Why is my plant leaves turning yellow and brown?
2ft to light, direct
Last watered 2 weeks ago
11
Palms are generally pretty temperamental in terms of watering if you go too long without watering them, they will in turn, crusty and brown, if you water them too often they generally turn yellow and brown. So, my guess is that it’s a overwatering it could be something else entirely though, good luck
@EarthlyKudulily hey when you have better lighting can you take another picture and tag me? A full on pic, and then 1-3 zoomed in on certain parts that are struggling? It’s too difficult to tell with this dark lighting 💕🌿
@EarthlyKudulily Thank you for the brighter pictures! 💕I will look at them closely in a little bit when I’m not busy, but could you tell me a few things in the meantime:
-Are the yellowing leaves the older leaves or new ones (or both)
-what does your soil feel like right now (wet or dry)?
-what lighting does it have and is it near a window? Any direct sun or grow lights?
-any airflow in its location, like a fan, or heat/ac?
Thank you! ☺️
-Are the yellowing leaves the older leaves or new ones (or both)
-what does your soil feel like right now (wet or dry)?
-what lighting does it have and is it near a window? Any direct sun or grow lights?
-any airflow in its location, like a fan, or heat/ac?
Thank you! ☺️
@EarthlyKudulily ok, thank you for waiting! While I’m not a kentia palm expert, yellowing leaves are often caused by underwatering or by the plant having more water than the roots can take up which can lead to bacteria growing in the soil which causes root rot—which in turn can be caused by not having adequate light to process all that water. Because the leaves of your palm are yellowing and then browning, I suspect you might be dealing with the start of root rot or a pest problem.
Inspect all the leaves thoroughly for pests. A magnifying glass helps. Look for anything moving, black, brown, or white speckles, webbing or what looks like cotton fluff. If I see little specks on my plants I lightly blow on them to see if they move. Look at the tops and bottoms of the leaves, petioles, and top of soil.
The soil itself looks a little heavy from what I can tell, and may be straight up peat or coco. The roots need aeration to breathe too, so adding in chunkier amendments like perlite, orchid bark, rice hulls, or horticultural charcoal can really help.
If you get down real close to the soil and sniff, does it have a foul odor? Not like nice damp earth but like rotting ickiness? It might be a good idea to check the roots, if you can get it out of its pot, give it a good smell and visual scan. Try not to disturb the roots too much but If anything is black, brown, or mushy, then you have root rot and those parts will need to be trimmed off with sterilized scissors and the rest treated for root rot. Which I can explain what to do if you need that treatment.
For now keep it in a stable temp environment, check for pests, let it get plenty of light, and when it’s dry enough to water again check your roots and perhaps add some chunky amendments. 🌿💕
Inspect all the leaves thoroughly for pests. A magnifying glass helps. Look for anything moving, black, brown, or white speckles, webbing or what looks like cotton fluff. If I see little specks on my plants I lightly blow on them to see if they move. Look at the tops and bottoms of the leaves, petioles, and top of soil.
The soil itself looks a little heavy from what I can tell, and may be straight up peat or coco. The roots need aeration to breathe too, so adding in chunkier amendments like perlite, orchid bark, rice hulls, or horticultural charcoal can really help.
If you get down real close to the soil and sniff, does it have a foul odor? Not like nice damp earth but like rotting ickiness? It might be a good idea to check the roots, if you can get it out of its pot, give it a good smell and visual scan. Try not to disturb the roots too much but If anything is black, brown, or mushy, then you have root rot and those parts will need to be trimmed off with sterilized scissors and the rest treated for root rot. Which I can explain what to do if you need that treatment.
For now keep it in a stable temp environment, check for pests, let it get plenty of light, and when it’s dry enough to water again check your roots and perhaps add some chunky amendments. 🌿💕