Why are my plant’s leaves turning yellow or falling off?

Do you have a houseplant at home? yellow leaves has or will have? Then this can have several causes. Usually this has to do with too little or too much water. It can also be related to seasonal changes, mites or a change of environment or place in the house.

Fortunately, yellow leaves on plants are not something you have to worry about too much. Usually the plant has had a period of too little water in the past or it is now too dry. Below we take a look at all the causes of plants with yellow leaves!

Main reason of yellow leaves houseplant: Water shortage

A plant that has had too little water in the past or is currently too dry can get yellow leaves. This can occur with almost all known types of houseplants. Some plants are more sensitive to this than others. When a plant has too little water, the plant cannot provide all leaves with sufficient moisture. This causes some leaves to turn yellow.

A plant as a company

You can see the houseplant as a company. The leaves are the workers and the water is the salary. If the company is short on cash, it has to lay off some employees. There is not enough salary to provide for everyone.

A houseplant is a smart company that will fire the least productive employees first. For example, these are the oldest leaves (workers) or the leaves closest to the base or furthest away from the light source. The rest of the employees still receive their salary, so they continue to work for the company.

How do you solve yellow leaves in plants?

It is best to water a plant that is too dry immediately. Some plants recover quickly when you water, but often the yellow leaves don’t turn nice and green anymore. Have a little patience with yellow leaves.

Some plants respond more slowly to changes. It is therefore possible that the plant will recover the yellow leaves after a few weeks.

Remove yellow leaves from the plant

Still you can get in 9 out of 10 cases it is better to choose to remove the yellow leaves. Maintaining these leaves costs the plant a lot of energy. It is better to give this energy to the leaves that are still good. So yellow leaves on your plant can in principle be removed.

Other causes of houseplant yellow leaves

Are the yellow leaves solid yellow, do you think: “Help, my plant is losing leaves!”, are the lower leaves turning yellow, or can you simply pull the leaves off? Then this has to do with too much or too little water.

However, if the leaves turn dotted yellow, have yellow/light green with dark green veins, or are yellow but still firmly attached… then you probably have a different problem. The causes can be:

• Mite or other pests and diseases common to indoor plants
• Chlorosis, a deficiency of a nutrient. See this Wikipedia page for more information
• Too much water
• Seasonal changes
• Chemicals. There are plants that react badly to paint fumes and chemicals that are used in cleaning products, for example.
• New environment or location

How can you prevent yellow leaves?

A number of tips and tricks:

• Water the plant well and do it on a schedule. For example, we water all house plants that need it every Sunday. We also check this with a water meter. In addition, on Wednesdays we briefly check the plants in the house for diseases and water shortages.
• Do not suddenly overwater a plant that has had too little water. Do this in small amounts, so that the plant does not have to get used to an extreme new situation all at once.
• Some yellowing of leaves is normal. Plants sometimes have to get used to a new environment. It is also impossible to always water the plant 100% properly. Don’t be alarmed by a yellow leaf!