a sign of being over-watered. To my surprise, I found out soil wasn't really wet (neither dry). I guessed the plant might been under-watered especially because more aerial had been coming out. Anyway, roots of one branch was harmed, id don't know why. I cut some leaves of that one and I saw surprisingly the leaves opened up nicely, even those leaves that were always curling (bottom right corner of the previous picture and is the leave marked with yellow oval) and those that has been bent to some extent that stem had serious wrinkles:



Unfortunately, those leaves didn't made roots. Maybe because they aren't young or healthy enough? I used to change water every other day. They are upright and rigid in water but after a while will become mushy at the contact point in water.

I tried watering more frequently the rest of plant, but it actually bent more. This time I put the whole root system in water, but while new cutting would catch up after several hours in water, this branch hasn't shown a perceptible change :




Roots don't seem quite dead to me, does it? What can I do for this plant?

Thanks for reading.

Monstera do not root from just leaf cuttings. You have to have meristem and nodes to get roots. The roots on the cutting you are holding up look fine. I would replant it in a good quality potting mix amended with perlite and/or pumice, fir bark (orchid bark) and coconut husk chips if you can get them, put it in a place that gets bright light.

Gina1960 said:Monstera do not root from just leaf cuttings. You have to have meristem and nodes to get roots. The roots on the cutting you are holding up look fine. I would replant it in a good quality potting mix amended with perlite and/or pumice, fir bark (orchid bark) and coconut husk chips if you can get them, put it in a place that gets bright light.

Thanks Gina. Am I wrong that because plant didn't revive (leaves are curling) after putting in water, it won't do better in soil (still can't absorb water)? I'm asking just to revise my reasoning.

I am not sure why you think its roots cannot absorb water.

Gina1960 said:I am not sure why you think its roots cannot absorb water.

The leaves are leaning over. If I cut some leaves and put them in water, they will stand up and leaves become thicker. My understanding is new new cutting absorb water better that when they were in soil. When I put the root in water, this doesn't happen, leaves remain thin and curling. So I concluded roots didn't get enough water when they'd been in water.

Another question.

This one has one aerial root and after some hours in water is rigid again. Can I let the cutting point dries and calluse and then plant it? Is the aerial root functional at this point?

The fact that a leaf leans over does not mean your plant is not up taking water. Monstera is a climbing plant. If seeds do not germinate up in the canopy in a host plant, but on the ground (as is the habit of houseplant containerized Monstera) it will crawl across the ground until it finds something to climb. 'Leaning' leaves might be more a function of too little light instead of inability to uptake water