25 AUG update:

So the new white leaf has been out for quite a while. It seem that It's zapping a lot of energy from the plant and I don't think the tiny tip of green at the top is helping much. Some green marbling is visible on the stem so I HOPE that the next leaf has more green than the first.

Green tip:



Green marbling:



So the million dollar question is:

Do I cut off the white leaf to promote growth? Or do I give it more time?

I believe it unfurled rather quickly 17 JUL so it's been over a month.

@gina1960 do you have any advice in this situation?

I would probably snip it at the petiolar junction. It is not really contributing to photosynthesizing any energy for your plant

26 AUG

Thank you so much for all your help and guidance @gina1960.

It's leaf surgery time. So I'm fairly new to plants and what I understand is that the petiole is the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the stem. So just snippy snip that leaf off right at the top junction! 😬 This is like the Downton Abbey of plant posts. Another main character is going to die.

Pardon the mess in my photos! I'm starting a new company to rescue ferrets 💗

Before:


Step one:
Sanitize



(All of our stores are out of rubbing alcohol so I'm going to use some hand sanitizer, or use a 🔥 flame)

Step 2:
Take very very deep breath 😳


Step 3:
Snippy snip!




I think I might press this leaf in a heavy book 📖 so he can live on! I really hope this helps jump start the growth of the new leaf and that it has a bit more green

I always leave the petiole until it withers and falls off on its own

Well now I know! Plant terms are confusing

Hi guys. I'm so amazed with this thread, thanks for sharing :)

I adopted a cutting of variegated monstera 2,5 months ago. It came with sphagnum moss as the soil.

After a month i found the root started rooted. I was panicked and the seller suggested me to propagate in water and change the water every 3 days with aircon water.

Now it's been more than 2 weekes and i found 3 spots on the stem. Are they going to be roots?

Is it the normal the process of water propagating?

Kindly wait for any replies.
Thank you 🙏🏼

Is this root rot? I just got this from a buyer in Texas and photos looked good when i bought it, but not sure if this was caused by shipping!?
Going to put it in moss now.

HELP! First of all love this post has a lot of great information. I got my monster cutting about 4 days ago. It has this brown or black on the stem cutting and I don't know if I should cut it off or not.

@poisonivyjakarta hopefully they are roots you also have some root rot. I would follow the steps in this post.

@poly800rock you do have root rot follow the steps in this post. It seems the seller probably had it in water before shipping it to you.

@shmem the long thing in picture 1 looks like an aerial node. If it's mushy cut it off if it's not leave it and follow the soil propagation steps in this post.

13 October Update!

I've had these cuttings and have been updating this thread for almost nine months! NINE!?!

Let's get started!

Cutting No.1:
Is looking great! After chopping off the all white leaf a new leaf is FINALLY emerging and it looks like it will be a nice beautiful marbled green and white leaf!! Which is amazing because it means the plant will survive





Cutting No.2:

This cutting has been on the brink of death for eight of the nine months I've had it 😅

I realized that it just wasn't liking soil. So I tried water just until I saw roots emerging then started adding moss. So let the water evaporate and the cutting acclimated.



A bunch of root growth!


And...

A NEW LEAF!!!!! 😍




Looks like he'll be mostly green with a tiny bit of white which is amazing!!

Wow, what a journey! I'm so happy these plants are in a stable spot! I will continue to update 💕

Yay!! So thrilled to see your babes happy! Enjoyed reading all these updates and tidbits of info 🙏🏽 gives me hope with my new cutting! 🤞 definitely going to gather the ingredients for the soil recommended and switch out of water 😬

@Plantlove8 Your successful story of how you dealt with this has been inspiring and amazing!

@Gina1960 Your knowledge about how to root and save these rare plants are so valuable! Do you have your own youtube or instagram? It is really eye opening to hear your insights on how to save them!

Can I please get your opinion on how I can save these 2 because i've had one die on me already and I will not give up on trying to save them!

I got these around the same time and started this struggle bus.

10/22/2020

Plant 1- Baby just a cutting at this point, the leaf has rotted, came from Europe :(

Plant 2- The Queen



She came with a short aerial root and a new growth point as you can see. The seller advised to water propagate but after a while I saw root rot started on it so I decided to use another advice from another albo expert post and did the following:
1. 50/50 perlite and orchid bark mix in a 6" terra cotta pot (Queen was placed just below the soil so I can monitor if it would start rotting)
2. Put next to humidifier and grow lights
3. Spray just the top inch so roots can "reach out" for moisture and develop root
4. After 5 days of spraying water, fully water plant with filtered water and let dry till next watering.

