At the peak of my plant interest, I took a leap of faith and bought a monstera from a local seller. Monsteras are pretty and quite popular for plant enthusiasts mainly because they're big and have these fenestrations aka the holes they naturally create. I remember during the height of the pandemic, it got super popular to the point that there was this one variant that got sold for millions of pesos - you can buy a land or even a house with that price! The value just went up due to its demand and cos people were bored shitless in their houses. :P
It's not pandemic anymore, so the prices are not that expensive anymore. I got this plant for $8 which is a pretty good deal already since one of the leaves are already big enough that soon it might have more fenestrations.
I was hyperfixated on plants during this time, so I was also buying different types of indoor plants at the same time as well. It got too much that I got overwhelmed by the sudden things I have to learn so I made a big mistake: Placing the plant where it doesn't get enough sunlight as it needed.
Before I bought this plant, I researched a lot about it. I didn't want to kill it of course, as it can be an expensive mistake. I knew about when to water them, fertilize, fungicide and pesticide, etc. So I was pretty confident when I first brought it in.
I thought it was getting enough light since I placed it by the door, together with the rubber tree. Apparently not enough for the plant. You see, it could have been enough IF I considered the previous home of the plant. I didn't think that for sure this was placed in a garden with lots of indirect sunlight then all of a sudden its home became a lot darker when I moved it to the house.
About a week later, the plant started to show signs of root rot - I know I was very careful not to overwater it but if there is not enough sunlight for the plant, it won't have enough energy to absorb the water from the soil thus creating a nice environment for bacteria and fungi to thrive. The leaves started browning and I immediately knew what was happening. :P
The only way to confirm the problem is to check the roots. Sure enough, the roots were black and mushy, as well as the main stem of the plant. I wasn't able to take photos of these as I immediately went to try and save it. :P
What I did was I cut the rotting parts - the black and mushy roots, the black stems, then I soaked them in water and hydrogen peroxide mixture to kill the bacteria. I had to cut MOST of the roots (like 97%)... so I was almost too late.
There were still areas in the plant where nodes are located, so I quickly did a water propagation since that's the only way to let them root.
The plant was divided into two groups, one was placed in the bathroom window.
The other was placed on the toilet where it wouldn't get disturbed since this bathroom doesn't get used that often and you know the cats like to sit beside the plants so it would get knocked off pretty easily.
I left them there and hoped for the best. 😅
After a few days, I started seeing some progress. Those white crystal-like stuff were apparently where the roots would come out. We also see a tiny green emerging from it, which is a new stem. There was a tiny root growing which is a good sign as well although you can see there were black parts of the stems... which the rotting was still ongoing. I had to clean them again with peroxide and regularly changed the water.
The one on the left were placed beside the window while the one to the right was placed on the toilet. The one on the left gave a lot of progress with rooting since it got more sunlight and the one on the right was struggling. I also added a pothos cutting there since they give out rooting hormones and it encourages the others to root as well.
The one on the right eventually died of the infection unfortunately. Maybe I also placed it on the wrong area or the leaves were too big for it to support itself.
After two weeks, the surviving group was able to successfully grow roots and new leaves!! I was relieved to see them grow despite me cutting all of their roots 3 weeks before.
It was also time for me to plant them in soil so they would start getting used to being in soil. Letting them stay in water for so long will take them a long time to adjust and maybe it will make them susceptible to root rot again. I put them in a soilless potting mix and a plastic bottle so I can see the roots' progress.
Then of course I placed it beside a big window on the stairs so it would get a lot of light. :D
Since the potting mix gets dry quicker than a soil, there is less risk of a root rot developing so it was a good decision overall.
Little by little, you can see that the new leaf is emerging from the soil. :D It was happy in the new place and also in the new tiny pot.
And now, I'm happy to say that it looks like this!
It grew 2 new leaves.
Even the newest leaf was just too tiny a few days ago. It's now growing fast.
The roots are also growing so well that they will be root bound soon. That means it's time to transfer it to a bigger pot.
I have to choose the size of the new pot carefully so there would be enough room for the roots to grow without being it too much space that it will take more time to dry. Ideally, the new pot should be one inch bigger than the previous one. I didn't have a smaller (or taller) pot but I think this should be fine. Maybe I can go to a dollar shop to get a new pot ideal for the monstera to grow properly.
Checking the roots again and they all look healthy thankfully!
The plant is now sitting beside the window with its new pot. I'm so glad that it survived despite all of the roots and stems I cut from it. I wasn't expecting it to go this far especially for a plant noob like me. I'm pretty happy in general that there wasn't a lot of plants that died under my care haha and I learned fast too.
I'm excited to see this thing grow to a big one, it is called monstera for a reason after all. :P
