Why do geranium leaves turn yellow when kept indoors
Geranium is considered one of the most unpretentious plants on the windowsill. Why geranium leaves turn yellow and what signal the plant gives, it is necessary to understand as early as possible. The flower will tell the attentive mistress about its ailments. And again geranium will throw out baskets of flowers high, refresh the air with the scent of leaves.
Pelargonium agrotechnics
The soil should be moist and well-drained. Spraying the leaves is not required. Top dressing with a universal composition, but with a smaller amount of nitrogen component. Autumn pruning provokes the growth of new flowering shoots. Geranium does not like cooling a lump of earth and drafts.
Geranium leaf diseases - a signal to the grower
Violation of the conditions of detention leads to the weakening of the plant. The color of the leaves can tell you what to change in the content of the flower. Why geranium leaves turn yellow, curl or dry - there are several reasons. The weakening of the plant differs for the main reasons:
- incorrect content;
- illness;
- settlement by insects.
Diseases and infestations of parasites are associated with the wrong content. If the flower is strong, it will not get sick. It is important to provide an undemanding geranium with living conditions so as not to solve the puzzle of why geranium leaves turn yellow and dry.
The result of an incorrect geranium content
In an evergreen pelargonium bush, the lower leaves turn yellow and fall off, this is a natural process. Therefore, the trunk becomes bare with age. But if the leaves fall frequently, then the flower does not have enough light. Need to change location or organize backlight in winter.
Geranium leaves especially often turn yellow in winter. Why is this happening? The biological activity of the flower during the dormant period is not taken into account. A sign of overflow can be yellowing of the top of the plant. This means that diseased roots do not drive the juice with the necessary force and the tip remains without nutrition.
Why do geranium leaves turn yellow in the room? You need to water the plant more often, it does not have enough water. If the plant was in the open air in summer, when transferred to a warm room before acclimatization, the color will become less bright. It is necessary to wait a week or two, and only then begin to change the conditions of detention.
The leaves will turn yellow if the geranium has not been transplanted for a long time, fed little or the pot has become cramped. In the coma of the earth, excessive moisture is created, the leaves of the geranium turn yellow. What to do in this case? Transplant the plant into new soil and a larger container.
Geranium does not tolerate spraying. However, dry air is also unacceptable for her. You can not install a flower in a draft and near a radiator. That is why geranium leaves turn yellow at the edges. The beginning of leaf drying gives a signal of insufficient watering.
The reddening of the leaf blades will tell the grower that the plant is cold. Perhaps it just needs to be moved away from the glass, closer to the edge. But why do geranium leaves turn red in spring? Most likely, during rapid development, the plant lacks nutrition. You need to feed geraniums in small doses.
Geranium diseases and their treatment with photo demonstration
Sometimes, even if all conditions of detention are observed, the plant has a depressed appearance. For some reason, geranium leaves twist inward, the color of greenery changes. The causes of the disease can be settled in the ground, or on the top:
- bacteria:
- mushrooms;
- viruses.
Then brown spots, oily stains may appear on the leaves, which will dry out and destroy the flower over time.
Viral diseases are transmitted from an infected plant to a healthy one through insects that previously fed on a diseased bush. Perhaps the cutting was rooted from diseased pelargonium. The symptom is a disease of geranium leaves, visually resembling a mosaic. The sheet shrinks, spots or patterns are visible on it. This is a vascular disease. The plant must be destroyed so as not to infect the neighbors.
Bacterial diseases include various spots and leaf fall. Why does geranium turn yellow and what to do if brown spots are found on the leaves? The first step is to change the conditions of detention. Humid warm air in the room can lead to bacteriosis. A sign of a bacterial disease is the blackening of the veins on the leaves. If you do not take action, after a while the plant will dry out completely.
The tightness of plants on the windowsill, wetting of the leaf blade from condensation on the window, contaminated soil are disease provocateurs. Different bacteria and fungi give different shapes and colors of spots from a gray fluffy plaque to dying tissues inside.
It is necessary to exclude damaging factors, to pick out the leaves with spots and process the plant fungicides... Contact with water leaves should be excluded. The well-known black leg also belongs to bacterial diseases. If the stalk of a geranium rotts away, turns black and falls - this is it. The plant should be transplanted into a new substrate.
Rust is a formidable disease for geraniums. Why do geranium leaves turn yellow in the room, if this is preceded by the appearance of brown spots. It can be rust, fungal disease. Brown spots are sacs of spores. Spraying with a fungicide will help. The same disease causes edema - growths on the leaves of pelargonium. With small lesions, the leaves must be picked and burned. Dry the soil, check how the drainage works, give the plant more light and air.
Insects and plant pests
One of the most unpleasant pests is nematodes. Tiny worms live in the ground, feed on roots and attach their cysts to them. The plant is first depressed, then dies. Small, like poppy seeds, peas on the roots are a sign. Getting rid of nematodes is difficult. It is better to take a stalk from the top of the plant, and destroy the pot along with the earth. When loosening the soil with the tool, cysts can be used to populate neighboring pots.
The upper part of the flower can be populated by:
- aphid;
- whitefly;
- spider mite;
- caterpillars and termites.
So that the aphid does not find geranium leaves tender and tasty, the plant should receive enough potassium supplements and little nitrogen. The leaf becomes coarser and does not like aphids.
Whiteflies are small white flies that lay their eggs inside the leaf tissue. It can be removed only by repeated application of systemic fungicides.
Mites feed on plant sap, multiply rapidly, and are the reason why geranium leaves curl inward. A cobweb appears on the back of the sheet, and the entire plate dries.
Termites, pests that feed on woody parts of the plant, settling inside the stem and eating it away. They can get into the ground, if they have populated the foundation of a house, get into a pot of earth.
Various caterpillars happily devour geranium leaves and flowers. In indoor conditions, they can appear if the leafworm has laid the larvae on leaves or flowers. Caterpillars will feed on greenery or flower petals, depending on the type of insect pest.
It is for geraniums that systemic drugs should be used.
- Aspirin, 1 tablet in 8 liters of water, spray on the leaves every three weeks when pests appear.
- Messenger - the earth is watered to strengthen the plant's immunity.
- Marathon is a universal drug. It should be sprinkled on the surface of the ground and watered.
- Monterey - a means for spraying geraniums from caterpillars.
It is not difficult to grow a beautiful geranium bush, you only need care and attention to your green friend.