This was my set up for both plants. I started by the west facing- window but as it got colder I moved them to the other side of the room. They got up to 60-68% humidity.



I was very diligent on watching them closely for root rot and noticed that both stems were becoming more wrinkly so I started misting in between waterings. The white on the leaf also started browning and I noticed the growth point now was black-ish lookting. I wanted to peek on the roots but did not want to disturb her from doing her thing so I just crossed my finger and hope it was rooting. However, today being the 3rd week I took a peek by pulling her out and the aerial root was so rotted it was just pulled off by the soil. This is what was left of her:





I reached out to a forum on facebook and was advised by a plant friend to take off the rotted areas of the aerial root and put cinnamon on the wound and put into a high humidity container with dry-ish sphagnum moss.

This is her after surgery:



This is her in ICU:



I live in Las Vegas, Nevada so I have to go with this route to create a high humidity environment for her. She's now sitting in 70 degrees and 95.5% humidity. I have a heat mat coming today to increase the temperature since I researched that it helps in colder weather.

Please advise on what I should do next. I have no knowledge about propagating albos and I'm not sure which route would be best to save her. I'm completely scared to even pull on the Baby to see if she's rooting. I might just cut her up and try the sphagnum moss or perlite propagation method in a clear plastic container? I really don't want both to die on me

Here's a list of materials that I have bought to save them:
Spagnum Moss
Perlite
Orchid Bark
Coco coir
Earthworm castings
Superthrive

I could buy more materials if needed as I read that you used CAPTAN to make your cuts. Should I wash the cinnamon off? Leave the leaf out to air dry? Let me know if I should cut more....the ends look fine that's why I've left them alone. I'm just really scared that the aerial rot made it into the stem and spread Any suggestions are so appreciated!!

Hi! I've just discovered your nine month thread, lol!! Amazing, and such good advice on here!
Here is my Albo story! I purchased a 2 leaf, 1 node cutting in June. I will post some photos, but my cutting had just one tiny white nub, (root/arial root?), just starting to poke out. I read and watched as much info as I could find on the web, as I was told to water propogate by the seller. I did have it in water for just one week, and then everything I was finding out, said to soil propogate. The root had grown to 1.5 " in the one week and then I put it into soil, using a rooting hormone.
3 weeks later I felt like I had overwatered it, so I removed it and replaced the soil. I was excited to see all the new roots forming! It took about 3 months before I saw any visible signs of new growth, but in September finally its first new leaf!!!!
Mostly green with a tiny patch of white.
I had my plant in a little 3" pot, but it was becoming root bound so in October I moved it into a 5.5" pot. In October, as well, the fourth leaf emerged! Mostly white with a tiny bit of green, lol! I think my stems are nicely pinstriped! I can feel along the stem of this newest leaf, the little bump where the next leaf will start to pop off. I'm guessing early December! We will see!!
I will attach some photos of the beginning 2 leaves and then 3rd and 4rth!!
I would love to chat anytime as I don't know anyone else personally with an Albo!

Plantlove8 said:
Cutting No.2:

This cutting has been on the brink of death for eight of the nine months I've had it 😅

I realized that it just wasn't liking soil. So I tried water just until I saw roots emerging then started adding moss. So let the water evaporate and the cutting acclimated.



A bunch of root growth!


And...

A NEW LEAF!!!!! 😍




Looks like he'll be mostly green with a tiny bit of white which is amazing!!

Wow, what a journey! I'm so happy these plants are in a stable spot! I will continue to update 💕

How is this cutting doing now? Thank you so much for posting your journey - my cutting is shrivelling and this has been incredibly helpful!

@gina1960 You are an incredible wealth of knowledge and a great teacher! Thanks for sharing your wisdom and generosity of your time.

@plantlove8 I have thoroughly enjoyed your journey. It was like reading a suspenseful novel. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to the next chapters!

Sending good vibes

Plantlove8 said:13 October Update!

I've had these cuttings and have been updating this thread for almost nine months! NINE!?!

Let's get started!

Cutting No.1:
Is looking great! After chopping off the all white leaf a new leaf is FINALLY emerging and it looks like it will be a nice beautiful marbled green and white leaf!! Which is amazing because it means the plant will survive





Cutting No.2:

This cutting has been on the brink of death for eight of the nine months I've had it 😅

I realized that it just wasn't liking soil. So I tried water just until I saw roots emerging then started adding moss. So let the water evaporate and the cutting acclimated.



