What Is Geranium – Why Are Geranium Leaves Turning Yellow – Preventing Yellow Leaves – FAQ
A plant starting to turn yellow in color can be caused by a number of different things. But thankfully most of these issues are rather easy to fix and remedy. Most houseplants, the geranium plant included, are pretty sturdy and can manage through some hard times.
We have grown this wonderful plant for many years and we are excited to share some knowledge with you. Hopefully you can get your geranium plant back to what it once used to be.
What Is Geranium
The geranium plant is perhaps not the most common variety as for houseplants, but it’s definitely worth exploring despite that. There are a large amount of different geranium varieties out there, all with their own sort of twist and look to them.
One of our favorites is the lemon geranium or the rose geranium too. These are really beautiful and easy to grow houseplants. As for caring for it, you would know that generally speaking the geranium plant can manage fine in dry and warm climates, but left without water for too long you will begin to see issues appearing.
Geranium is often used as a bedding plant, and quite an effective one too. It prefers living in a sunny spot where it can also get some shade during part of the day. Finding this spot will provide a long and healthy life for your geranium.
Why Geranium Leaves Might Be Turning Yellow
Like we have previously mentioned, there are a number of different reasons why a geranium plant might begin to turn yellow in color. Below are some of the common reasons we have run into that causes it. Thankfully, these issues are rather easy to fix and won’t require a large amount of work.
Inconsistent Watering
If you don’t have a set schedule for watering your geranium plant then you might begin to see some issues, yellowing leaves being one of them. The plant prefers living in a rather dry soil that doesn’t get too much water at a time. But if your approach has been to water heavily every now and again, then that will cause a lot of stress to the plant.
Eventually the leaves will begin to turn yellow as the plant can’t handle the inconsistency of watering anymore. But fixing this is easy. You just need to water the plant less and never in large amounts that drastically transforms its soil.
Too Much Sunlight
A common occurrence when a plant gets too much sunlight is yellowing leaves, the same goes for the geranium plant. Since this plant can be grown both indoors and outdoors, the requirements are slightly different.
Indoors you should keep the plant in a south facing window in order to maximize the amount of sunlight the plant will get. We normally try and aim for about 8 – 10 hours like this. But outdoors you should find a slightly shady area. Any more than about 8 hours of strong sunlight outdoors and you might begin to see yellowing leaves eventually.
Fungal Diseases
This is perhaps the least common issue that one will experience when growing a geranium plant. Fungal diseases only really occur when the soil is very unhealthy and the plant the same.
Keeping the soil well fertilized and rich in nutrients is often the best way to keep these illnesses away. But the tricky part is identifying these issues. It will be displayed beneath the soil on the roots most often. So in all honesty it might be too late sometimes to fix it if the already has been a lot of damage.
Low Soil pH
If your soil that the geranium is growing has a low pH then it will begin to burn the roots of the plant. Often caused by misusing some fertilizers that will sour the soil. Fertilizing the soil only about once a month at most will greatly help the health of your plant and the longevity of it too.
You can take pH tests on your soil yourself, these tests are relatively easy to get a hold of. It’s great for also documenting the state of your soil if that is something you are interested in. Adding eggshells is a great way of boosting the pH to a more neutral level instead that will benefit the geranium plant.
Low Or Sudden Change In Temperature
If you are keeping your geranium plant in a pot and move it outside too early during the year then that can greatly harm the plant. It’s a very hardy plant that can manage low temperatures, but when the plant goes from the warm indoor temperatures to the cold outside in the span of a day, then you might see yellow leaves.
To best counter this you should let the geranium plant adapt more slowly to the temperatures of the outside. It will help build up the plant more and lower the risk of any further issues.
How Do You Prevent Yellow Geranium Leaves
The best way to prevent a geranium plant from getting yellowing leaves is often to just keep it in its prefered environment.That means the soil should be kept slightly dry to avoid overwatering and stressing the roots.
But in terms of sunlight you should find a very sunny spot if you are keeping it indoors. Fertilizing the soil is also very important. We stick with the recommendation of doing it about once a month only.
FAQ
Should You Remove Yellow Leaves From Geranium
It’s pretty difficult getting the yellow leaves to once again turn back to green. But removing them also causes stress to the plant, which might cause more yellow leaves. So we recommend you to leave them alone and let them fall off by themselves.
Will Yellow Geranium Leaves Turn Green Again
It’s possible to get the yellow leaves to turn green again, but it should be stated that it’s pretty difficult. To increase the chance you should try and fertilize the soil a little but each month.
How Often Should I Water My Geraniums
We check the soil of our geranium plant at least every other day or so. But we might not water the soil all the time. Instead we only do it when we notice the soil is beginning to crack from being too dry. It should almost be crumbly to be the best soil texture.
Additional Information
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