Monstera deliciosa and other varieties are actually quite hardy houseplants that adapt to life indoors very well; however, the check engine light of monstera is usually yellowing and often slightly drooping leaves.
The common assumption is that a yellowing, sickly plant is dying of thirst, which often makes things worse. Yellow leaves can actually indicate a few different things, and knowing what sort of yellowing, along with other symptoms like drooping stems, can help you diagnose the problem.
So if your monstera is turning yellow, don’t worry, because in this article, I’ll go through the most common causes and what you can do about them.
1. The Damp Soil Yellow
I have put this first as it is easily the most common cause of yellowing leaves, and in more generic articles, it is often just categorised as overwatering when often it’s more about an oxygen deficit at the roots.
The Symptoms…
The yellowing often starts on the lower leaves, closest to the base, and the yellow can be almost translucent with a soft texture, sometimes with mushy brown spots in the middle.
The Real-World Insight…
In their native habitat, Monstera grows in loose, uncompact soil, which allows the roots to respire. The roots require oxygen for them to respire, and respiration allows the roots to uptake the nutrients and moisture they need to keep the leaves healthy.
If the Monstera’s roots are not able to access oxygen, then they cannot respire, and nutrients and water don’t reach the leaves, which is why they turn yellow.
The solution to this is better soil! My signature monstera soil mix is 1 part perlite, 1 part houseplant potting soil (any from your garden centre is fine, don’t worry about brands) and 1 part pine bark from orchid potting mixes.
Why does this work? With pine bark, the particle size is much bigger, which means that water can drain effectively and oxygen can reach the roots. This is the opposite of unamended houseplant soil, which is often made from peat, which does a good job of retaining water, but the particle size is usually too fine for monstera, and the roots struggle to respire.
If this is happening to your monstera repot it as soon as possible. I find that the added perlite and bark mitigates almost all problems associated with overwatering.
2. The Thrips Problem (The Secret Yellowing Cause)
Is your monstera turning yellow in a patch or a stippled manner, and you have been careful with watering (therefore, not likely the problem)? Then the problem may be thrips.
The Symptoms…
Are the leaves developing a weird, silvery-yellow sheen? You may even see tiny, black pepper spots (thrips poo) on the underside of the monstera’s leaf. The yellowing on the leaf doesn’t start at the edge, but rather, the yellowing appears in patches.
My Rescue Experience…
I once rescued a Monstera that turned yellow despite being in a great potting mix. Upon closer inspection, I used a magnifying glass and found the tiny, rice-shaped larvae.
The solution… The solution to this is actually quite simple and successful. All you need to do is wash the leaves with insecticidal soap or neem oil (I bought a brand from my local garden centre, and from what I have found online, is that the all have the same active ingredients, so don’t worry about brands) and, in my experience, I would use a systemic granule in the soil to get rid of the larvae. You do have to act on thrips as they can get out of hand and be the cause of a dying monstera.
3. The Nutrient Deficit Yellow
If your entire plant is looking a bit pale and the (if they grow at all) new leaves are coming in a light lime-green rather than the characteristic dark emerald, your Monstera is likely in need of Nitrogen (N) or Magnesium (Mg).
A healthy monstera can grow as many as 6 to 8 leaves (depending on its maturity), so if yours is growing far fewer, it may be deprived of nutrients (or not mature enough).
The Botanical Insight…
Plants are efficient at recycling nutrients, and they can often draw nitrogen from the lower leaves (which turns them yellow) to grow the newer leaves. This can cause the lower leaves to turn a uniform and rather bright yellow as opposed to a mushy yellow.
My Feeding Strategy… I use a balanced ordinary houseplant fertiliser, however I dilute it to half strength as full strength is too much of a good thing.
The balance I have found that works is feeding it once per month in the growing season, which fuels growth, and I get nice big leaves with lots of splits, but I don’t run the risk of fertiliser burn or excess salts in the soil, which can also cause problems.
4. The Sun scorched Yellow (Chlorophyll Breakdown)
Monstera plants love bright indirect light, but they are forest-floor dwellers in nature, and if they are hit by harsh, direct afternoon sun, the chlorophyll literally breaks down, which results in a brown/yellow leaf appearance.
The Symptoms…
If the yellowing only appears on the parts of the monstera’s leaf that face the window, and it sort of looks bleached and faded with some brown patches, then it’s in too much direct sunlight.
How to fix it…Once the leaf has been scorched, it does not turn green again; therefore, all you need to do is recolocate it in an area of bright, yet indirect light (use a sheer curtain or your bathroom with frosted glass), and you can then snip any of the leaves back to the base.
5. Yellowing Ageing Leaves
Does your monstera have just one or two leaves turning yellow, but it’s still producing new growth? Then don’t panic! Your monstera is absolutely fine.
The Reality is that… No one leaf lives forever, and if the plant is thriving, it will occasionally retire an older leaf and redirect its energy to the giant, fenestrated (holey) leaves at the top that look great. This is a natural cycle that happens in the wild, and the leaves are just recycling nutrients. What I do is leave the leaf turn completely yellow, and when it starts to turn brown and crispy, just snip it off.
The Emergency Recovery Strategy
If multiple leaves are turning yellow and root rot is the prime suspect, then we need to do a (Hydrogen Peroxide) Rescue Method…
- First thing is first, you need to stop watering immediately.
- Aerate the soil by using a chopstick to gently poke holes deep into the soil and loosen it up to allow oxygen in.
- The hydrogen peroxide Flush… Mix 1 part 3% Hydrogen Peroxide with 2 parts water and pour it through the potting soil. You will hear a fizzing noise, which is the hydrogen peroxide releasing pure oxygen, which eliminates the rot-causing bacteria, giving your monstera a fighting chance.
- The Repot… we then have to repot our monstera into a nice aerated potting mix with pine bark to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Monstera Yellowing Diagnostic Reference
| Type of Yellow | Location | Likely Cause | My Expert Fix |
| Soft, Translucent Yellow | Lower Leaves | Root Rot / No Oxygen | hydrogen peroxide Flush; switch to Bark Mix. |
| Silvery/Stippled Yellow | Anywhere | Thrips (Pests) | Neem oil / Systemic granules. |
| Uniform Pale Yellow | Entire Plant | Nutrient Deficiency | Quarter-strength balanced fertilizer. |
| Bleached/White-Yellow | Window-facing side | Sunburn | Move 3 feet back from the window. |
| Crispy Yellow Edges | Leaf Margins | Low Humidity / Tap Water | Use filtered water + Pebble Tray. |
My Final Thoughts on Reading Yellowing Monstera Leaves
A yelling monstera leaf is trying to communicate the problem with us, whether it’s too much sunlight, dense soil, overwatering or a lack of nutrients.
If we move to a pine bark soil, then 99% of problems with dense soil and overwatering go away, and your monstera can go back to growing the glorious, large leaves with lots of splits.