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Tropical Plants

Night blooming jasmine leaves turned yellow and dropped

bethany zone 9B

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

Hi there, any help or advice will be greatly appreciated! I had a night blooming jasmine plant that received about 4-5 hours of morning sun and filtered sunlight/shade the remainder of the day. It doubled in size from when I planted it and looked great, lush green foliage and was starting to have flowers blooming. Very quickly the leaves turned yellow and dropped. Every last leaf! I am not really sure what I did wrong, I've done some research but cannot pinpoint an exact problem. It received water regularly, especially in rainy summer in central Florida. I fertilized. I am in zone 9b. It was planted along a row of plants including hibiscus which are flourishing. Any advice or hints would be greatly appreciated! Unfortunately I do not have any pictures as the yellowing and dropping happened rapidly. Thank you!

Featured Answer

sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

They are usually pretty carefree plants. They do like humidity and will sometimes drop leaves if it is really dry like in a desert climate. If the soil is too wet (usually because the soil isn't draining properly) or too dry then they can drop leaves. Also, whitefly is sometimes a problem for smaller plants.

Here, mine get up to the roof line of the house over a summer so insects are trivial problems to the large plants. In the winter, they die to the ground once it freezes hard. I pretty much water them a few times a week here and forget about them and they bloom in flushes summer through whenever it freezes here (usually late Nov). They do love fertilizer. I have them in full sun and semi sandy soil.

They root very easily from cuttings. I just get a 1 gallon pot and fill with potting soil and take several cuttings about 8 inches long. I use a powdered rooting hormone but probably not necessary. I have also stuck cuttings straight into the ground without rooting hormone and kept them watered and they rooted.

~SJN

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Comments (8)

Honu3421
6 years ago
I just had the same thing happen. So disappointing! Have you checked for scale? Mine had a soft whitish scale. I lost one plant and the other is hanging in. I sprayed and cut them back. I'll be following this thread for other responses. This is my first time posting on the garden side. I'm usually lurking in kitchens and decorating.
bethany zone 9B
Original Author
6 years ago
I did not check for scale...I wish I would have thought to do that! I honestly did not even think it was pest related because of the yellowing of the leaves, I automatically assumed it was either a watering issue (too much/too little) or a nutrient deficiency or too little/too much light. I honestly have no idea! Most of the information I have found about care for night blooming jasmine is conflicting. It really is disappointing as they are beautiful plants!
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Brugmansia normally drop their lower, bigger leaves as they grow newer ones at the top. Your Brug looks fine to me but remember, they do tend to flower in flushes ( waves), they do not re-bloom form points they already bloomed from, they have to grow new wood and Y's to flower so be patient with them. Cutting off those lower sprouts is totally up to you and how you want your plant to look overall. Leave them if the 'bushy look' is what you want.
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A couple of quick things can cause problems with rugosa's. Did you spray it with anything. Rugosa's do NOT like anything but water on their bodies. They generally do not like fertilizers even when placed on the soil. They are tolerant of poor soils, sandy, clay, salt and drought. While they need water to establish and look their best they don't tolerate excess wetness. For some reason (maybe it is just the photo) it almost looks like rust. It could be the pretty foliage that is normal for rugosa's. In your area I'm not sure it has been cold enough for it to change colors. Let us know if you can think of any sprays or fertilizers were used. Is it possible that it ran out of water. I nearly killed of few rugosa's in the past. So been there done that. There are a few measures you might take depending on what may have happened. Hope this helps a bit.
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Honu3421
6 years ago
From my reading it sounds like these plants are finicky. So it could have been any of the things you mentioned. I hope you plant another one and report back here on its health.
Honu3421
6 years ago
SJN: Thank you so much for providing all this information. It sounds like my problem might be poor drainage and not enough fertilizer. Okay, I'm off now to make cuttings!
bethany zone 9B
Original Author
6 years ago
Thank you for that great information, SJN! I live in central Florida so it's pretty humid here haha. I think I had them in too much shade maybe? Possibly did not fertilize them enough as well. They did get a decent amount of water. It's also good to know they are so easily grown with cuttings! I will definitely be trying them again! Thanks again!
Nabs Gilani
2 years ago
Did you sole the problem?
Carol Wood
last year
I've got scale on my citrus ( dealing with it manually ) Not seen ANYYTHING on the NBJ but leaves are yellowing, esp on new plants I've started from seed. Will try watering less and foliar feeding.

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