I got a monstera albo borsigiana cutting almost 2 months ago. I had set it straight into water to let the roots take.

I was THRILLED to see 2 beautiful white roots come out about 2 weeks in ! Huzzah! My expensive plant may survive! I transplanted the cutting into a soil/fertiziler/water slosh in a jar to help ease the transition to soil. I realise now this was a terrible decision.

I left the cutting in there for about a week, and I've noticed today the leaf going yellow. I wouldn't say there was much prior to this morning. I've changed out the soil, rinsed the cutting, repotted with normal soil mixture (with perlite for drainage) and gave it a hydrogen peroxide bath! I should've taken some photos.. but the plant definitely had rot! Terrible odor, with the roots that had grown to be no where in sight I think they went brown! I cut away the largely rotten part of the STEM but thought I'd let the hydrogen peroxide do the rest of the work...

ANY help, suggestions, or commiserations welcome

Photos would help. But it sounds like the wet conditions rotted it.

I have at last count 8 variegated Monsteras. Three were 'original plants' the rest are propagations I did myself. I never, EVER would have even considered trying to root these in water. I have actually never rooted anything in water, I know people do it all the time, but its just not my way I guess. I go to either damp long fiber sphagnum moss or straight into loose well draining aroid mix that I mix myself.

But then again, I took the cuttings myself, from my own plants, so I knew how to take the cuttings off and be certain that they would make it. Its always kind of a crapshoot when you buy something from a stranger online. You never know what you will get.

I have not used H202, I guess because I have never had a cutting rot. I have of course heard of others using it but have no experience withering it. I treat any issues like this with fungicide.

Can you take a photo of your plant now?

Yes! I've gotten a pic of it. After a lot of stressing and reading up, all points said to remove as much rot/squishy bits as possible. So I tried to do that but the squishy bit seems to go right through the stem in this pic, the small nub is where the new root once was, the aerial root is not squishy but the area of the stem where it connects is.

I managed to contact someone I know who owns an albo and she recommended to get the rot bits off as much as possible, and try re root in sphagnum moss or back in water. So he's actually now back in water leaf still yellowing. Saying my prayers now...

I would not put that back in water myself. I would pot the root, which is definitely looking pretty viable, in chunky terrestrial aroid mix (you can see the recipe if you are interested over on the Philodendrons etc aroid forum here) and keep it moist but not wet. You will most likely lose that leaf, and looking at the distal meristem, I am not sure that there is viable tissue there to make a new shoot but there probably is.

I do not propagate from mid-meristem cuttings. I find it way too risky. I myself only propagate top cuttings with substantial adventitious roots. I realize that this is not what is being offered on the market at the moment, and I myself would never buy a cutting taken in this manner, but I know that you have to make a decision to take what is available, if you really want it, or take nothing at all.

You might find this chart helpful, it was made by some really, REALLY serious aroid growers just to address the issue you are facing and kind of give you an idea of your chances. Its not meant at all to be condescending, but your specific issue has become so common, both with variegated and non-variegated monstera, that they decided to address it in this way instead of trying to answer each and every 'help' question about happy monstera cuttings on an individual basis like folks do on this site

These are a few photos of some of my plants that were propagated from top cuttings....these are just at a little less than one year old now. If I had taken mid-meristem cuttings, these would in no way look like this at this point in their development

I know Hydrogen Peroxide is very popular to treat rot. But... In small amounts (a drop or two in a vase of water), it actually helps by oxygenating the water. When H2O2 is combined with water, it fall apart into an oxygen molecule and water.

In large amounts, it is a bleaching agent. When you treat a cut with H2O2, it sizzles. That is the good healthy tissue being burned away by the peroxide. The same thing happens when you treat a plant - sizzle.

I don't usually root in water either because the roots grown in water are too fragile to transition to soil. Roots grown in water have had a cushy life - they haven't had to fight to find water and so, grow brittle and week. When you put them in soil, you can't help but damage the roots. Then, they have to grow into soil and seek water; much harder than sitting in water. Those roots almost always die and new roots grow.

I'm not sure what the odds are in rooting your cutting. Its had a hard life and seems like the wrong part of the plant to try but, I would definitely follow Gina's advice.

Well, looks like I'm in for either a very short or very long haul hahah

Thank you so much for your help! Im going to have to chalk it down to learning a lesson for what not to do next time..

Thanks for your help! That chart will be very useful in my hunt for another variegated monstera cutting.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year

@Carolineserene I hope you are successful. I know that this plant is in such high demand, its one of the 'plant of the moment' darlings. These things come and go in popularity but this one seems to have stuck. I bought my original plants for $10 each years ago, the vendor thought they were philodendrons LOL. The original 3 are getting very large. They were containerized already and well established when I got them. It think it is actually a little criminal what some of these sellers are sending out for MEGABUCKS right now. They are seeing the opportunity to make a quick buck and letting greed take over. One person on another site I hang out on got a single leaf that had been cut on a 2" piece of meristem with no other mode and no roots for $175. That 'cutting' if you want to be generous and call it that had almost no chance of survival. It is my own personal opinion that people just need to step back and stop enabling these sellers by not buying these for a while.

The real rub is that you can buy a nice large already established plant in the European market for as little as $150 USD, the same people here are paying for these small cuttings.

Please come join us on the Philodendron and other aroid forum! You would be very welcome.

I don't know where you live but here is an entire rooted plant for $400 on Etsy. A 47% price drop! (the ad says so...)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/7...

Vintage Green also has (maybe still does) a plant in a 5" pot rooted and growing for $500

500$!!!
Well guess I'm not googling monstera albo for a few years, I was thinking 50$ max for a cutting but I guess I have much to learn about desirable plants.

Is there a similar plant that I can buy in Canada that's cheaper?

Gina1960 do you happen to sell/swap/trade monstera albo cuttings?

I have no idea about the Canadian market. No, I don't sell or trade variegated Monsteras. My nursery license also does not allow me to ship outside the US

I'm not sure if my Monstera Albo from France has a chance. I cut off all the rot, calloused and now in spaghnum moss. I've never had any luck rooting them in water but took the advice of the Seller. Is that black dot node? Do you think this expensive guys has a chance? Any advise?

I have nothing to offer you that has not been posted before

Hi Gina, I discovered you in another forum and am so glad you are helping beginners trying to propagate cuttings of Monstera Albo. I am one of those and would like your advice. My cutting is 8 weeks old. The cutting has a very short node and has a healthy leaf. I would have bought a different cutting if I knew what I know now through reading these forums and your advice. But I am trying to keep my cutting alive. I have been water propagating. There are two long roots but not much feeder roots at all. Recently, the tip of the feeder roots became black. So, I nipped the tips. After reading your comments, I am thinking about moving the cutting from water to very chunky soil with good drainage. Do you think it is a good idea or should I first go for sphagnum moss? I live in SF bay area and use a grow light and humidifier. I am attaching a photo.

I do not know why but it seems the photo did not go through The long root keeps growing and the color is green. But almost no skinny white root. It seems an eye-like white growth point (?) emerged. I wish I could attach a couple of photos.

Your plant would most likely develop feeder roots if you placed it in either damp moss or soil and watered it