Why Gloxinia Leaves Turn Yellow and Black and How to Fix It
Nowadays many people like to grow flowers and plants at home. All kinds of beautiful flowers and plants are not only for viewing, but also look very attractive placed in a room, living room or balcony. Gloxinia (Sinningia speciosa) is also one of the common flowering plants grown at home, and it looks especially grand and beautiful for decorating a room or a balcony. However, growing gloxinia also requires some skill. Some friends find that the leaves of their gloxinia turn yellow and drop off. What is going on here?
What to do when gloxinia leaves turn yellow and black
1. Water appropriately
Be careful to water gloxinia sparingly, and do not water when the soil is not dry.
In winter gloxinia enters its dormant period, and watering can be stopped.
Do not water the leaves. The surface of gloxinia leaves is covered with fine hairs, and watering will leave water marks and cause rot.
2. Provide plenty of bright indirect light
In daily care, place gloxinia where it can receive bright indirect light, but avoid direct sunlight. If it is the seedling stage in winter, it should receive plenty of sunlight.
3. Clean the leaves after fertilizing
After each fertilization, rinse the leaves with clean water, then wipe the water off immediately to avoid causing the leaves to rot.
How to fix gloxinia dropping its leaves
1. Overwatering. Growing gloxinia requires high air humidity, but it does not like water. Uneven or excessive watering of gloxinia will cause the leaves to turn yellow and rot. Solution: be careful to water gloxinia sparingly, and skip watering if the potting soil is not dry. In winter, once the plant gradually enters dormancy, watering must stop completely. In addition, do not water the leaf surface, to prevent water marks that cause the leaves to rot and drop off.
2. Too little light
Gloxinia is a semi-shade plant, but it still needs sunlight. If it gets no sunlight for a long time, the leaves will also turn yellow and drop off.
Solution: normally place gloxinia somewhere that avoids strong light but provides enough bright indirect light. If it is the seedling stage in winter, it should receive plenty of sunlight so the seedlings grow more robustly.
3. Improper fertilizing
Gloxinia likes fertilizer, but its leaf surface is covered with many velvety fine hairs, and fertilizer staining the leaf surface will cause the leaves to rot and drop off.
Solution: after each fertilization, spray clean water once to keep the leaf surface clean, but also be careful that no water marks appear on the leaf surface.
Gloxinia is a fairly easy potted plant to keep alive, but you also need to pay attention to the details of growing it, so as to avoid the leaves turning yellow and rotting, which would affect the ornamental value of the gloxinia.
How to prune gloxinia after flowering
After flowering, if the growing medium is fertile and care is proper, it will send out a second batch of buds.
After gloxinia flowers, if you do not need to save seed, it is best to cut off the flower stems to limit the loss of nutrients, which helps it continue flowering and supports the growth and development of the tuber.
After flowering, when winter arrives, keep the gloxinia tuber and select a section of leafless stem, about 3—4 cm long, and store it in sand promptly, keeping the temperature no lower than 5°C.
During overwintering, the sand must not be too wet, otherwise the tuber will rot. If the sand is too dry, spray a moderate amount of clean water to prevent the tuber from shriveling. When spring comes and flowers bloom, the gloxinia tuber will sprout, and you can keep new shoots as needed and begin a new round of care and pruning.
What to do when a gloxinia tuber rots
1. Dig out the rotted tuber, then wash it clean and first remove the rotted roots. Note that you can simply pull them off.
2. Use a fairly sharp small knife to cut away the already rotted parts of the tuber, cutting until healthy, intact tissue appears on the tuber. This can prevent the infection from spreading further and causing the tuber to keep rotting.
3. Place the gloxinia tuber, with the rotted parts cut away and cleaned up, in the sun to dry. This usually takes about 1 hour, to dry the wound, but be careful not to let the tuber dehydrate.
4. Apply carbendazim to the tuber to disinfect it.
5. Replant the treated tuber. First you need to prepare the medium; you can prepare clean sphagnum moss or vermiculite, river sand, and so on, but sphagnum moss is better, since it can be wrung dry and makes humidity easier to control.
6. Bury the tuber with the prepared sphagnum moss or soil, burying it only halfway; be careful not to bury the wound. Then cover it with a transparent container to keep it enclosed, but note that the air humidity inside the container should not be too high, otherwise it will easily rot.
From the above, I believe everyone has gained some understanding of how to grow gloxinia. Gloxinia has extremely high ornamental value and can also purify the air and remove harmful gases, making it especially suitable as a home potted plant!