Geranium leaves turn yellow: reasons, what to do, how to care at home, how to feed and water, so that the plant does not hurt in the room in the summer

Indoor geranium - unpretentious plant. Geranium smells wonderful, blooms amazingly beautifully, has many healthy qualities.

But with all the choosiness of this plant, caring for it also causes problems. One of the most common is yellowing of the leaves.

In this article, we will find out why leaves turn yellow in geraniums, find out what to do with this problem, and how to protect the plant from yellowing of its decorative dark green foliage.

Growing Features

It is not difficult to take care of this plant - to grow geraniums even under the power of an inexperienced grower. We note, however, that the flower requires, although not too diligent, however, regular attention.

How to care for geraniums at home? Important conditions for the successful development and growth of geraniums are the following points:

a lot of air, free space;
sufficient sunlight;
plentiful and regular watering.

A suitable substrate should consist of the following components, taken in equal parts:

coarse river sand;
turf land;
peat substrate;
humus.

It is also desirable that the soil is well-drained, moderately loose, neutral, or slightly acidic. An alkaline reaction substrate is not suitable for geraniums. The plant needs top dressing, as it is very important for caring for geraniums at home. How to feed and water so that the plant does not get sick?

The following trace elements are especially important for geraniums:

phosphorus for flowering;
potassium for growth;
nitrogen for abundant and lush green mass.

In addition, regular pruning is important for geraniums. This procedure will allow the plant to bloom beautifully and form a lush compact bush throughout the growing season. Dry foliage must be removed immediately so that it does not overtake nutrients intended for fresh greens and flowers.

Yellowing foliage

Many gardeners are faced with a problem such as yellowing of foliage in geraniums. From what it comes and what is the danger of improper care - find out further.

At the edges

What to do if indoor geranium has turned yellow at the edges of the leaves? Yellowing of the edges of the leaves occurs in geraniums most often in winter, and talks about improper care of the plant during this period. Typically, the leaves begin to turn yellow in the winter from the crown of the flower, then the yellowness drops below, if measures are not taken in time. How to save leaves of home geranium?

One of the reasons why room geraniums growing in a pot may have yellow lower edges in summer is the lack of moisture. With this problem, geranium should be watered more often, and yellowness will pass.

Often also the leaves turn yellow at the edges after transferring the plants from the street to the room in autumn. When the climate changes, the plant can respond to this fact in this way. In this case, you don’t need to do anything, but you just have to wait: if the whole thing is acclimatization, then in a couple of weeks the color of the leaves will completely recover on their own.

Also, the plant can react by yellowing the leaves on a too tight pot. In this case, it is necessary to transplant the geranium into a larger container.

Details about why geraniums turn yellow and dry at the edges, as well as how to deal with it, can be found here.

Stains

If the leaves turn yellow spots, in most cases this indicates a disease of geranium. In this case, both viruses and fungi with bacteria can be responsible for the diseases. Often, yellow spots then turn brown, after which the leaf completely dries, falls off.

If you do not fight diseases, the whole geranium can die. If the spots form a complex pattern remotely resembling a mosaic, it means that geranium has picked up the virus of the same name. In this case, the plant is subject to destruction until it has infected other flowers in the same room.

Most often, however, yellow spots on the leaves indicate a bacterial disease. Such diseases can lead to the death of the plant, so urgent measures must be taken to combat them.

In addition to diseases, insect pests can lead to yellowing of leaves in geraniums. Most often, the culprits of the problem are tiny nematodes - parasites that feed on plant juices. In addition to nematodes, geraniums can also affect:

whitefly;
aphid;
spider mite;
caterpillars.

It is necessary to deal with pests with the help of appropriate insecticides, ideally, in principle, it is best to prevent their occurrence by taking preventive protection measures.

Read more about why spots appear on the leaves of geraniums, read in our material.

Photo

Read further on the photo of yellow geranium and how the leaves may turn yellow:

Causes

The general causes of yellowing of the foliage itself and its ends in geraniums can be described in several paragraphs, then we will consider these points in detail.

Watering

One of the main causes of this problem is rare or, conversely, excessively heavy irrigation. The plant responds to a lack or too much moisture by yellowing its leaves.

