Got this lovely rehab needing some help from winter forced heat exposure. Looks good, but a bit dehydrated/crispy. Is now in LECA, under a greenhouse tent & grow lights.

Would it be better if I transfer to a substrate w/ 1 part perlite/1 part soilless potting mix/1 part for bark/1 part charcoal + keeping it in the greenhouse tent w/ a humidifier? Or should I put in spaghnum moss?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

I vowed that I was not going to answer any of these Monstera posts anymore but here I am...
Your plant is looking a bit dehydrated and crispy me thinks because all of its roots look dead. It is in a severe state of dehydration, as you can see with the wrinkly meristem. But the good thing is, it does not appear to have ROT which is the #1 reason people post these stem cuttings to to ask after assistance.

I would trim off those dead desiccated roots, dip it in rooting hormone, place it in moss, definitely run a humidifier in your portable grow house.

I say moss, I suppose its arbitrary...I do not root things in the LECA semi-hydro set up. I have always used moss, and I guess after almost 40 years, i always will use it. Maybe I am behind the times but its just my personal preference. And, I see many people doing semi hydro incorrectly which leads to failure

to the forum cherchezlaroze!

I'd use either the LECA or the potting soil mix. But for now just use the LECA and wait til it shows improvement before you do any drastic changes. I'd save the sphagnum for layering.

Thank you for responding! I have read some of your responses >_< which is where I got the recipe for the potting medium. There's so much more info on rot than on the "dried up" end of the spectrum.

I got this for free & I am, admittedly, a bit of a beginner. But I love monsteras, which I encounter often in the wild on my favorite hikes in Hawaii. My monsteras at home are doing well & I hope to be able to rehab and enjoy this as well.

If you have a moment and wouldn't mind taking a look at some of these close up photos. Should I go ahead and prune the brown parts?

I'm not particularly set on LECA, but thought I should try and give it some moisture without drenching it until I can figure out the best course of action.

Gina1960 said:I vowed that I was not going to answer any of these Monstera posts anymore but here I am...
Your plant is looking a bit dehydrated and crispy me thinks because all of its roots look dead. It is in a severe state of dehydration, as you can see with the wrinkly meristem. But the good thing is, it does not appear to have ROT which is the #1 reason people post these stem cuttings to to ask after assistance.

I would trim off those dead desiccated roots, dip it in rooting hormone, place it in moss, definitely run a humidifier in your portable grow house.

I say moss, I suppose its arbitrary...I do not root things in the LECA semi-hydro set up. I have always used moss, and I guess after almost 40 years, i always will use it. Maybe I am behind the times but its just my personal preference. And, I see many people doing semi hydro incorrectly which leads to failure

Go with Gina's suggestions, she's the best for tropicals. I agree the roots are dead --- cut them off.

Thank you! I appreciate the feedback.

CPPgardener said:Go with Gina's suggestions, she's the best for tropicals. I agree the roots are dead --- cut them off.

The roots are definitely toast. You can remove them. I am on the fence about making a fresh cut on the stem. These things are always so iffy. It ***seems*** from the photo (and I am not physically there to actually look at the cutting...pick at it a bit with my fingernail, try and see if its a wet rot under there or just a black desiccated end, etc) that it may just be the desiccated tissue sealing the cut. But its not 100% sure.

I think the reason I don't use Aliflor (what we call LECA here) is that using moss to me actually encases the cutting in a moist environment that you can control better. (I do use Aliflor to pot up lithophytic plants, like Anthurium reflexinervium and oil fern and the like). You can control how damp you keep your moss, so its not sopping wet. You can;t control pure water in play pellets. Its there. What I see a lot of people do wrong with it is that they use it in a completely closed container and do not make the required 'shelf' by punching holds an inch or so up in the container to drain excess water. So the whole cutting is in water, nit just the portion that you want the roots to form from.

There is someone I consider kind of an expert on this form of propagation and I am going to tag him on this post.

If your cutting was not so dehydrated and had even one or two SMALL viable roots, I would say that putting it into the soil mix might be a viable option...but, you were correct when you said it needed rehabilitation. You are starting with something that is basically trying to die. It has not taken up any water in what seems like a long time, which was aggravated by being kept in a desert dry heated indoor environment.

@flashy_lights....Thomas, can you render an opinion on this situation?

Yes, that is my thought on the moss as well. It seems a better medium for controlled distribution of moisture & I'm for sure leaning more towards transferring it to that environment if it would be better.

All the brown parts are definitely hard/crisp, including the roots & the overall plant feels dry/crispy compared to my other non-variegated monstera deliciosa (I've not owned a variegated one before so am unsure if they tend to be more crisp?).

