What to Do When Geranium Leaves Turn Yellow? 12 Causes and Solutions

There are many reasons why geranium leaves turn yellow. Scorching sun, lack of water, and lack of fertilizer can all cause geranium leaves to turn yellow. Of course, when a geranium shows yellowing, you must first analyze the cause of the yellowing. Once you know the cause, you can treat it accordingly. Below are 12 causes of yellowing geranium leaves and their solutions.

Yellowing of old leaves caused by a change of environment. Many flower growers, before the high summer temperatures arrive, move their geraniums from outdoor plant stands indoors, or from a south-facing balcony to a north-facing balcony, or from full-sun outdoors to a corridor, or put up shade netting for the plants. A sudden major change in the growing environment will cause the old leaves of geraniums to turn yellow and the flower buds to dry up.

There is no need to worry too much. The geranium just needs a period to adapt to the new environment. Simply pinch off the yellowing large leaves and dried flower buds, and continue normal care for the rest.

Usually, watering too frequently or too much, with the potting soil staying wet for a long time, plus relatively high temperatures, causes part of the geranium's root system to rot. On the leaves, this shows as old leaves with no obvious change while young leaves turn pale yellow. In severe cases, old leaves will also turn yellow and fall off.

This requires immediately stopping watering, loosening the potting soil, and placing the plant in a ventilated, dry place to speed up water evaporation. Or place the pot on a stack of newspaper or dry peat so the newspaper and peat can quickly absorb the excess water from the pot. In especially severe cases, the whole root ball can be taken out of the pot and placed in dry peat or a soil pile so the water seeps out quickly. Once the drooping branches and leaves recover, replant it in the pot.

Some flower growers may misunderstand the matter of moderately restricting water for geraniums in summer, so they let the potting soil dry out completely for a long time before watering. This causes geranium leaves to turn yellow and drop from the bottom up, and in severe cases the leaf stalks droop and appear wilted.

In this case, you need to adjust your watering method and water the geranium using the principle of alternating wet and dry.

Geraniums prefer a warm, humid environment. If exposed to scorching sun, the leaves will turn yellow and, in severe cases, the plant may even die.

In summer, it is best to place it in a shady spot to avoid strong light.

Air that is too dry and lack of ventilation will cause branches and leaves to wither and turn yellow.

Move it to a ventilated place.

Leaves on the inner side of the plant turn yellow and drop due to insufficient light; after new branches and leaves sprout, the old leaves wither and turn yellow; edema disease and leaf yellowing caused by excessive water in hanging plants; and major changes in the potted plant's environment (such as suddenly moving it from outdoors to indoors in midsummer, or just after bringing it indoors in winter), etc.

Because the yellowing leaves also hope to recover their vitality as soon as possible, they will absorb nutrients accumulated by the plant itself, consuming more nutrients than they produce. So we do not need to worry too much; simply remove the yellow leaves promptly.

Because summer temperatures are too high, the root system's normal absorption of iron from the soil is affected, causing newly grown leaves to develop high-temperature, iron-deficiency yellowing and whitening. When iron deficiency is mild, the mesophyll tissue of young leaves is pale green while the veins remain green; in severe cases, the young leaves are entirely yellow-white and develop necrotic spots, gradually scorching and dropping off.

In this case there is no need to worry too much either. You can spray and water with chelated iron solution. Once a week, and after 3 times it can basically return to normal. In addition, lowering the environmental temperature, such as moving it to a ventilated, shady place or an air-conditioned room, will also let the leaves gradually return to normal.

Geraniums prefer warm winters and cool summers. Indoors in winter, maintaining 10-15°C during the day and above 8°C at night allows them to bloom normally. But the optimum temperature is 15-20°C. If the temperature is too low, the leaves will turn yellow.

In winter, it is best to keep it indoors and maintain the optimum temperature.

Fertilizing too frequently or at too high a concentration will cause root burn and root rot. On the leaves, this shows as old leaves turning yellow, while young leaves are thick, glossy, and uneven.

At this point you need to stop fertilizing, cultivate the soil, and water. If the fertilizer damage is severe, immediately repot, remove part of the old soil, wash the root ball with water, replace it with plain soil containing no fertilizer, and let it re-root.

Geraniums bloom diligently, and blooming consumes a large amount of nutrients. Spring is the peak blooming season for geraniums; they bloom with all their might, bringing flower growers much joy and delight. If we do not apply appropriate supplementary fertilizer in time, yellow leaves will appear after blooming.

