Have you ever wondered why your Monstera’s beautiful leaves have lately turned brown? What a deterrent, isn’t it?
To be really honest with you, these spots don’t simply come out of nowhere. The fact that they are popping up now has a cause behind it, and we need to know about it, comprehend it, and find answers to it before it’s too late.
The most prevalent causes of brown spots on Monstera are fungal leaf spot infections and overwatering. Other elements, like light, temperature and humidity, fertilizer, and water quality, are also to blame.
Also, insects and overexposure to sunlight may cause it. Because this is a symptom of a larger problem, it is critical that these issues be treated immediately.
More research is required in order to provide you with specifics on how these elements contribute to the appearance of unsightly brown spots on leaves. Continue reading, and be sure to take thorough notes throughout.
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How Do You Fix Brown Spots On Monstera?
Plants are living organisms, and the many pressures they endure have an impact on them. These pressures might be caused by nature or by human intervention.
It is necessary to minimize or at the very least reduce these pressures in order to fix or prevent brown spots from appearing on the monstera leaves.
Reduced stress results in a more healthy plant. In order to avoid brown spots on your monstera leaves, here are a few preventative actions you should take.
Provide an Adequate Amount of Indirect Light
It is an indoor plant, and as such, it does best in a controlled setting. Direct sunlight should not be allowed to shine directly on the monstera. Alternatively, if you do, make sure it is not exposed for an excessive amount of time.
Because this plant can use indirect light for photosynthesis, there is no benefit to exposing them to the severe conditions found outside of the greenhouse. It will just cause the plant to get stressed.
Prepare for both hot and cold days by planning ahead of time.
If you have a functioning air conditioner that you can turn on during the hot summer days, your monstera will undoubtedly benefit from it.
The additional coolness will prevent the development of brown patches on the leaves as a result of heat stress.
In preparation for the winter season, it is also a good idea to get your insulation ready. Another thing that can be done to prevent the monstera from having chill spots is to choose a safe environment.
Pests should always be on the lookout for.
Never underestimate the importance of a single pest. They often operate in a stealthy manner, expanding fast in as little as a day. By the time you realize it, these bugs may have affected the leaves to a significant degree.
Remove any strange insects that you see wandering about your plant as soon as you notice them. Some bugs may be eliminated simply by saturating them with water and allowing them to dry.
Others may be removed manually with your fingertips. Make sure to kill them as soon as possible and dispose of them properly.
As soon as possible, remove any infected leaves from the plant.
This is particularly true if the origin of the brown patches is a disease or insect infestation.
The removal of contaminated leaves will aid in the prevention of the spread of illness. Don’t be concerned, for your monstera will almost certainly produce more blooms.
It is preferable to remove the affected sections as soon as possible rather to risk infecting the whole plant with a more serious disease.
Water Your Monstera On a Regular Basis
Monstera is a large indoor plant, thus it would need a greater amount of water. Every two to three days, water the plant. Wait until the soil is at least 50% or 70% dry. This, of course, is dependent on the time of year.
Always double-check to see whether the water has entirely drained. Make use of a hose to ensure that the pot is thoroughly watered as much as possible. Water all over the interior of the container to ensure that the soil receives consistent water.
Always Begin with Healthy Soil.
When potting, use a sterile soil to ensure that any infections have been killed off completely. Your monstera will have a lower risk of contracting ailments as a result of this. Pathogens may survive in the soil for an extended period of time.
An improved soil that is rich in organic matter will allow the plant to remain robust and healthy for a long time. Nutrients that are made accessible in appropriate levels in the soil will reduce the need for fertilizer application, and vice versa. Slow-release fertilizers are also preferable over immediate-release fertilizers.
Clean water should be used instead of tap water.
Fungi and bacteria may be easily transferred from one place to another via water. By watering your plants with unclean water, you run the risk of accidentally transferring these hazardous organisms to your plants, inflicting even more damage to your plants.
Water from the tap is sufficient, but if you have the opportunity to collect rainwater, that would be much better. Because rainwater is devoid of pesticides and other treatments, it is very beneficial to plants.
You’ll notice that plants outdoors that have been wet with rainfall will immediately seem more alive and healthy.
Excessive moisture should be avoided.
Misting the plant may be beneficial on hot days, but it is not beneficial when the relative humidity is high. Pathogens like a damp environment because it is conducive to growth. You’re providing them with the opportunity to reproduce.
Allowing extra moisture to escape from the plant by watering just in the morning and not in the evening will allow the plant to thrive. This manner, there will be ample time for the water to evaporate during the day.
Can You Keep Monstera Leaves Healthy?
Monstera is a particularly difficult indoor plant to care for since it grows to enormous proportions. The appearance of brown patches on its leaves will almost likely cause panic. You may be experiencing concerns about your ability to turn your monstera into a success story right now.
However, with adequate education and comprehension of the elements listed above, you will undoubtedly be able to find out how to handle them effectively.
In order for the plant to thrive, it is necessary to provide a suitable atmosphere for it. Maintain a low level of tension, and your monstera will perform well. Is it something you’re capable of?
