Leaf Problems

Yellow, brown, curling, spotted — what each leaf symptom points to.

29 articles

• Fiddle Leaf Fig Leaves Curling: Thirst, Dry Air, Root Damage, or a New Leaf Unfurling

  Curling on a fiddle leaf fig is a water signal, and water can be short because there is none in the pot or because the roots can no longer take it up.

• Monstera Brown Edges: Dry Air, Underwatering, Salts, or Sun, Read From the Edge Itself

  A monstera leaf browns at the edge when the edge dries out, and the four things that dry it leave four different marks.

• Pothos Brown Tips: Dry Air, Underwatering, Salts, or Tap Water, and What the Tip Looks Like

  A pothos with brown tips is not dying. It is telling you about the air, the water, or the feeding, and the tip itself says which.

• Peace Lily Brown Tips: Tap Water, Dry Air, Salts, or Watering Stress, and How to Tell

  Peace lily leaf tips brown for the same reasons as most houseplants, but this plant is more sensitive to what is in the water than most.

• Calathea Leaves Curling: Thirst, Dry Air, Cold, or Just Night-Time, and How to Tell

  Calatheas move their leaves every day, so the first question about a curled leaf is whether it is still curled at noon.

• ZZ Plant Leaves Turning Yellow: Almost Always Water, and How to Confirm It at the Rhizome

  A ZZ plant is built for drought. When it yellows, the first question is how much water it has been getting, and the rhizome answers.

• Money Tree Leaves Turning Yellow: Overwatering First, Then Light, Then Feeding

  A money tree stores water in its trunk and pays for it when the soil stays wet. The yellow leaf is the bill.

• Pothos Leaves Turning Yellow: Which Leaves, How Fast, and What the Roots Say

  A pothos yellows for the same handful of reasons as every other houseplant, but it tells you which one by where the yellow appears. Lower leaves, whole plant, or new growth are three different diagnoses.

• Monstera Leaves Curling: Inward, Under, or Crisping, and Why Each Means Something Different

  Curling is a monstera's way of reducing leaf surface when water is short at the leaf, and water can be short for opposite reasons: no water in the pot, or roots that can no longer take it up.

• Peace Lily Leaves Turning Yellow: Old Leaves, Wet Roots, Hard Water, or Too Much Sun

  Peace lilies droop when thirsty and yellow when something else is wrong. Where the yellow starts is the clue.

• Philodendron Leaves Turning Yellow: Overwatering, Light, Feeding, or Just Old Age

  A philodendron yellows slowly and forgives most mistakes, which is why the yellow leaf usually points at a habit rather than an accident.

• Spider Plant Brown Tips: Tap Water, Dry Air, Salts, or Sun, and How to Tell Which

  Almost every spider plant gets brown tips eventually. The question is whether the cause is the water, the air, the feeding, or the window.