Monstera got frost damage
Plant: Monstera deliciosa
How long have you owned the plant? 1 to 2 years
Plant Parent
Left the plant outside in 20-30 F (-6 to -1 C) degree weather and plant leaves are now droopy with little black dots on the leaves. I know it is frost but I’m unsure how to tackle it. I brought the plant inside.

The overall plant:

Light Situation:

How do you determine WHEN to water? I wait for the soil to become completely dry.
Describe HOW you water: I fully soak the soil and bottom water.
Fertilizer: I have never used fertilizer.
Soil Situation: (no info provided)
Darryl
Thanks for submitting your photos and care details!
Assessment
There are two issues to address here – 1) what to do about the frost damage and 2) the wilted overall plant.
Frost Damage
Unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do to reverse the frost damage – the black spots will be there until the leaf dies off. If the frost damage was severe, those leaves will eventually turn yellow and die off in a few weeks. If it was minor, then the die off will occur later. With good general care, you will be able to enjoy the plant more when it grows new leaves, at which point you can cut off these blemished leaves (or they’ll naturally die off).
For future reference, you should bring in your Monstera when the temperature gets cooler than 50 F (10 C).
Wilted Overall Plant
Your watering strategy needs some adjustment: don’t water a Monstera when its soil is COMPLETELY dry. It should be watered when the soil is about HALFWAY dry. Especially if you kept the plant outside, the transpiration would have been much faster than indoors, which means you should be checking your soil dryness every few days and watering whenever the soil is about halfway dry. You need to use fertilizer on a regular basis if you want long-term growth. More on fertilizers here: houseplantjournal.com/fertilizer-for-most-houseplants/
Recommendations
- Give the plant a thorough soaking so the roots get a chance to recover from the dryness. As the root system reestablishes itself, the plant should perk up in a few weeks (a few months if the roots were very dehydrated)
- Leave the damaged leaves alone – they will naturally die off. Once they are completely dead, then you can pull them off
- Adjust your watering strategy: a Monstera should be watered when the soil is about halfway dry.
Good luck!
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- Read my books: ‘The New Plant Parent‘ and ‘The New Plant Collector‘
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