Monstera Brown Spots: How to Spot Them?
Brown spots on your monstera might be difficult to identify. These brown spots may be mistaken for something that occurs naturally throughout the aging process of the leaf.
The following is a step-by-step guide to determining whether your monstera has brown spots.
How do they appear?
You need to get familiar with the appearance of brown spots on the leaves in order to recognize them correctly.
These spots are typically dark brown or black in color. They might also seem brown or reddish with yellow rings under certain lighting conditions.
Certain spots have a spherical appearance, while others have an uneven shape. It doesn’t matter what form they take on; they are referred to as spots.
Depending on the extent of the damage to the leaves’ surface, the size might be huge or tiny.
Necrotic Monstera leaves with brown spots are also possible. They may even fall off or have smaller leaves than normal, so don’t be shocked. It gives you a sense of how bad the disease is.
What parts of the plant have been infected?
Brown spots on monstera are often seen around the base of the plant’s canopy. Areas that are substantially shadowed are more prone to the development of brown spots than other areas.
The leaves might have brown spots on both the top and lower sides. It may be found in both sections at the same time. It is dependent on the factor that has caused the disease.
Why Do Monstera Leaves Get Brown Spots?
Depending on their appearance, monstera leaves will reveal a great deal about the physiological issues that are occurring within.
Brown spots on this popular houseplant might be a clear manifestation of a specific issue with the plant. Sometimes, it is only a secondary manifestation of something else.
In this section, you will learn how to determine the specific cause of brown spots on your monstera leaves. In order to grasp the situation more fully, let us analyze the following points:
Excessive light causes scorching
Have you ever had your skin get so tanned that it was nearly painful to touch?
Overexposure to light has the same effect on leaves. Plants may be damaged by long-term exposure to light that contains damaging UV wavelengths.
When exposed to excessive light, plant cells have a tendency to burn. The outcome is a scattering of big brown spots on the surface of the leaves.
A scorching’s size is determined by the degree to which the cells inside it have been damaged.
Scorching is caused by two things. One of the problems is overexposure to light. The other factor is prolonged exposure.
Humidity and Temperature
There are two ways that the temperature might generate brown spots on the foliage. If the weather is very hot and dry, your monstera may suffer from heat stress, which may cause the plant to wilt and die. It begins with a few brown patches on the leaves before becoming completely brown and crispy.
As a consequence of coming into touch with chilly drafts or windows when it is too cold, your monstera leaves may acquire frost spots. It won’t take long for these spots to become brown.
On the other side, humidity acts as an agent for pathogen replication, particularly when the humidity levels are high.
These creatures flourish in an environment that is moist. Pathogens, such as fungus, are the most important contributors to the mapping of brown patches on leaves.
Pest Infestation
Insects like eating the leaves, extracting the liquids from their tissues, and creating their own sustenance from them.
The downside is that they cause wounds to appear as brown spots. When left unchecked, they have the potential to do significant harm to the plant.
Among a monstera’s many enemies are mealy bugs, spider mites, thrips, gnats, and scales.
Some of them are so toxic to the plant that they poison it. These bugs may be to blame if you see brown spots on your plants’ leaves.
By washing the undersides of the leaves down with a 50:50 solution of meths and water, you may get rid of the silvering that has formed on their undersides.
Because they’ve removed the plant cells’ chlorophyll, the silvering will persist. A tree’s leaves are normally where you’ll find them most of the time.
Leaf Spot Infections
The presence of fungi, bacteria, or other pathogens on a monstera’s leaves may indicate the presence of a disease-causing agent.
When watering, plants often pick them up from the air or water splattered on the foliage. Spots of varied sizes emerge on the leaves as a result of this disease.
They begin multiplying as soon as the spores have been taken away and have deposited on the leaves.
They grow faster in a place that is easy for them to get into. Leaf spots will begin to appear one to two weeks after the infection has begun.
Brown Spots on Monstera Leaves Caused by Rust
Rust is a fungal disease that affects beautiful plants such as monstera, and it is highly frequent in these plants.
Rusty-colored leaves may be seen on both the top and the underside of infected leaves. The leaves resemble chlorotic at first sight, although this isn’t the case.
Powdery spores are produced by these rust fungus when they spread on the leaves.
They inflict wounds on the leaves in a variety of places. Occasionally, these lesions merge to form large brown patches.
Monstera Stem with Brown Bump
As a precaution, check the underside of the leaves for bugs, which may be particularly problematic. To scrape the petiole of a stem that has been secured with a pole, just loosen the knots a little.
It’s time to take action if it rusts like lumps.
To preserve my enormous Monstera, I had to perform the following to get rid of a fungal disease that almost destroyed it:
- Isolate immediately!
- Stop misting the leaves.
- Using a moist paper towel, wipe it down.
- Use a decent rose spray that contains a fungicide once a week to treat all of the leaves and stems of the plant.
- It’s best to get rid of the leaves that are already infected. You should also protect any new growth from getting infected from the leaves that are already infected.