In this case, start with a dilute fertilizer and gradually increase the concentration for supplementary feeding, to prevent burning the plant from a single excessive application, until the leaf color returns to normal, then fertilize as usual.

Watering too much is not a good thing. Overwatering a geranium will cause its roots to rot. Ultimately this directly causes the geranium leaves to turn yellow.

Remove the rotten roots, sprinkle carbendazim on the roots, plant in new soil, and 3 hours after planting water with carbendazim dissolved in water, and spray the leaves with carbendazim.

In this case, you need to promptly spray pesticides to control the pests and diseases according to the cause.

What to Do When Geranium Leaves Turn Yellow? Prevention and Control Methods for Yellowing Geranium Leaves

Previously, some flower growers reported that the leaves of the geraniums they were growing had turned yellow. What exactly causes this? In fact, there are many reasons why geranium leaves turn yellow. Based on feedback from flower growers, the editor has summarized some common causes of yellowing geranium leaves, along with corresponding prevention and control methods, for everyone to reference and learn from.

First, you need to be familiar with the habits of geraniums: geraniums are drought-tolerant, dislike waterlogging, and like fertilizer. Avoid water accumulating in the pot. In winter, water should be appropriately restricted, and you should not spray too much water on the fuzzy leaf surface. In autumn and winter, apply liquid fertilizer mainly of phosphorus and potassium. At room temperature of 15°C they grow well, and at around 7°C they can safely overwinter.

If geranium leaves are wilted or soft-rotted, it is mostly caused by overwatering. If the leaves are relatively firm but the edges are scorched yellow, it may be underwatering. Generally, both of these conditions can cause leaves to drop.

Some flower growers are also in the habit of spraying water on geraniums, not realizing that geranium leaves have many epidermal hairs on the surface and are not suitable for spraying. Spraying water may cause geranium leaves to become limp.

In addition, during normal growth of a geranium, as long as the whole plant is healthy, occasionally having a small amount of yellow old leaves is normal and no cause for alarm. If a large number of yellow leaves appear within a short time, it is usually a problem with the root system, caused by water and soil issues.

When a geranium is in an overly hot environment, chlorophyll is destroyed, the leaves turn yellow en masse, and many drop off. In severe cases, new leaves turn white or yellow and fail to grow larger. At this time the leaves become thicker and smaller, reducing the amount of light received. (Excessive heat also causes dormancy.) At this point, move the geranium to a shady place and reduce its exposure time to sunlight (but it should not be too shaded either). Such a plant will look rather bare. It can recover on its own when the weather turns cool. Too-cold weather. Too cold will freeze-damage the leaves; after the cells die, the leaves turn yellow and drop.

Below, let me also share some general gardening knowledge: In summer, when the sun is strong and the temperature is high, leaf transpiration intensifies. At this time, if the root system has not fully grown well, or the amount of water absorbed by the roots is less than the amount the leaves need, the plant will become sick. In spring, the sun is not very strong, so this contradiction is not very prominent yet; in summer, as temperatures rise sharply, this problem suddenly becomes obvious.

Summary: The above are the causes of yellowing geranium leaves and their solutions. We hope this is helpful to flower growers cultivating geraniums.

Causes and Solutions for Yellowing Geranium Leaves

 Geraniums are an ornamental flower that many people like, and they are usually grown as potted plants and placed around the home. But after many people grow them for a period of time, the geranium leaves turn yellow or drop off, affecting their appearance. Why do geranium leaves turn yellow? And how should they be handled after they turn yellow? Today I will specifically tell everyone about this knowledge. While telling you the causes of yellowing geranium leaves, I will also write out the specific solutions for everyone.

1. Handle according to the specific symptoms of the geranium leaves

Usually, after geranium leaves turn yellow, observe carefully. If you find that its leaves are wilted or soft-rotted, this indicates overwatering; promptly controlling the water supply can improve the yellowing symptoms of its leaves. If the edges of the geranium leaves turn yellow, it indicates underwatering, and promptly supplementing water can make the leaves green again.

2. Spraying water will make geranium leaves turn yellow

Usually some friends who love flowers will use a spray bottle to spray water on geranium leaves. In fact, doing this is wrong, because the surface of geranium leaves has many fine hairs, and water will remain on the surface for a relatively long time. In severe cases, this will make the leaves turn yellow and affect their appearance.

3. Weather causes

In summer when the weather is hot, geraniums also often develop yellowing leaves. This is caused by intensified leaf transpiration. The best solution is to move the geranium to a relatively cool and airy place, and at the same time supplement water promptly; this can significantly reduce the yellowing of its leaves.