Hmmm. Well, dirt is going to be spilled. (Cheer up! There's almost never any blood spilled.) There's not really a way around that, so you need to plan for it: put down a garbage bag or a bunch of newspapers or something, or have a broom and dustpan at the ready. Or, more realistically, both. Leaf breakage is a little more manageable, though there's going to be some of that, too, probably: Monstera stems and petioles (the stalk connecting the leaf to the main stem) are brittle. You may be able to reduce breakage a little bit by wrapping the top of the plant in paper first, though I'm afraid there are no breakage-proof ways of doing that, either. Personally, when I repot Monsteras at home or at work, I kind of assume that I'm going to lose a leaf or two in the process. If you have someone who can hold back leaves while you maneuver the plant around (friend, spouse, neighbor), or someone who will help you wrap the top up in paper before you start, that can be helpful. Otherwise, just take your time and be careful with it and you're not likely to lose all that much. The actual stems are tougher than the petioles, so while you may lose a leaf or two, losing a whole vine is unlikely (and if you did, you could probably root it and plant it anyway).

I disagree with nearly all you said, except for a couple of facts: 1) that highly aerated fast draining soils are far easier to grow in and offer plants significantly better opportunity to realize as much of their genetic potential as possible, and 2) roots are the heart of the plant, and w/o a healthy root system, a healthy plant is only a dream. I disagree because the basic premise upon which your claims rest are faulty ..... and I'm sure we can agree you needn't be a bus driver to know what makes the wheels go 'round and 'round. I didn't say that anyone is having trouble growing in high porosity substrates, so please refrain from putting words in my mouth. What I said, basically, was what it says on a bag/bale of potting substrate has little to do with what's in the bag. Every packager of retail grow media seriously pushes the limits of veracity in order to capture the unsuspecting buyer, and this extends to fertilizers and hundreds and hundreds of other products which target hobby growers. In my considerable experience, I've come to recognize it's not possible to build a highly aerated medium based on large fractions of fine ingredients. Example - start with a pint of peat in a quart jar, then add a pint of perlite. One would think the o/a air porosity would increase significantly ...... but it doesn't. Perlite is not internally porous. IOW, it is a glass foam which has solidified and trapped air inside internal cells, and the internal cells are not gas or water permeable. A ping pong ball is full of air. Add a dozen to a pint of peat - see if the o/a air porosity increases or decreases. A PP ball cannot ADD porosity because the cell at its center is closed. Let's say the dozen PP balls filled the half jar of peat, so you now have a quart of soil, but the volume of air porosity in the new mix created by the combination of the 2 ingredients is limited to the volume of air space between the original volume of peat particles. When you double the volume of a medium w/o increasing air porosity, you reduce o/a air porosity by 50%. To be fair, perlite has an uneven surface, which would add some air porosity, but the small fraction of air porosity added due to perlites irregular surface can never be even close the the volume displaced by the particle because of its closed cell nature. There is something called a "threshold proportion" that needs to be considered. Lets start with a pint of peat again and start adding pine bark with a 1/8- 3/8" size gradient. When we reach a 50/50 mixture of peat/bark, there is still more than enough peat to fill every all space between bark particles with peat. Where is the advantage in adding the bark. Like the perlite, it simply decreased o/a air porosity, but to a lesser degree than perlite would because barks internal pores are open and gas/water permeable to some degree. Even at 75% bark and 25% peat, the roots will essentially be growing only in the peat, and the air porosity of the usable fraction of medium available for root colonization provides the air porosity of peat alone. In rteality it will be less because the weight of the bark diminishes the loft of the peat, but we needn't rely on that fact to complete the thought. At some point, by continually adding more bark, we'll arrive at the threshold proportion, where there is exactly the volume of peat needed to fill all air spaces between the bark particles. From that point forward, increasing the ratio between the bark and peat rapidly increases air porosity; so, if you really want to take advantage of media which are ACTUALLY highly aerated and fast draining, you'll always be working with media that have a very large fraction of ingredients larger than about .100". which is the particle size gradient at which it is not possible for a medium to hold water in the spaces between particles. Since this is only true when particles are uniform in size/shape, the actual size at which perched water disappears in practical applications will be closer to .125". Perched water is a thief that always flies below the radar until you learn how water behaves in grow media. Substrates based on large fractions of fine products like peat, coir, compost, composted forest products, sand, topsoil, are going to support lots of perched water. An experienced grower can look at the soil, feel the texture, and predict within 1/2" how tall will be the PWT (perched water table) the substrate will support at container capacity. Most bagged media supports in the range of 3-6", with 4-6" being the norm. I can't say how tall the PWT will be in the medium you discuss, but I can say with a good deal of certainty, if the medium is indeed comprised of large fractions of peat/coir, it will be too much for you to make the claims you made. How about we compare. You show me what your healthy root systems look like, and I'll show you what mine look like. Seem fair/reasonable? Al

Hello! I'm quite the newbie for the most part when it comes to houseplants and found my way here after several google searches. I have two houseplants that I love but just aren't "happy". I have a feeling it's due to the soil and light but was wondering if there is anything else that might be an issue. First up is my monstera, Meg. I bought her in March and she was doing ok. I lost a leaf or two so potted up in some basic potting mix. After reading through the forums for the last few days at various points, I realise that that was quite a rookie thing to do. Now she looks like this. Here are a couple of incredibly sad leaves, do these need pruning? And if so where on earth do you prune Monstera as they seem to be the newest leaves? Is is she beyond saving? There hasn't been any new growth since I potted up so I've moved her from the room she was in to a slightly brighter ne facing room. I'm considering repotting using gritty mix but I'm unsure if it's too late in the year? And then there is Arabella Fiddle Leaf Fig. She was a housewarming present from last year. She's been potted up twice (seriously, I regret these actions ) and the top two leaves are new growth. The three slightly below I'm sure are mechanical damage. She currently lives in front of a SE facing window, or at least within 1m with moderate direct sunlight for part of the morning. I moved her recently as I don't think she was getting enough light where she was, especially considering my husbands propensity to not bothering opening the curtains of a morning. There are a few crispy leaves and I'm uncertain if there is any new growth at the top as I'm watching her like the proverbial boiling pot. There are a couple of buds that are peeking out that seem to be getting more pronounced. So my vague plan with Arabella is to repot into gritty mix and potentially chop off the top third just above the bud that is pictured. Hopefully that would encourage branching and strengthening of lower tree? I might be able to propagate the cut off top and start from scratch on a second plant if I do. I love these plants and don't want them to die, Meg hasn't even reached a level of maturity where her leaves have split yet! Basically any advice or opinions on pruning in the case of Meg, repotting of both of them using gritty mix and my general plans for Arabella will be more than welcome! My main concern is I've left it too late to fix any of these problems this year and I'm unsure if they'll last the winter. Side note, I didn't realise you could see my sad succulent Florain the background of my pictures of Arabella! I may attempt to propogate more succulents from her as she seems less than happy too.

Sorry but I don't know where folks get these ideas as "i know repotting it again could kill it since it was probably already stressed from the first repot. what should i do?" If unpotted already it needs to be repotted. Not sure what your 2nd pic shows, is that from BEFORE you unpotted? While I don't grow this plant I do grow other Aroids & just repot them when they need it. I'd crumble off any mushy roots, or any that are brittle & dead. Then sprinkle w/ cinnamon (anti-fungal), pot in some fresh mix, water in well & then give it time to recover.