Why is this happening to my Monestera roots?

My roots, almost all of them are dying in the tips. I know they do survive fine without roots, but why is it happening?

Rot maybe?

Root rot in the pot? Because of overwatering, is that what you mean?

Is that an aerial root, or a root that you pulled out of the soil?

Those aerial roots are looking for things to attach to. It is my understanding that in their natural habitat (or is that word just for animals?) they anchor to trees with those. Some folks make moss posts or?? using a pole or something, and wrapping a piece of chicken wire around it and then filling the wire with sphagnum moss for the plants to anchor into.

Saw it done just the other day on one of the posts. May have been in ATP.

No, the roots just hang freely in the air, but must of them get these dead tips. The plant really seems to thrive, but I don't get what is happening to those roots.

Jnette, that's how my plant grow, up a stock of moss. It's a little over 2 meters high.

I know they hang in the air, but don't yours go into the moss? I don't have mine on anything it can attach to, just a tree branch. (Might do something like wire some moss to the branch.) anyway, so mine go down and go into the soil. I read one person say that there was a new plant on the end of one of hers that had gone into the soil. She was going to cut it off of the mother plant. Wonder how it did. Been a while.

Mads, my plant is a variegated and I thought it needed light for the variegation. Well, all last winter I had it under a Metal Halide light and it really did not do anything. Well, this summer I moved the rest of my houseplants outside so this one got set on the floor out of the way kind of, and it is getting huge, leaves and a lot of white. See, I thought it needed the light for the Chlorophyll too.

I was in my attorney's office a while back and they had a big one in a dark room where they only turned on one little florescent light on the ceiling when there were customers. Other than that there was only one big window on the north side of the room, and this plant was on the South wall. And it looked so healthy. I couldn't get over it.

Now you tell me for mine which is variegated, what does it need?

One more thing I must tell you, I got my daughter a variegated one for her birthday a year ago, and she has had it under bright florescent lights, very close to it, and she said it has huge, nicely variegated leaves.

Now what do you think?

Variegation is a lack of chlorophyll in those spots.
To maintain growth the green part of the leaf must work harder. It needs more light to do that.

Well, that may be, but how does that explain the one in my atty's office. No light and it is just about the halthiest one, with the biggest leaves of any I have seen. It is not variegated, just plain dark green leaves. The secretary says she waters it once in a while when she thinks of it, which I doubt is often since it is in another room with the light turned off.

Forgot to say the room is 12 to 15 feet across to the window which is on the north side of the building.

Roots emanating from the stem/root transition normally absorb moisture from the soil, but your adventitious/aerial roots depend on the plant's ability to move water from the soil to the plant's distal parts. When the plant's ability to move enough water to keep distal tissues hydrated is compromised, those tissues die. As we would expect, leaf tips and margins, as well as the tips of adventitious roots would first be affected by a compromised ability to move water.

Most of the primary causes are related to the soil choice: root function relationship. When soils are so water retentive you can't water properly, over-watering and/or a build-up of soluble salts in the soil are pretty much assured, though under-watering can be a factor. If you know you're watering before the soil is completely dry, you can eliminate under-watering as a primary cause. Soils that can't be watered correctly w/o the grower having to worry about root rot or compromised root function force the grower to water in small sips to avoid over-watering. This practice ensures that all unused salts from tapwater and fertilizers accumulate in the soil. These dissolved solids make it increasingly difficult for the plant to absorb water and there for nutrients (that are dissolved in the water). The difficulty in absorbing water because of an excess of dissolved solids in the soil solution, or root function compromised by a lack of oxygen in the root zone, is made manifest in the death of distal parts already discussed. Because low humidity increases the demand for more water, it is potentially a contributing but not a primary factor.

Al

This message was edited Feb 21, 2014 7:39 PM

"When the plant's ability to move enough water to keep distal parts hydrated, those parts die."

You threw me on this statement Al. Guess first I have to know which are distal and which are adventitious roots. Adventitious/aerial roots and distal PARTS, ok I see you are not saying distal roots. Where do I find definitions of these? From what you said, it looks like they are one and the same?? I mean, I can figure out what aerial roots are.

Why would the parts die if the plant has the ability to move enough water to keep them hydrated? Are you saying it is too much water?

I might have mine in too large a pot. It is not doing well. Do you think now is a good time to repot it? New soil etc.?? It has been in this one for a little over a year, and is just going down hill. Not looking good at all. Thanks, Jeanette

Ok, I think I know now. Distal is the part of the plant, stem or trunk, of the plant where the adventitious/aerial roots are attached??? Is that right? And of course we know what the aerial roots are, but don't understand why they are called adventitious. Don't know what that means.

And, I think as far as the first sentence goes, I think you meant to say "when the plants DON'T HAVE the ability to move enough water to keep distal parts hydrated, those parts die." Is that right?

Distal means away from - your fingers are distal to your wrist, while your elbow is proximal. Leaf tips and margins, and the tips of adventitious roots are about as distal as it gets on a plant. We regularly see burned leaf tips and margins as a result of the plant's inability to keep those parts hydrated, but adventitious roots are less commonly discussed, but their tips are obviously one of the plant's most distal tissues.

Adventitious roots are roots that develop in unusual places, like off stems and branches instead of off other roots. In this case, you can interchange the term with aerial.

Thanks for pointing out my mistake above - my bad. I'm off to fix it right now!! ;-)

Al

If the areal roots aren't growing into the ground, or I don't want 3 foot longs roots hanging off my plant, can I just clip off these roots as they start to grow?

yes, if you don't like their appearance you can cut off the aerial roots.

I agree ....

Al

Al, that should make you feel good, knowing that we are reading your posts very thoroughly. :0)

Jnette, in your opening comment, you described your monstera as surviving fine without roots. M-m-m, not really true. The monstera, a member of the philodendron family, absolutely must have roots. The aerial roots, the ones hanging over the sides of the pot, are the ones the plant doesn't need. They're the outriders, the exploratory forces the plant sends out to see if there are any other good growing places in the neighborhood. I once took care of one in an office where the aerial root had grown down the side of the pot, across the floor, and was heading down the hall way outside -- it was the star of the office! The withering on the end of the root could be from damage; it could also be an indication that the whole plant is not in optimal health, that it is pulling its resources back in toward the center.
At any rate, the potted plant depends as much on its roots as any other plant. You can cut off the aerial roots if you find them unattractive, but the health of the vegetative roots is crucial to the health of the plant, and if the plant is not looking well, look first to the roots. You might repot with a nice well-drained mix; however, in my experience, philodendrons don't need frequent repotting; what they really need is for their soil to get almost dry between waterings, and that means almost dry in the bottom of the pot. Try testing with a bamboo skewer, as if testing a cake. Philodendrons whose roots are chronically too moist show it first with reduced size of new growth and overall weak appearance.

ficuswrangler I have not a clue as to what you are talking about. There obviously is a misunder-
standing somewhere. I went back and looked at might first couple of posts and could not find where I said any such thing. I can't imagine why you would think I would say such a thing. Just shaking my head.

JNETTE, sorry, that wasn't your opening comment, it was MADSHILDE's. That's what I was replying to -- no wonder you're shaking your head.

I went up and read some of them too and I really think that MadsHilde didn't mean all roots. I think he/she meant the aerial roots. They said the plant was planted with a moss covered pole later down the thread. Just wasn't clear.