Lack of drainage

Geranium does not like waterlogging soil. Therefore, the presence of high-quality drainage is mandatory for her. If you do not take care of this moment when planting the plant, it is likely in the future that the plant will begin to turn yellow.

Note that in addition to yellowing, in this case, geranium also will not bloom beautifully.

Not enough space

If the pot for the plant is too small, the flower will respond to this fact by yellowing the leaves. Under tight conditions, geranium roots cannot receive all the necessary nutrients.

Improper winter service

When keeping geraniums in the winter, it is very important to protect the plant from drafts, not to overdo it with moistening the soil, to protect it from high temperatures - do not put the pot near the batteries. If these points are not observed, geranium will respond by dropping, yellowing and twisting the leaves.

Excess nitrogen

Although this trace element is important for the formation of a lush green bush, but with an excess of nitrogen, yellowing of the leaves begins.

Withering

A viral disease such as verticellosis wilting often leads to yellow leaves in geraniums. In this case, yellowness will first appear on the lower part of the leaves, then it will go over to the whole leaf, then they will fade, and yellowness will go over to the stem, after which the plant will be completely destroyed.

Details on what to do if geraniums wither in a pot and why this happens can be found here.

What to do?

What measures to take to rid the geranium of yellowness on the leaves - we learn further.

If the leaves are yellowing, the first thing to check is that the plant is in a suitable pot volume, and that there is good drainage. If the pot is too small, transplant the geranium into an optimal sized container. And when transplanting, be sure to place a layer of quality drainage on the bottom of the pot.

If the leaves turn yellow due to a lack of light or from exposure to direct sunlight, move the flower pot to a more suitable place. It is also important to provide that the flower is not exposed to drafts.

In winter, it is necessary to ensure that geranium is not located near heating appliances. Batteries, radiators, fans and heaters dry the air, leading to rapid yellowing and wilting of geranium leaves.

Keep track of the temperature in the room in winter and summer. It is especially important in winter to keep the flower in a cool room - no higher than at +15 degrees. For the summer, there are no such strict instructions on the temperature regime.

What to water?

The frequency of irrigation of geraniums is directly dependent on the current time of the year. In summer, watering should be carried out more often and more abundantly than in winter: twice.

It is important to take care of the quality of irrigation water.. If it is hard, this fact will lead to an excess of calcium in the soil, which can become a direct cause of yellowing of the foliage. Therefore, it is recommended that water be defended before irrigation, after which, to soften, still add a little lemon juice to it.

Home Care

Although geranium is quite unpretentious, however, care for it is still necessary. With proper care, the plant will avoid yellowing of the foliage, will not hurt, will please more lush flowering. What care features should be kept in mind so that the leaves do not turn yellow?

Especially important is high-quality lighting. The plant does not tolerate dark places, shaded areas.

However, to avoid yellowing, it is important to cover the flower from direct sunlightthat can burn delicate foliage.

It is also necessary to monitor the air humidity in the apartment: leaves may turn yellow both from dry air and from excessively humid. Optimum - 50-60%.

It must be remembered that this plant does not like spraying, and absolutely does not need this procedure. But since dry air is unacceptable, it is necessary to moisten the space around the pot, and not the flower itself.

Prevention

A few tips on preventing yellowing in geranium foliage:

It is important to monitor the size of the plant and the size of the pot. As soon as the geranium pot "outgrows", the plant is recommended to transplant.
It is also important to provide a suitable place for the plant with adequate lighting (diffuse) and the absence of drafts.
Watering should be carried out regularly, but only on condition of a dried topsoil.
It is important to feed a decorative flower in time with appropriate fertilizers.
In winter, the plant must be kept in a cool room.
You should regularly inspect the flower for pests, the initial stage of the disease. And in the presence of disturbing symptoms, immediately take appropriate measures.

Conclusion

So, we learned why the geranium leaves may turn yellow. As you can see, the culprits of this fact can be both improper care and pests, diseases. However, if the plant is properly looked after, preventive measures are taken to protect leaves from yellowing, geranium will be able to please with its magnificent appearance and beautiful flowers for a long time.