A bunch of root growth!


And...

A NEW LEAF!!!!! 😍




Looks like he'll be mostly green with a tiny bit of white which is amazing!!

Wow, what a journey! I'm so happy these plants are in a stable spot! I will continue to update 💕

I've been reading this amazing and adorable plant journey for your Albo. Thanks plantlove8 for sharing! I'm also getting help from Gina1960 on another thread. I'm learning so much and the most important takeaway is patience and watchful vigilance.

Hello everyone I bought an unrooted monstera albo cutting, I received it in water on feb 1st, I checked it today and decided to take it out and cut this black stuff off, I've never water propagated before but this seemed sketchy.

I used cinnamon and root tech cloning gel after cutting the rot off and putting it in Moss with perlite

Does it look like it will make it?

Any tips or suggestions on watering it when in moss?

Mulanng said:@Plantlove8 Your successful story of how you dealt with this has been inspiring and amazing!

@Gina1960 Your knowledge about how to root and save these rare plants are so valuable! Do you have your own youtube or instagram? It is really eye opening to hear your insights on how to save them!

Can I please get your opinion on how I can save these 2 because i've had one die on me already and I will not give up on trying to save them!

I got these around the same time and started this struggle bus.

10/22/2020

Plant 1- Baby just a cutting at this point, the leaf has rotted, came from Europe :(

Plant 2- The Queen



She came with a short aerial root and a new growth point as you can see. The seller advised to water propagate but after a while I saw root rot started on it so I decided to use another advice from another albo expert post and did the following:
1. 50/50 perlite and orchid bark mix in a 6" terra cotta pot (Queen was placed just below the soil so I can monitor if it would start rotting)
2. Put next to humidifier and grow lights
3. Spray just the top inch so roots can "reach out" for moisture and develop root
4. After 5 days of spraying water, fully water plant with filtered water and let dry till next watering.

This was my set up for both plants. I started by the west facing- window but as it got colder I moved them to the other side of the room. They got up to 60-68% humidity.



I was very diligent on watching them closely for root rot and noticed that both stems were becoming more wrinkly so I started misting in between waterings. The white on the leaf also started browning and I noticed the growth point now was black-ish lookting. I wanted to peek on the roots but did not want to disturb her from doing her thing so I just crossed my finger and hope it was rooting. However, today being the 3rd week I took a peek by pulling her out and the aerial root was so rotted it was just pulled off by the soil. This is what was left of her:





I reached out to a forum on facebook and was advised by a plant friend to take off the rotted areas of the aerial root and put cinnamon on the wound and put into a high humidity container with dry-ish sphagnum moss.

This is her after surgery:



This is her in ICU:



I live in Las Vegas, Nevada so I have to go with this route to create a high humidity environment for her. She's now sitting in 70 degrees and 95.5% humidity. I have a heat mat coming today to increase the temperature since I researched that it helps in colder weather.

Please advise on what I should do next. I have no knowledge about propagating albos and I'm not sure which route would be best to save her. I'm completely scared to even pull on the Baby to see if she's rooting. I might just cut her up and try the sphagnum moss or perlite propagation method in a clear plastic container? I really don't want both to die on me

Here's a list of materials that I have bought to save them:
Spagnum Moss
Perlite
Orchid Bark
Coco coir
Earthworm castings
Superthrive

I could buy more materials if needed as I read that you used CAPTAN to make your cuts. Should I wash the cinnamon off? Leave the leaf out to air dry? Let me know if I should cut more....the ends look fine that's why I've left them alone. I'm just really scared that the aerial rot made it into the stem and spread Any suggestions are so appreciated!!

Did your cutting survive?

I love this thread!

@Gina1960 probably has a hard time answering everyone's questions.

Unfortunately, I also have some questions about a cutting I got. I'm just wondering if my aerial root is rotting. If so, I'll make the cut.
Also, I'm thinking if I should stick it in the mix Gina suggested. I'm not sure if it'll survive without an aerial root. Will it?

Does anyone have any tips on what to do next?

Larkspur514 said:Thank you! I have read about rooting on spagnum moss and bought some but wasn't sure which directing to take considering the circumstances. I have trimmed the roots, tented the glass, and placed him next to my humidifier. I will be sure to keep everyone posted and if anyone else has advice please keep it coming!

Hi @Larkspur514,
How is yours doing?
My aerial roots look like yours and I want to see if doing what you did would help mine thrive.