My monstera has been dropping yellow leaves for a couple of weeks now. It starts with the lowest leaves, and they go soft and yellow rather than dry and crispy. I water it every Sunday without fail. What am I doing wrong?

Soft yellow leaves starting at the bottom, plus watering on a fixed schedule. The roots are staying wet too long. Here is how to read the mix instead.

Why are my monstera leaves turning yellow?

Soft, yellow, starting at the bottom, and you water on a schedule. That combination points almost every time to the same thing: the roots are staying wet for too long.

The likely cause

Monsteras do not read calendars. Every Sunday in a cool, dim, humid week is a completely different amount of water than every Sunday in a hot bright one. When the mix never dries, roots cannot get oxygen, they begin shutting down, and the plant pulls nutrients out of its oldest leaves to protect the new ones. Soft yellow is a water story. Dry and crispy is usually a light or humidity story.

How to fix it

Water by finger, not by day. Push a finger into the mix up to the second knuckle. Damp means wait. Dry at that depth means water thoroughly, until it runs from the drainage holes.
Stop the pot sitting in water. If the nursery pot lives inside a decorative cover, lift it out after watering and tip away whatever collected underneath. That hidden reservoir drowns more monsteras than anything else.
Open up the mix. Monsteras are climbers, not bog plants. At the next repot, cut standard potting soil with orchid bark and perlite so water moves through instead of lingering.

What to expect

Yellow leaves will not turn green again, so remove them once they are fully gone. You are looking for the yellowing to stop spreading within a fortnight, and a new leaf within a month or two.

Start here: why is my plant dying? — the four checks and the five things that kill nearly every houseplant.

Answers are written by AI and safety-checked by code before they post — no feeding doses, no medical advice, anything toxic to cats or dogs flagged. No human reads a question or an answer before it goes up, so treat this as good, careful guidance rather than professional or veterinary advice. If the plant is precious, or you suspect a spreading pest or disease, get human eyes on it too.