Monstera Adansoni yellowing leaves

4 years ago

I have this Monstera Adansoni for almost a year.it's in a 6 inche plastic pot with lots of drainage holes and in a chunky aroid soil that I mixed at home (peat moss+bark+coco chips+lots of perlite+a bit of worm castings and vermiculite). it's 1.5 feet away from my south facing balcony door(even though it's south facing it rarely recieves direct sunlight because there's a very tall tree right in front of my room windows). it's in my room(temperature is around 20-22 C° and at least 50% humidity).I fertilize it at least once a month with a diluted 20-20-20 fertilizer).
It keeps growing healthy, new leaves rapidly (it was taller but I cut almost half of it's length to water propogate and put back in it's pot after rooting to make it look fuller.I also want to put a moss pole for it).what bothers me is that it also keeps yellowing it's lower leaves. each time the lowest leaf starts to show a yellow patch from a corner. this yellowing develops until the whole leaf is completely yellow, then it gets crispy dry and brown and falls and I hate to have plants with a long,bare stem.
I read everywhere that yellowing is usually the sign of over or underwatering. in my case, overwatering rarely happens.I use really fast draining and porous soil and I have +80 house plants and I'm lazy. I try to water most of my plants at least once a week in spring and summer but sometimes I can't and when I check their soils after more than a week, usually the whole soil in their pot is bone dry.
So I guess the problem is under watering?or maybe fertilizing once a month isn't enough?
another important question is that do you think Monstera Adansoni can grow well in a no drainage pot? because I'm afraid I can't water it more frequently. I couldn't keep up with watering some of my thirsty plants for example my peace lily and I repotted her into a no drainage glass pot and since then she's thriving but I don't know if a monstera can get along well with no drainage.
do you think adding a moss pole can help?

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Comments (4)

lili sahm
Original Author
4 years ago
these are photos of my Monstera Adansoni. the bottom leaf is starting to yellow, again :(
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
4 years ago
It's normal for leaves going through abscission (being shed) to show yellow. Reason: The first step of the shedding process is resorption, during which the plant salvages mobile nutrients (N,P,K,Mg) and other biocompounds from the leaf being shed for use elsewhere in the plant. Mg is mobile in the plant, and central to the chlorophyll (green pigment) molecule, so when the chlorophyll molecule is broken down, you see expression of other pigments which were being masked by chlorophyll.

What fraction of your grow medium represents the volume of CHCs? CHCs are not a direct substitute for pine bark and coir is not a substitute for peat. Both require work-arounds that address the chemical and physical differences in the material. E.G., coconut chips are very high in K, so fertilizers should necessarily be low in K for best results. When used as a significant fraction of the medium, the high pH of CHCs precludes the use of (dolomitic) lime as a liming agent. Did you leach the CHCs before using them, in case they were processed in sea water and are extremely high in dissolved solids (salt)? What are you using for fertilizer? NPK %s?

Al
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popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
4 years ago
I had this same issue with adansonii. I could never seem to keep it happy. I think it likes a lot more consistent moisture than some of those "chunky" mixes give. But I gave up trying to figure it out.

I put it outside in the shade for the summer and it's happy as can be there. It's very warm outside and it gets watered every day.

I will find a new home for it soon. Because it's not coming back inside! Apparently we are just not well-suited for each other. I'm kind of an "underwaterer".
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
4 years ago
This looks like a very nice start of the Monstera. Good fenestrations and pretty dark color.

I've never had good results with tiny pots for giant vines even if starting with a little snip. The 3 vines in the 2nd pic (Pothos/Epipremnum, Monstera, Syngonium) would LOVE to be in MUCH bigger pots, and will need some kind of trellis, arbor, cage, or stake, and a little occasional guidance from you to keep them upright.