This plant is most definitely on its way out & was about to get thrown in the trash by the owner. Hopefully, something can be done but I realize it's a bit far gone >_<

Gina1960 said:The roots are definitely toast. You can remove them. I am on the fence about making a fresh cut on the stem. These things are always so iffy. It ***seems*** from the photo (and I am not physically there to actually look at the cutting...pick at it a bit with my fingernail, try and see if its a wet rot under there or just a black desiccated end, etc) that it may just be the desiccated tissue sealing the cut. But its not 100% sure.

I think the reason I don't use Aliflor (what we call LECA here) is that using moss to me actually encases the cutting in a moist environment that you can control better. (I do use Aliflor to pot up lithophytic plants, like Anthurium reflexinervium and oil fern and the like). You can control how damp you keep your moss, so its not sopping wet. You can;t control pure water in play pellets. Its there. What I see a lot of people do wrong with it is that they use it in a completely closed container and do not make the required 'shelf' by punching holds an inch or so up in the container to drain excess water. So the whole cutting is in water, nit just the portion that you want the roots to form from.

There is someone I consider kind of an expert on this form of propagation and I am going to tag him on this post.

If your cutting was not so dehydrated and had even one or two SMALL viable roots, I would say that putting it into the soil mix might be a viable option...but, you were correct when you said it needed rehabilitation. You are starting with something that is basically trying to die. It has not taken up any water in what seems like a long time, which was aggravated by being kept in a desert dry heated indoor environment.

Hey miracles do happen! There have been some great saves on this site. If you can just get it rehydrated and making a couple roots it will make it. My advice as painful as it may seem would be to remove some of the foliage. Like bisect each leaf. As the plant tries to get re-established, all that leaf tissue is a burden to support, but you want to leave enough for it to do at least some photosynthesis. If there is a side that has more green than another, you want to keep the most green because the white does not photosynthesize.

The variegated forms and not generally more 'crisp', but the areas of sectional variegation (the large pure white patches as opposed to the streaks and splotches) do tend to dry out brown and die back sometimes strictly because that tissue does not participate in photosynthesis, and it will sacrifice itself in order to keep the rest of the plant going

Ahh definitely hoping for a miracle at this point >_< it is starting to get more brown in the leaves and stem.

The brown ends in the node seem to not be progressing so a I've left them alone and will watch closely.

I slowly cut off the roots w/ my disinfected shears. I cut bit by bit to see if any of it can be left on but it was dry all the way up. I cut until it was white but it seems to be browning fast. Hopefully that is it sealing up the cut? Do I need to let this "callous over" before putting rooting hormone and putting in damp moss?

Thanks for all your quick help! I feel like it's degrading quickly and I wish I cut the roots off sooner now lol.

Gina1960 said:Hey miracles do happen! There have been some great saves on this site. If you can just get it rehydrated and making a couple roots it will make it. My advice as painful as it may seem would be to remove some of the foliage. Like bisect each leaf. As the plant tries to get re-established, all that leaf tissue is a burden to support, but you want to leave enough for it to do at least some photosynthesis. If there is a side that has more green than another, you want to keep the most green because the white does not photosynthesize.

The variegated forms and not generally more 'crisp', but the areas of sectional variegation (the large pure white patches as opposed to the streaks and splotches) do tend to dry out brown and die back sometimes strictly because that tissue does not participate in photosynthesis, and it will sacrifice itself in order to keep the rest of the plant going

I would definitely treat it with a fungicide before putting it into the moss but I don't really see a point in waiting. If it does not produce a way to uptake water soon it will die

Ahh so I've managed to leave you alone for 24 hours but hoping to get just one last consult.

I've treated w/ sulfur fungicide (there was no Captan) @ Lowe's, put cloned rooting gel, & stuck the node?/chonk? + a couple inches of the stem in an orchid pot w/ damp sphagnum moss. It seems to have stopped or at least slowed down the degradation at least...hopefully.

I pulled it out to take a peek >_< & the parts where the roots were have blackened over. I'm not sure if it's rotting or what. It's not mushy but it's very dark so I'm thinking not a good sign & I'm just hoping it allows for moisture intake at least.

At this point, I guess, there's not much more that can be done. I'm going to chop off the greener leaf and am thinking I should maybe even chop down part of that stem that's looking dryer. It's looking like I may lose the other, whiter leaf as well.

Would it be better to chop this in half and let each stem system try and survive on its own? Any other advice?






Thanks so much for all your time so far.

Gina1960 said:I would definitely treat it with a fungicide before putting it into the moss but I don't really see a point in waiting. If it does not produce a way to uptake water soon it will die

Well this is disappointing. I think perhaps it was just too abused to recover. Wherever did you get this?
You can leave it, it can;t hurt anything now...the fact that the leaves are darkening and dying off is not the best of portents.