Monstera Adansonii leaves getting eaten?

moz

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Hi, I'm a new owner to a monstera adansonii. A few of my monstera adansonii's leaves look like they've been eaten by something (see picture below). But I can't see any insects. The rest of the leaves look okay. It's this normal?

Temperature here ranges from 16-34°C with humidity 60-85% and I water it twice a week when the soil appears completely dry.

PXL_20220218_104817001.jpg
 
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Greetings, welcome to the Forums.

Are you certain this damage occurred since you brought the plant home? If so, try inspecting the plant in the middle of the night after it has been in alone in a dark room for awhile. Look immediately after you turn on the lights. Some pest only come out in darkness.

Conversely, damage like this can sometimes happen when the leaf is very small, and is only noticed later when the leaf expands.
 

moz

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Greetings, welcome to the Forums.

Are you certain this damage occurred since you brought the plant home? If so, try inspecting the plant in the middle of the night after it has been in alone in a dark room for awhile. Look immediately after you turn on the lights. Some pest only come out in darkness.

Conversely, damage like this can sometimes happen when the leaf is very small, and is only noticed later when the leaf expands.
Thanks Marck, I've had the plant for a month, and the missing parts got larger... Or maybe because the leaves for larger? I will have a look for pests at night.
 

moz

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I've checked the plant for pests on 2 nights with a torch and couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Maybe I don't know what I was looking for. However, I did notice 2-3 tiny white bugs in the soil of another plant (Tradescantia Tricolour) after watering it. And another plant (Raindrop Peperomia) had a flying gnat around it. Perhaps all my plants have pests :( After reading some articles about getting rid of pests in plants, I'm thinking to get some neem oil to treat it. Any other suggestions? Thank you.
 
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Please do post photos of the insects, but without seeing them, they might be Fungus Gnats (Sciaroidea, Diptera), white larvae in soil and flying adults. If this is so, the direct damage to your plants is slight, but they thrive in overly wet soil conditions which can lead to root rot. You could try neem oil as a soil drench but I would first double check cultural practices. If your plants can go longer without irrigation, hold back. It is often good to at least wait until the soil surface looks dry.

The lack of insects on your Monstera adansonii suggests that the damage was caused previously when the damaged leaves were very small. It is not clear now, if the damage was due to an insect or a fungal disease or possibly just mechanical damage or poor cultural conditions. Does the newest foliage look fine or is it still showing damage?
 

moz

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The 3 white bugs were so tiny, I couldn't tell what shape they were. If they were not moving, I wouldn't even notice that they were there. So I doubt that they'd show up much in a photo.

Sure, I'll wait until the soil looks complete dry and then do a neem soil drench and spray the leaves, too. I also bought some yellow sticky traps for the flying gnats. Hopefully that'll save my plants.

With the Monstera adansonii, I've given it a shower (suggested by a video) and covered it with a clear plastic bag to keep in the humidity (suggested by a friend). I'm doing trial and error and hoping something would work. The whole plant looks much darker, so it is looking healthier and there are several new white air roots. The newest leaves look ok.

original_d25498fb-c590-4e5a-b395-d11e45735140_PXL_20220226_070604886.jpg


So, you might be right about mechanical damage, I might just have to keep an eye out. I might do a neem soil drench with it just in case.
 

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Hi, I'm a new owner to a monstera adansonii. A few of my monstera adansonii's leaves look like they've been eaten by something (see picture below). But I can't see any insects. The rest of the leaves look okay. It's this normal?

Temperature here ranges from 16-34°C with humidity 60-85% and I water it twice a week when the soil appears completely dry.

View attachment 87626

Swiss Cheese Plant (Monstera Deliciosa) Indoor Care Guide​

Swiss Cheese Plant (Monstera deliciosa) is an epiphytic tropical vine with large, distinctive leaves. The leaves are green and heart-shaped, with deep furrows running along their length. The plant produces edible fruits that smell like a combination of pineapples and bananas. Although the vines can climb as high as 20 feet, 8 to 12 feet is their limit when grown indoors. It is native to regions of Mexico and Panama.

 

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