Help after repotting :(
#Monstera
I repotted my monstera about a month ago and it is not happy. Two leaves turned yellow immediately, and even now there are a couple that are slowly turning yellow. Help! She was bright green and vibrant before repotting. She’s sitting about 2 feet right outside a south facing window/along the window frame edge. She hasn’t moved from this position since October when I moved into the house and had new growth before repotting her at this house.
I repotted my monstera about a month ago and it is not happy. Two leaves turned yellow immediately, and even now there are a couple that are slowly turning yellow. Help! She was bright green and vibrant before repotting. She’s sitting about 2 feet right outside a south facing window/along the window frame edge. She hasn’t moved from this position since October when I moved into the house and had new growth before repotting her at this house.
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Monstera’s tend to be a littttleee dramatic when it comes to repotting 🤣 so, it’s usually normal for a couple leaves to yellow. The next time you repot here a couple suggestions on how to prevent this as much as possible. Firstly, Repot a couple hours after you’ve watered and along with that use fertilizer since it helps the roots not freak out as much. Once you repot you’ll need to water once again, but this time use fertilizer and if you have it, use root drops, it will help the root system not freak out as much.
Unless you did serious surgery/damage to the roots. I wouldn’t expect this from a repot.
Assuming that your repot did not introduce some sort of pest…
What medium did you repot it into?
Did you add fertilizer? (Some of that could be attributed to missing nutrients in your new soil, the 2 leaves turning yellow and dropping immediately implies to me it needed a ton of nutrients for growth fast, it couldn’t get them from the soil so it cannibalized leaves to rapidly expand its root network)
(Most importantly) how wet is that soil?
The pot you have it in is relatively large for the size of your plant, so there is a good chance that it isn’t able to absorb enough of the water you’re giving it fast enough and it ends up sitting in moist/wet soil long enough for to start damaging roots (inhibit its ability to absorb water properly and allow rot bacteria to proliferate and attack the plant). For a plant that size in a pot that size, you need to be carefully monitoring the moisture level of your soil; if you can’t, I would put it in a pot half that size to reduce the pot’s capacity for retaining water.
Here is an example of my monstera BMF. I repotted it like 2 months ago, before that it had been in a pot half that size for maybe 8 months. It was totally fine after repot, and the next leaf it put out was twice as large as the previous few. Because the pot is so large relative to its current size, I check its moisture levels with a moisture meter a few times a week to make sure it’s not staying too wet for too long. When I checked it yesterday most spots were still in the low end of the ‘moist’ range, but today it’s testing ‘dry’ everywhere but the deepest parts of the outer pot and one of its older baby leaves looks like it’s losing a little turgor… so today, I water it to get it back into the ‘moist’ range. Because it has so much more medium than root mass, I *never* let it get up to the ‘wet’ range because it may not be able to dry down before the roots experience harm.
Assuming that your repot did not introduce some sort of pest…
What medium did you repot it into?
Did you add fertilizer? (Some of that could be attributed to missing nutrients in your new soil, the 2 leaves turning yellow and dropping immediately implies to me it needed a ton of nutrients for growth fast, it couldn’t get them from the soil so it cannibalized leaves to rapidly expand its root network)
(Most importantly) how wet is that soil?
The pot you have it in is relatively large for the size of your plant, so there is a good chance that it isn’t able to absorb enough of the water you’re giving it fast enough and it ends up sitting in moist/wet soil long enough for to start damaging roots (inhibit its ability to absorb water properly and allow rot bacteria to proliferate and attack the plant). For a plant that size in a pot that size, you need to be carefully monitoring the moisture level of your soil; if you can’t, I would put it in a pot half that size to reduce the pot’s capacity for retaining water.
Here is an example of my monstera BMF. I repotted it like 2 months ago, before that it had been in a pot half that size for maybe 8 months. It was totally fine after repot, and the next leaf it put out was twice as large as the previous few. Because the pot is so large relative to its current size, I check its moisture levels with a moisture meter a few times a week to make sure it’s not staying too wet for too long. When I checked it yesterday most spots were still in the low end of the ‘moist’ range, but today it’s testing ‘dry’ everywhere but the deepest parts of the outer pot and one of its older baby leaves looks like it’s losing a little turgor… so today, I water it to get it back into the ‘moist’ range. Because it has so much more medium than root mass, I *never* let it get up to the ‘wet’ range because it may not be able to dry down before the roots experience harm.
That’s interesting what you’re saying about pot size… I only moved it from a 12 to a 14 inch which is what I thought was the appropriate range you should stay in for a repot (1 to 2 inches larger when you repot) - it was an 12 inch pot for over a year and had roots growing out the bottom and top extensively for a long time so all my plant people were saying it needed to be in a larger pot. So you think this was a wrong decision?
 I do think I packed the soil down too much when repotting. It was really firm so I’ve been focusing on aeration the past couple days.I watered 5 days ago and the soil is just in the low moisture range, not wet and it wasn’t super wet when I watered it either so I’m not sure… Maybe I overwatered it when I repotted it and then packed the soil too much and that’s caused the issues.
 I do think I packed the soil down too much when repotting. It was really firm so I’ve been focusing on aeration the past couple days.I watered 5 days ago and the soil is just in the low moisture range, not wet and it wasn’t super wet when I watered it either so I’m not sure… Maybe I overwatered it when I repotted it and then packed the soil too much and that’s caused the issues.
When I repotted the plant, it was extremely root bound in the 12inch pot, like the whole pot was covered in roots wound in a circular motion.  I did feel like there was about an inch circumference of spaciousness in the new 14inch pot so it felt like the appropriate size increase but I’m curious if someone will correct me on this!
