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I left my new Monstera out on the porch in Portland overnight and it got a cold shock
It was about 38 degrees last Tuesday, and I forgot to bring it in. The next morning, three leaves had turned black and drooped. I moved it to a warm spot by the window and cut off the dead parts, and it's finally pushing out a new leaf after two weeks. Has anyone else had a plant bounce back from something like that?
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ivangrant2mo ago
That plant is probably a goner long term. Cutting off the dead bits just hides the real damage. Cold shock wrecks the roots and inner parts you can't see. Pushing out one new leaf is a last ditch effort, not a real recovery. It'll likely go downhill again in a few months. You're just delaying the inevitable by keeping it.
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Honestly that sounds exactly like what happened to my fiddle leaf fig last winter. Tbh I just left it alone after cutting the bad leaves, kept it warm and watered it a bit less. Ngl it looked rough for like a month but it put out two new leaves after that and it's fine now. Sometimes they just need time to get over the shock. Don't give up on it yet.
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eric_price27d ago
Haha @ivangrant is basically the Grim Reaper of houseplants with that take. Man, I once kept an aloe alive for six months with literally zero roots by just ignoring it on a shelf. Plants are stubborn creatures sometimes. Fiddle leaf figs are dramatic but they can bounce back from a lot of shock if you don't overwater them into an early grave. Honestly, if the plant isn't rotting at the base and it's pushing new growth, there's still a chance. My track record with plants is like 40% success, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but I say give it a few more weeks before you call it.
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