Monstera black spots on leaves

7 years ago

HI
I recently (a month or two ago) bought my first monstera plant. It looked very nice and healthy. It also had 3 leaves that were still opening. One of those opened normally, but the edges became dark and dry. The other two just seemed to dry off and become black. I was not very worried because I heard this can happen when you relocate plants and they are exposed to cold air. But now some other leaves are turning dark and some are just yellowing. The soil seems moist so I don't water it much, because I don't want to over-water it. And I also checked the soil (or at least the top 2 inches) and it seems fine, it has a nice earthy smell.
I hope someone can help me with this. I would really like to know if this is a disease or if I am just watering it wrong.
Thanks, Sara :)

Featured Answer

sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

Do you have dry air in the house? Are there any heat vents nearby? You could move it away from heat vents and mist the leaves at least once a day.

You don't need to water until the soil is a little dry on top. Also, make sure you have very well draining soil with perlite mixed into it and good drainage holes in the bottom of the container. The roots need oxygen and if the soil is too wet they can rot.

Also, make sure the pot doesn't sit in a saucer of water. You can put some pebbles in the saucer if you want to and then just set the pot on the pebbles to raise it up. Then the saucer, with a little water in it, can help with the humidity.

These plants are epiphytes in nature..they grow on trees and get water just kinda running over the roots so they don't have to stay wet all the time. They do like humidity around them. So misting is good as long as it drys out in between. Once a day is enough. If you have good light in your bathrooom, it would probably like it in there as long as there is no heat vent blowing on it lol.

Are you fertilizing? You dont really need to fertilize until spring. I would only do a half strength fertilizer the first couple times...and never ever fertilize a dry plant. Water first if its dry, then fertilize. I killed a few that way lol.

I used to grow monstera in my house when I lived in a colder zone. Now I have the green one and four variegated ones in the yard.

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Comments (8)

Sara Secret
Original Author
7 years ago

You can also see that the brown/black parts are visible on the edge of the stems.
arthurm2015
7 years ago
It is more likely to be over watering due to your potting mix or your growing conditions. There is more than one species of Monstera and the only one I am familiar with is the fruit salad plant.

It gets big!

It grew and maybe is still growing in My Mother In Law's Back Yard, "planted" at the base of a Jacarandah Tree, it grew up the tree and around the base in the detritus of leaves and blooms. The long roots were mostly aerial.

Bloomed and bore Fruit every year.

The second plant was planted in the garden next to the fifth tee at the local golf course (a frost Hollow) (poor well drained soil). Was happy and bloomed for a few years till we got the coldest night in many years and it got frost bite.

Pruned off the dead stuff and it has revived. Wrong spot! 200 metres away in a no frost ever spot with a bit of shade would be better.

Not much help! But might give you a bit of insight.
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arthurm2015
7 years ago
Just a bit more...The plant I am talking about is Monstera deliciosa. I have eaten the ripe fruit and didn't like it. Just as well because this is what I found on google."The fruit is considered edible when ripe but may cause rapidly developing urticaria or hives, a transient swollen, itchy rash."

Anyway, if this your plant what I am trying to convey is that the plant is extremely tough and rich potting mix that holds too much water might not be good.

Hopefully, some of the real plant growers will add to this.
HU-325025709
7 years ago
Sara, were you able to save it? I got my first Monstera Deliciosa about 1 month ago from Kroger. It had some spots just like those in your photos at that time, but I assumed it was just being overwatered. I repotted it and was excited to see several days ago that it was getting its first new leaf. However, it now seems the new leaf has the same discoloring and I'm not sure how to save it!
arthurm2015
7 years ago
There might be some clues in my two posts above. Maybe the tropical myth is to blame because it leads to overwatering....heat and humidity...sweat on the brow.
MsJeffrie Price
6 years ago
Sara, Did you remove any of the affected spotted leaves? I have a monstera with similar issues, with leaf spots and also droplets of moisture dripping off of many of the leaves and dripping into the leaves below. I purchased this big monstera recently at Trader Joe's. When I bought it about a week + a few days ago, all the leaves were nice and green and no visible spots, and the plant has many new baby leaves unfurling. at time of purchase it looked really healthy. the topsoil was a bit dry when I first brought it home, so I did give it a good thorough watering that first day, but haven't watered it since. 2 days after I had it is when I first notice the spots occurring. as with yours, I also see some darkness on a few of the stem trunks as well. the new leaves, so far, all look free of the spots. the spots seem to only be on the older leaves. I did notice that it started on one leaf and by the next day it was appearing on a few other of the older leaves. Should these leaves be removed.

I keep the plant near a sunny window area, but it's fairly filtered light throughout the day, because the window has a porch cover right outside. However, it's not shady, it's fairly bright, just somewhat filtered. The house temp is a steady 65°.

I'm wondering if the droplets from the leaves is the plants way of removing excessive water from it's system, since I watered it when I first brought it home.
Are leaf droplets typical of monteras or is it due to a fungal or pest infection or as I mentioned,, trying to remove excess water from it's system?

If anyone has these monsters, kept as indoor houseplants, not outdoors, and can provide some solutions to stop the spotting or who has more info about what maybe causing these spots, I'd appreciate any advice, so I don't loose this plant.

I've attached a number of photos. The first 2 pics show the affected leaves, the 3rd shows the water droplets and the others show the healthy new growth.

Thank you in advance for any advice for this beauty.

Cheers,
🌿Jeffrie🌿🍀🐞I 💖ladybugs
petrushka (7b)
6 years ago
it needs to be very warm, best above 75F, 85F is even better. when it's cool and in damp medium this type of dark spots occur, usually in winter.

if you can't put it outside then perhaps heat-mat can help at least for a month or so to warm up the roots. but watch then that it does not get dry. it will need to be watered more often on heat mat.