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POTHO - Leaves turning yellow

17 years ago

Hi,

I have a large solid green potho. When I originally bought it about 6 months ago I had it hanging outside in partial sun, and it did great. Then I brought it inside and it gets full flourescent light and it did great for the first couple of months, but now the leaves are beginning to turn yellow - the entire leaf, including the veins. At first I thought that I may have over watered it, so I removed all of the yellow leaves and let the plant dry out. I continued to have the problem. Then, after the soil was dry I watered with fertilizer and I'm still having the problem. Does anyone have any idea what could possibly be going on with my plant?

Thanks, Annie

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Comments (4)

greattigerdane
17 years ago
Probably the sudden change of light from outdoor to indoor can do that to many plants.
You may lose a few more leaves until it gets adjusted to the light change, also, make sure you let the soil dry out between waterings and no fertilizing until warmer weather and the plant is growing healthy again.

Billy Rae
micke
17 years ago
I go through this every year with mine, I set them outside for the summer, for they seem to get spetacular growth that way, but when I bring them in they go through a shock of sorts, just like you are describing. What I have been told you are suppose to do when bringing them inside is to do it slowly, like bring them in at night and set them back outside during the day, then just leave them out for half a day, then leaving them inside, it is suppose to keep them from going into shock as much, I don't do that as that would take forever! I usually spend a week getting all mine moved back in as it is:) My friend fertilizes hers all the time and I noticed she had a lot of yellow leaves on hers, I told her to stop doing that and they look a lot better now:)
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That would have been my first question, too (how long since repotting?). Natural senescence should be expected take its fair share of older leaves from any plant with as many years on it as yours, but if we set natural aging aside as the probable culprit, we'd most logically look next to root congestion, followed closely by over/under-watering and/or a high level of mineral salts from tap water and fertilizer residuals in the soil. How you should proceed depends on what you determine the issue to be, so the next step is to examine the roots to see how congested they are, then examine your watering habits to see if they are in line. BTW - the build-up of mineral salts is a function of watering habits and is usually related to the watering practice dictates of your choice of soils. Al
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soundgarden
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks.
About 4-6 weeks ago it was really dry so I submerged it and left it in the water for a while to saturate the root ball. about a week afterwards I noticed that the saucer it sits on was full of water, and when I went to dump it out I noticed that there are tons of roots sticking out of the bottom of the pot, which were, of coarse, sitting in water for a week. I've watered it once since then (with fertilizer) and it's pretty dry right now, but I'm going to wait a little longer to water it, since it finally isn't turning yellow at warp speed anymore. I have noticed some leaves with brown holes/edges on them. What is this, some sort of irony plant? some parts are too dry while other parts are drowning?
Annie
micke
17 years ago
If you have roots sticking out of the bottom of the pot, it may be root bound and need repotted? Did you repot it when you brought it home? I have noticed that when you buy a plant it most generally is root bound and needs to be repotted immediatly. Another thing to think about, I root mine by cutting pieces and setting them in water, maybe it got a major spurt of root growth from sitting in water?
just a thought:)

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