@AmazingCowshorn (I wrote this before I saw your thing confirming you’d fertilized) ok, the repot size makes sense and I’m less concerned about it being overwatered (though it’s still a possibility if your medium is too moisture retentive if it doesn’t have enough extra of something like pumice to help aerate it).
Was there a lot of damage to the roots during the repot?
Was it also in a terra cotta pot previously? Terra cotta is good for helping wick away water, but it also can leach clay minerals from the soil like calcium and magnesium and a lot of soils contain little-to-no fertilizer. For example, I used PRO-MIX HP for the majority of the medium in my repot, and their fact sheet says:
“PRO-MIX® HP MYCORRHIZAE™ contains a balanced nutrient charge to promote initial plant development […] Begin fertilization within 7 days after planting”
A lot of soils have enough to get something started but not enough to potentially harm something that has very specific fertilization needs. So when I repotted, I also threw some osmocote in with the soil.
(Please hit reply to ensure I’m tagged / notified about your comment or there is a good chance I won’t see your response)
Was there a lot of damage to the roots during the repot?
Was it also in a terra cotta pot previously? Terra cotta is good for helping wick away water, but it also can leach clay minerals from the soil like calcium and magnesium and a lot of soils contain little-to-no fertilizer. For example, I used PRO-MIX HP for the majority of the medium in my repot, and their fact sheet says:
“PRO-MIX® HP MYCORRHIZAE™ contains a balanced nutrient charge to promote initial plant development […] Begin fertilization within 7 days after planting”
A lot of soils have enough to get something started but not enough to potentially harm something that has very specific fertilization needs. So when I repotted, I also threw some osmocote in with the soil.
(Please hit reply to ensure I’m tagged / notified about your comment or there is a good chance I won’t see your response)
@AmazingCowshorn what did you fertilize with and what was the potting medium you used?
The issue could be something like the soil pH is too high and it cannot absorb nutrients properly. Knowing the brand/type fertilizer also helps understand the nutrient balance you gave it… I would not give my regular monsteras the fertilizer I use for my plumeria, but I would probably use it on a variegated monstera to keep nitrogen lower.
The issue could be something like the soil pH is too high and it cannot absorb nutrients properly. Knowing the brand/type fertilizer also helps understand the nutrient balance you gave it… I would not give my regular monsteras the fertilizer I use for my plumeria, but I would probably use it on a variegated monstera to keep nitrogen lower.
@AmazingCowshorn i think its the terracotta pot. what kind of pot was it on before? I just repotted mine and went from ceramic to ceramic
@smushface @claudiusmaximus it went from plastic to terra-cotta…  because I was wanting something more inclined to dry it out than hold water since I’m in Georgia where it’s super humid. so I made that decision so that overwatering would less likely to be an issue…. but if Terra cotta pulls nutrients, maybe I need to get it out of the terra-cotta… And to your point under what conditions would terra-cotta be a good pot if it takes nutrients from soil why would anyone use it?
I’m using miracle gro pour & feed plant food. And miracle gro potting soil for potted plants with fertilizer (on the bag it says feeds up to six months FWIW ). repot was a month ago so perhaps it is the pot. so with terra-cotta I need to fertilize more frequently? fwiw my moister meter as l also has a ph meter and it reads alkaline… but everything I tested with the meter does… maybe meter doesn’t work tho the moisture reader is working. Oh and no, I was super careful during repot- no big root damage. I did pat out the soil packed in, the roots were wound tight in a circle so I freed them up during the repot. They were huge
I’m using miracle gro pour & feed plant food. And miracle gro potting soil for potted plants with fertilizer (on the bag it says feeds up to six months FWIW ). repot was a month ago so perhaps it is the pot. so with terra-cotta I need to fertilize more frequently? fwiw my moister meter as l also has a ph meter and it reads alkaline… but everything I tested with the meter does… maybe meter doesn’t work tho the moisture reader is working. Oh and no, I was super careful during repot- no big root damage. I did pat out the soil packed in, the roots were wound tight in a circle so I freed them up during the repot. They were huge
@AmazingCowshorn Terra cotta can attract clay minerals like calcium and magnesium (as in, literally absorb them from the soil).
Your soil should be initially at an ok pH for a monstera, but there is a good possibility the terra cotta is messing with the soil pH and nutrient availability. Because the repot is 1-2in larger than the prior pot, that may be why it happened so fast (less soil). I did repot an adansonii in terra cotta last year and it ended up declining in a similar way and died while I was out of town for 6 weeks (much to my plant sitter’s dismay) before I had a chance to try to repot.
I would honestly repot in a plastic pot (*do not* reuse the soil in the terra cotta pot). Also unless the soil you’re using is their tropical formulation (for aroids, cacti, etc), you are going to want to amend it with some pumice/perlite and orchid bark (this will help with root aeration/drainage and the bark will help keep it on the acidic side).
Your soil should be initially at an ok pH for a monstera, but there is a good possibility the terra cotta is messing with the soil pH and nutrient availability. Because the repot is 1-2in larger than the prior pot, that may be why it happened so fast (less soil). I did repot an adansonii in terra cotta last year and it ended up declining in a similar way and died while I was out of town for 6 weeks (much to my plant sitter’s dismay) before I had a chance to try to repot.
I would honestly repot in a plastic pot (*do not* reuse the soil in the terra cotta pot). Also unless the soil you’re using is their tropical formulation (for aroids, cacti, etc), you are going to want to amend it with some pumice/perlite and orchid bark (this will help with root aeration/drainage and the bark will help keep it on the acidic side).
@AmazingCowshorn Mine has been in terracotta for about 3 months.