Monstera Deliciosa Concerns
Plant: Monstera deliciosa
How long have you had the plant? 6 months to 1 year
Concerns:
I got this plant 6 months ago during the summer, and it has been doing ok.
During the autumn and winter it has looked less healthy, leaves have grown yellow and brown in spots. It’s been like this 2 or 3 months. I’ve tried more water and less water, and moving it away from the window in case it got burnt. But it’s not getting better, and now the new leaf developed a brown stain too.
Light Situation:
How do you determine WHEN to water: I follow the schedule I was told/researched for this plant (using a self-watering planter)
Describe HOW you water: I used to wait for it to dry, while it was growing into the Lechuza planter. Since then I’ve topped up the self watering pot as it drained. But recently I’ve tried to empty out all the water and water manually, after 2-3 weeks the plant soil is still not dry so I’ve only sprayed it with a mister recent weeks.
What fertilizer do you use? I recently started using Liquid Gold leaf indoors.
When was the last time you repotted? I have not repotted it yet.
Darryl:
Can you please show me a closer photo of your most damaged leaf? I suspect you have thrips
Plant Parent
I can’t see any such thrips, have attached more photos of the leaf and soil.
Darryl’s Analysis:
I recommend you cut those leaves off near the main vine and treat the rest of the plant as follows:
1) Physical removal by lint roller/masking tape (do as often as possible)
2) Weekly spray entire plant with insecticidal soap
3) Continue treatments until no more thrips are visible (warning: this will take several months)
More details here: https://www.houseplantjournal.com/thrips/
Your plant is too far away from your windows to do any useful photosynthesis, which is why your soil is remaining dry even after a long time. The best possible place for any indoor plant is right in front of your largest window – you only need to block direct sun if it will shine on the plant for LONGER than 2 or 3 hours (block it with a white sheer curtain). When you’re so far from the window, the indirect light will be very weak (probably less than 100 FC most of the day), which will result in long-term poor growth.
Self-watering planters are not good in the long-term for soil structure as there will eventually be dry pockets where minerals can accumulate and roots die off. You can mitigate this by occasionally aerating the soil (gently loosen it with a chopstick) and also flushing the soil (pouring lots of water through so excess minerals can drain away – obviously, this requires drainage holes and somewhere for the water to go).
Good luck against the thrips!
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