Why are my plant's leaves turning yellow?

A PlantParlour plant problems guide

Most often, overwatering. Roots sitting in wet compost can't breathe, they start to die back, and the plant lets go of the leaves it can no longer supply — usually the oldest, lowest ones first. One old leaf yellowing now and then is just age. Several at once, compost that stays wet for days, or a soft brown base mean too much water or rot, and that is worth acting on today. Yellow between green veins points to the compost or the water, and a whole plant fading pale points to too little light or food.

Read the pattern first

One old, low leaf at a time; the rest look fine
Normal ageing. Every plant sheds its oldest leaves. Pull the leaf off once it comes away easily.
Several lower leaves at once, and the compost is still damp days after watering
Overwatering, or a mix or pot that doesn't drain. The most common cause by far.
Yellow with a soft, dark or mushy stem or base
Rot. Unpot it today and look at the roots — see below.
Yellow and limp, compost bone dry, leaves crisp at the edges
Underwatering. Water thoroughly, until it runs from the bottom.
Yellow between the veins while the veins stay green
Nutrients locked out, often by hard water or compost that has turned alkaline. Worst on gardenias and citrus.
The whole plant pale, new leaves small
Too little light, or hungry after a long time in the same compost.
Yellow speckling, dull leaves, fine webbing
Spider mites — see the spider mite guide.
Yellowing a week or two after a move, a cold night or a draught
Shock or cold damage. Keep it stable and warm, and wait.

How to check the roots

Slide the plant out of its pot — tip it sideways and support the base of the stems. Healthy roots are firm and pale: white, cream or light tan. Rotten ones are brown or black, soft, come apart when you pinch them, and often smell sour. If you find rot, cut every soft root back to firm tissue with clean scissors, repot into fresh, airy mix in a pot with a drainage hole, and water sparingly until you see new growth. If the whole root system is gone, take healthy cuttings from the top and start again.

Why overwatering is so common

Most houseplants are killed by kindness. A plant uses far less water in a dim room in winter than in a bright one in summer, but a watering habit doesn't change with the seasons. Check the compost before watering rather than watering on a day of the week: push a finger in up to the second knuckle, and for most plants only water if it is dry there. A cachepot or saucer that holds water under the pot undoes a free-draining mix, so empty it after watering.

Plant by plant

Where this is a known problem on 84 of the plants in the PlantParlour care library, with that plant's own cause and fix. Entries shared by a whole genus are listed once.

Yellow lower leaves
Usually overwatering; occasionally just age, one leaf at a time.

Fix: If several go at once, check the roots. Brown and soft means rot; trim them and repot into fresh airy mix.
- Arrowhead plant
- Black gold philodendron
- Blushing philodendron
- Florida Beauty
- Florida Ghost
- Heartleaf philodendron
- Jose Buono
- Paraiso Verde
- Philodendron gloriosum
- Philodendron Moonlight
- Prince of Orange
- Ring of Fire
- Tree philodendron
- Variegated Burle Marx
Yellow leaf with a brown mushy stem
Rot at the corm from a wet mix.

Fix: Unpot immediately, cut back to firm white tissue, and repot into bark and perlite.
- Alocasia Polly
- Alocasia zebrina
- Black velvet alocasia
- Caladium
- Dragon scale alocasia
- Giant taro
- Green velvet alocasia
- Pink Dragon
- Regal Shield
- Taro
Lower leaves yellowing and dropping on a cane dracaena
Normal ageing if it is one at a time; overwatering if it is several.

Fix: Peel the old leaves off cleanly and check the mix is drying out between waterings.
- Corn plant
- Cylindrical snake plant
- Dragon tree
- Gold dust dracaena
- Lucky bamboo
- Snake plant
- Whale fin snake plant
Soft yellow base on a snake plant, leaves falling out of the pot
Rot. Water has sat in the crown or the mix.

Fix: Take the firm leaves as cuttings and start again. Water snake plants from below or around the edge, never into the centre.
- Corn plant
- Cylindrical snake plant
- Dragon tree
- Gold dust dracaena
- Lucky bamboo
- Snake plant
- Whale fin snake plant
Yellow leaves, usually the oldest ones first
Overwatering, or a mix that holds water. The roots have been wet long enough to start dying back.

Fix: Let it dry out further between waterings, and repot into something chunkier if the mix stays soggy for days.
- Five holes plant
- Mini monstera
- Monstera obliqua
- Monstera Peru
- Silver monstera
- Swiss cheese plant
- Swiss cheese vine
Whole fronds yellowing from the bottom
Normal ageing if one at a time; overwatering if several.

Fix: Cut old fronds off at the base and check the mix is not staying wet.
- Areca palm
- Chinese fan palm
- Kentia palm
- Lady palm
- Parlour palm
- Pygmy date palm
Yellowing fronds in a wet pot
It is sitting in water rather than damp compost.