Even if you are successful in clearing it, the discoloration of the leaf will generally continue, resulting in a leaf that is patchy.
Fertilizer Issues
It’s quite OK to add fertilizer to your monstera plant in order to maintain it beautiful and healthy. The extra nutrients in the soil will benefit your plant. However, anything that goes above the plant’s requirements will harm it.
A buildup of salt in the cells caused by excessive usage of fast-release fertilizers might result in cell burns.
Osmotic stress, which occurs when there is an excessive amount of salt accessible near the roots, causes water in the cell to exit the cell in fast motion. After this, cells begin to shrink and die.
It works quickly, so you’ll see the brown patches on the leaves developing on the leaves within one to two days after applying it.
It is possible for your monstera to die suddenly if the situation is not addressed quickly. Because of this, you must use extreme caution while applying fertilizer.
Inadequate watering causes leaf browning.
Every plant keeper should be able to figure out how to adequately water their plants.
To make matters more complicated, every plant has its own unique water-use approach. Understanding how much water your plant requires and at what times is essential. Overwatering your monstera can result in root rot, which may be fatal.
This compromises nutrient and water transfer. What follows is that the leaves begin to develop brown spots, which eventually spread across the plant’s surface area. The leaves gradually turn yellow.
Water deficiency may also cause burning of leaves, particularly at the edges. Drought stress occurs when there is insufficient water available to the plant.
This is the stage in which the cells lose their turgidity or bloated look as a result of a lack of water entering the cells.
The Quality of the Water
We’ve already noted that certain pathogens may be spread from one plant to another via the use of irrigation. Your monstera may get infected with diseases if you use water that has already been contaminated.
Using water with a high salt concentration may also harm the plant’s ability to take up water from the soil. This adds to the plant’s stress levels. The plant cells will shrink and die if the water is too salty. Brown tips on your monstera are a sure sign that something is wrong.
On the outside, you’ll see that the leaves are growing red to brown blotches. Salty soils are a problem for Monstera because of its limited salt tolerance.
What Is the Best Way to Treat Brown Spots on Monstera?
Despite the fact that brown spots on leaves aren’t a major issue in and of itself, you must pay special attention if you observe them developing and increasing.
Any treatments must be started as soon as possible in order to prevent severe consequences. There are several cases in which Monsteras will perish if their condition is not addressed.
Plant relocation is required.
Monstera favors indirect light over direct light. In the event that it is exposed to bright, direct light for an extended period of time, it will need to be relocated. If required, surround it with a shade to provide protection.
If you have an artificial light source in your house, you may also change the lighting conditions in your home.
Avoid Excessive Humidity and Temperature
Always keep it away from a fireplace or other sources of excessive heat, as well as from windows that might become unusually hot or cold depending on the weather.
A fan or air conditioner could be to blame for making the plant feel cold. You should move the plant away from these things.
To do this, you just need to be aware of the current state of affairs in your space. Predict how these extremes will affect the overall health of your plant by planning ahead of time.
Prevent Pests from Killing Your Plant
Pests reproduce very quickly, and in a couple of days, they may cause significant harm to a plant’s structure.
Manual elimination of bugs will suffice if the situation is controllable. Keep in mind to remove any leaves that have been harmed significantly.
If the damage is too much to fix, use a pesticide that will kill the unwanted organisms.
Simply use caution while using these compounds to prevent causing injury. Additionally, you may save money by using natural or homemade remedies at home.
Remove infected plants from the environment and keep them away from the others.
The very last thing we want is for them to become carriers of the disease and disseminate it to new host plants. When treating the diseased Monstera, keep them apart from the rest of the group.
Only bring them back once everything is back to normal. Remove the diseased pieces from the environment in an appropriate manner to prevent cross-contamination.
The leaves may either be burned or treated with fungicide before being buried far away from any gardens. Ensure that all of the tools you’ve used are clean.
Get rid of extra fertilizers.
Using water to drain the salts from the soil will help if the brown patches are caused by an excessive amount of fertilizer being applied to the plant. Because these salts are water-soluble, it isn’t that difficult.
Pour a large quantity of water over the soil until it drips down the edge of the container. You may repeat this process numerous times. All you have to do is make sure the water drains fully out of the pot to prevent root rot.
Water application should be kept to a minimum.
If it is water that is the issue, then it is water that you have control over. Overwatered Monstera should be let to dry out first by exposing them to bright sunshine for a short period of time. This is just to aid in the rapid evaporation of water. If required, repot the plant in its current location.
Underwatered monstera plants should be provided with enough water as soon as possible until the leaves begin to seem full and lively. If you want to ensure that water is reaching the soil’s deepest layers, drip irrigation is the way to go.
Conclusion
How Do You Fix Brown Spots On Monstera?
Watering schedules should be adjusted, and plants should not be allowed to sit in excessive water. Often, just doing so is sufficient to halt the disease’s progression. Removing and discarding any soft or discolored stems or leaves is recommended.
Remove any decaying roots from the plant and repot it in new potting mix in a container that is slightly bigger than the plant’s overall size.
Photo by Aditya Aiyar from Pexels
