Your Albo Has Root Rot? Here's Exactly What To Do

If you've pulled your Albo out and found black, mushy roots, don't panic. This exact process has brought back thousands of plants. Follow it step by step and don't skip anything.

Before you start, here's what you'll need for this whole process — grab these first so you're not stopping halfway through:

Rot Stop — 100mL
The soak, step one, right after you cut.
$14.99PMM Prop Kit
Air pump, stones and tubing — the whole regrowth setup, ready to go.
$49.00GT Oxy-Plus 3%
The peroxide for the water — 3mL per litre, every 3 days.
$17.50

Step 1: Take it out

Pull the plant out of whatever it's in — soil, water, wherever. You need to see every root before you can fix anything.

Step 2: Cut off anything black and mushy — all of it

This is what you're looking for — dark, dead, mushy roots like these. Most of the roots are probably going to look like this. You have to remove every single one. Don't try to leave a few on because you're scared you'll have no roots left. They are dead. Cutting them off doesn't hurt the plant — leaving them on does.

Here's why: those black mushy roots are absolutely crawling with bad bacteria you cannot see. If you had a microscope on that mush right now, you'd be looking at millions of bacteria actively feeding on dead tissue and spreading toward anything still healthy. If you could actually see what was happening in there, you'd want to move that plant off the table, out the door, across the road, as far away from your other plants as you could get it. That's how bad it really is at the microscopic level. We just can't see it, so it doesn't feel that urgent. It is. Cut all of it off.

Step 3: Give it a Rot Stop soak first

Right after you've cut everything off, that fresh wound is the most vulnerable it's ever going to be — so treat it before anything else touches it. Mix up Rot Stop at 10mL per litre of water, the same rate as the label, and give the base of the stem a proper soak in that mix for a while. That kills off anything still lingering on the cut surface before it ever gets the chance to take hold again.

Step 4: Straight into the water — not soil

Once it's had its Rot Stop soak, this plant has next to no roots left. Don't even think about putting it in soil at this point — there's nothing there to anchor it, nothing to feed it, and soil that stays damp around a bare, wounded stem is exactly how you got root rot in the first place. Soil is not an option again until this plant has actually regrown real roots.

Set it up in a jar of water with 3% hydrogen peroxide dosed at 3mL per litre, with an air stone bubbling away in there. This is exactly the same PMM Water Method setup used for propagating healthy cuttings — the plant needs to regrow its whole root system from scratch, so it gets the same treatment as a fresh cutting.

The Recovery Timeline

Here's what to actually expect, week by week. Hover each point for what's normal and what to watch for.

Now it's going to take weeks — and that's normal

Think of it like a sick person. They don't get out of bed and go straight to a party the day the fever breaks. Recovery takes time. Your Albo just went through surgery, basically — it needs weeks, not days, before you'll see it doing anything at all.

A week in: if nothing is rotting further, that's a win. If the stem is staying firm and there's no new rot creeping up it, you are doing fine — even if there are no new leaves and nothing looks like it's "growing" yet. No new rot equals everything is okay. Don't panic just because it looks the same as last week.

Keep redosing the peroxide, every 3rd day, same rate

Every 3 days, add more 3% peroxide at the same 3mL per litre rate. Peroxide doesn't last — it naturally breaks down over time and loses its ability to pump oxygen to the roots and keep bacteria in check. If you don't top it up, you're basically back to sitting in plain stagnant water again, which is exactly what caused the rot in the first place.

Don't make it stronger — this is the mistake almost everyone makes

The number one way people stuff this up is mixing the peroxide way too strong, thinking more must mean faster recovery. It doesn't work like that. Too strong and you start damaging the exact tissue that's trying to heal itself, and you'll set the plant back further than the rot did. 3mL per litre, every 3 days. That's it. That's the whole rate. Don't get impatient and start guessing at stronger mixes — it's the fastest way to lose the plant you're trying to save.

Once it's actually got roots — now you can pot it

When those new roots hit about an inch (2–3cm), that's your signal it's ready for soil or a chunky mix. Warm spot, bright light, no direct sun, and treat it gently for the first fortnight — it's just moved house, twice.

This is the exact process. Cut the dead roots off completely, hit the wound with Rot Stop before anything else touches it, regrow the roots properly in water, and give it real time. Thousands of people have used this to bring their Albos back. Follow it properly and yours will too.

Rot Stop is a registered agricultural fungicide (active constituent Metalaxyl-M). Always read the label and safety directions before use.