Fix: Damp, not waterlogged — make sure the pot drains and the saucer empties.
- Asparagus fern
- Bird's nest fern
- Blue star fern
- Boston fern
- Maidenhair fern
- Rabbit's foot fern
Yellow leaves dropping
Overwatering or cold.

Fix: Let it dry out further and keep it above 15 °C.
- Hoya linearis
- Hoya Lisa
- Hoya Splash
- Sweetheart hoya
- Wax plant
Yellow leaves scattered through the plant
Overwatering. Pothos is much more often killed by kindness than by neglect.

Fix: Let it dry out properly between waterings and make sure the pot actually drains.
- Dragon tail
- Pothos
- Satin pothos
- Sterling silver scindapsus
Yellow lower leaves
Overwatering, or cold.

Fix: Let it dry further between waterings and keep it above 15 °C — they sulk in a draught.
- Chinese evergreen
- Pink Dalmatian
- Red Siam
- Siam Aurora
Yellowing leaves with a soft brown base
Rot, almost always from a mix that holds water.

Fix: Repot into bark and perlite, cutting away any root that is brown and mushy.
- Anthurium crystallinum
- Flamingo flower
- Flamingo lily
- Velvet cardboard anthurium
Yellowing lowest leaf
Normal — orchids shed the oldest leaf.

Fix: Nothing to do unless several go at once.
- Cattleya orchid
- Dendrobium orchid
- Moth orchid
Leaves yellowing between the veins
The compost has gone too alkaline.

Fix: Repot into an ericaceous mix and feed.
- Coffee plant
Lower leaves yellowing and dropping
Normal as the cane lengthens.

Fix: Peel them off; cut the cane back in spring if it is too bare.
- Ti plant
Yellow leaves
Overwatering, cold, or hunger.

Fix: Check the drainage first, then feed — hibiscus are greedy.
- Chinese hibiscus
Yellow leaves
Overwatering in a pot with no drainage, or hard water.

Fix: Check the pot drains; use rainwater.
- Bamboo
Yellow leaves dropping
Overwatering, or a pot that is too small.

Fix: Check the drainage and repot in spring.
- Pink jasmine
Yellow leaves dropping from the bottom
Overwatering. The trunk is a reservoir and does not need help.

Fix: Water less often and make sure the pot is not standing in water.
- Money tree
Yellow leaves in spring
Normal. It is going dormant.

Fix: Stop watering, let it die back, and keep the tuber dry until late summer.
- Cyclamen
Yellow leaves with brown edges
Too warm and too dry.

Fix: Move it somewhere cooler, raise humidity, keep the compost damp.
- Japanese aralia
Yellow leaves with green veins
Iron deficiency from soil or water that is too alkaline — the classic gardenia problem.

Fix: Repot into ericaceous compost, water with rainwater, and feed with a sequestered iron product.
- Gardenia
Yellow leaves with green veins
Iron or magnesium locked out by hard water or alkaline compost.

Fix: Use rainwater, repot into citrus compost, and use a proper citrus feed.
- Lemon tree
Yellow lower leaves
Overwatering, or cold water.

Fix: Let it dry down further and use tepid water.
- Dumb cane
Yellow lower leaves dropping
Overwatering, or simply age as the stem lengthens.

Fix: Let it dry out more between waterings; a bare lower stem on an older pilea is normal.
- Chinese money plant
Yellow stems that go soft at the base
Overwatering. This is the only reliable way to kill a ZZ.

Fix: Stop watering. Unpot, cut away any rotten rhizome, let the cut surfaces dry for a day, and repot in dry gritty mix.
- ZZ plant
Yellowing older stems
Normal ageing.

Fix: Cut them out at the base.
- Umbrella papyrus

Questions people ask

Should I cut off yellow leaves?

Yes, once the leaf is mostly yellow — it won't turn green again, and the plant has already taken back what it can from it. Wait until it pulls away easily, or cut it at the base with clean scissors. Removing it is tidying, not a fix: find out why it yellowed.

Can a yellow leaf turn green again?

Usually not. A leaf that is pale from lack of light or food can green up a little if the cause is fixed early, but a leaf that has gone properly yellow stays yellow. Judge recovery by the new growth.

How do I tell overwatering from underwatering?

Feel the compost a few centimetres down. Yellow leaves with wet compost, a limp or soft stem, and sometimes a sour smell mean too much water. Yellow leaves with dry compost, crisp brown edges, and a pot that feels light when you lift it mean too little.

Not sure which one it is?

PlantParlour's health check looks at up to three photos of your plant alongside the care you've logged for it — when you last watered, when it was repotted, problems it has had before — and tells you what it sees. Log the problem as an issue, take another photo in a few days, and the next check compares the two, so you can tell whether it is spreading or settling. It is an AI's considered guess, not a diagnosis, and it is free to start with no account.

Open PlantParlour

General guidance for houseplants, written to be careful rather than clever. It can't see your plant, so treat it as a starting point, not a diagnosis. See our terms.