Yellow Leaves

What is going on

Leaves turning yellow, oldest first or all over at once. Work through water, then light, then food. The full guide walks through the checks in order, fastest first, so you can find the cause before trying a fix.

The fix, in order

Start with the check that costs nothing: light, water, and where the plant actually sits. Most cases of yellow leaves trace back to one of those three, and the guide for your specific plant will narrow it further.

The step by step fix

1. Feel the soil. Push a finger in up to the second knuckle, or slide a wooden skewer to the bottom of the pot and look at what clings to it. If the soil is wet and the plant has been watered recently, overwatering is your prime suspect.
2. Check the saucer and the drainage holes. Tip away any standing water. A plant sitting in its own runoff yellows fast.
3. Read the pattern. Oldest leaves yellowing one at a time points to water or age. Every leaf going pale at once points to light or hunger. Yellowing between the veins on new leaves usually means the plant cannot take up food properly in tired or waterlogged soil.
4. Fix the water first. If the soil is soaked, stop watering and let it dry properly. If it still smells sour after a week, slide the plant out, trim any black mushy roots with clean scissors, and repot into fresh mix.
5. Then check the light. Move the plant to brighter indirect light a little closer to the window each day, rather than straight into sun it is not used to.
6. Feed last, and only in the growing season. If the soil, water, and light are all right and the plant has not been fed in months, a half strength liquid feed is the final lever.
7. Judge by new growth. A yellowed leaf never turns green again, so success looks like fresh leaves arriving the right colour over the next fortnight.