Bought a Monstera that looked perfect. Three days later, root rot everywhere.

Got it from a nursery near my shop. Soil was way too wet. Drenched. Had to cut off half the roots. Repotted in a mix with more perlite. It's bouncing back now but man. How do you check a plant's roots without pulling it out of the pot?

2 comments

2 Comments

dixon.willow4d ago

Oh man, that sucks! I had a friend who did the exact same thing with a fiddle leaf fig from a big box store. She brought it home all excited, watered it on schedule, and within a week the leaves were drooping and yellow. Turns out the nursery had packed it in straight up mud basically. She had to chop off like 90% of the roots and it looked so sad for a month. But here's the trick she taught me - you don't gotta pull the plant out. Just stick your finger or a chopstick way down into the drainage hole at the bottom. If it comes out wet or muddy, the soil is holding too much water. Also lift the pot, if it feels heavy for its size that's bad news. She saved her fig eventually but it took forever to grow new leaves.

grant_palmer4d ago

That chopstick trick is genius. Never thought to check through the drainage hole like that.