Monstera rescue
Hello plant people 🪴 I rescued this plant yesterday, I assume it is a regular monstera which is too small to have fenestrations yet. Anyways, I repotted it into better soil and watered. roots are not rotten to me, although they’re very short and they were soft at the touch. Also, leaves are even curlier than yesterday. Did I do something wrong or does it only need some time to bounce back? I’ve never had a monstera before, plus it is a rescue from a plant swap so.. any advice would be appreciated! 🍃 #HappyPlants #PlantsMakePeopleHappy #PlantAddict #RescuePlants #PlantSwap #Monstera
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When you say the roots were soft, were they mushy or did they easily fall apart when handled? Those are both signs of root rot, and any roots like that should be removed prior to repotting. I wouldn't worry about the droopy leaves, repotting causes plants stress so yes, it likely just needs some time to recover. Make sure it's getting plenty of bright light and let the soil almost completely dry out between waterings. Since your oasis is private I can't see the plant card info, but it should be within 3 feet of a south or west-facing window or directly in front of an east or north-facing window. Proper care, and especially adequate sunlight, are necessary for it to start putting out growth with fenestrations.
@stephonicle uhmm that’s a good question! So, the roots were about 4-5 cm long, so pretty short for a plant that tall. I believe they are cuttings too. For what concerns softness: they were soft (that’s what I’m concerned about) but they didn’t fall apart on their own, and they weren’t “empty” or mushy either. Just loose, in a way, or better not so firm as they should be. I don’t know how it was handled before, since I rescued it from a lady who had no idea what to do and gave me no infos. I’ve currently placed it in a north-facing room 2-3 meters away from the window, just because I don’t know what to do for now. Any thoughts?
So are they all separate cuttings together in that pot? If the roots were questionable, it might be best to propagate them in water first until the new healthy roots are at least 3-4 inches long, then you can move it back to soil. If it's a north-facing window and you're in the northern hemisphere, 2-3 meters is too far away. Just to compare, ny monstera sits directly in a north-facing window where it gets maybe half an hour of direct sun in the morning and again in the evening (it's a bay window that juts out a few feet). An east-facing window is also a good spot because it only gets direct sun in the morning, which is much gentler than afternoon sun.