Ming aralia is a beautiful houseplant to have within your lovely home. Sometimes this green beauty may get sick.
Ming aralia leaves turning yellow is a very common problem that you might have to face. In this article, I’ll help you identify the potential causes and how you can fix it.
Ming Aralia Yellow Leaves occurs due to improper care or something wrong with nutritional intake. In addition, overwatering, lack of water, temperature fluctuation, insufficient lighting, and transplant shock can cause this issue. Besides insects and diseases can also cause the yellowing of ming aralia leaves.
So before you take any measures to save your ming aralia you have to be sure which problem you are dealing with.
Do not worry I’ll walk you through identifying the exact cause of ming aralia leaves yellowing. Not to mention how you can fix the problem.
Causes of Ming Aralia Yellow Leaves
It is very important to find out the cause of ming aralia leaves turning yellow before you take action to fix it. Here I’ll share the potential causes of ming aralia yellow leaves and how to fix the problem.
Overwatering
This is one of the most common care mistakes which can lead to ming aralia yellow leaves.
Ming aralia does not like the standing water in the pot. Standing water creates a favorable environment for bacterial and fungal diseases.
If you overwater your ming aralia plant, the excess water will not drain out from the soil. So, it will create a fatal problem for your plant eventually.
Ming aralia roots need to intake oxygen and nutrients for its physiological function. But the wet conditions in the root zone won’t let it do these vital jobs.
The roots will suffocate and ultimately will be infected by a fungal disease called root rot. This could be a fatal disease for your ming aralia. Therefore the plant will let you know the danger by turning its leaves yellow.
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How to Fix
Each plant has a unique water requirement. It may vary with temperature, humidity, growth stage, soil type, and the surrounding environment.
Here are the things you should follow to avoid overwatering ming aralia:
- Do not water your ming aralia every few days. Water when the top two inches of soil is dry.
- Check the soil before watering. It will determine whether you should water or not.
- If the soil is compact you need to change the soil mix.
- Make sure the excess water is draining out of your ming aralia pot.
- Functioning draining holes are very important to have at the bottom of the pot.
This way, the above rules will save your ming aralia from overwatering. Now, let’s move on to the complete opposite situation.
Lack of Water
Like overwatering, underwatering is also a kind of water stress. If you do not fulfill the water requirements, ming aralia will show symptoms like wilting and leaves turning yellow.
So why does ming aralia turn yellow due to underwatering? Lack of water dries out the soil. The root zone of the ming aralia can not intake moisture for its physiological process.
Also, the nutrient in soil remains in water-soluble form. Therefore without water ming aralia can not uptake the nutrients, they are still there though.
Iron deficiency is responsible for chlorosis and other nutrients like magnesium, nitrogen deficiency can cause yellowing also.
So, it is so obvious that your plant will turn yellow if there is a deficiency of water.
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How to fix
I think you can figure out that you need to water ming aralia to fix this. But how can you be sure that your ming aralia is suffering from water deficiency? Well, it’s quite easy.
You can dig a pencil or stick like that into the potting soil and see if the pencil comes out with moistened soil on its body or clean.
If it is clean then your ming aralia needs watering. You can also check the moisture level with your finger digging into the potting soil.
Temperature Fluctuation
Ming aralia thrives at 15.6°-29.4°C/ 60°-85°F. Like other houseplants, it will also respond to temperature changes.
Too cold or high temperature causes the ming aralia plant leaves to turn yellow or pale yellow.
If you place the plant in front of the air conditioner or radiator it gets affected by the temperature difference and signals you with yellow leaves.
Placing at the windowsill where ming aralia gets the cold draft can cause harm to the plant. This will also cause yellowing of leaves.
How to Fix
The cause tells you what to do now. Keep your plant away from the direct flow of air conditioner or radiator. Make sure the cold draft can not enter through the window during winter.
Now, If your ming aralia is already affected by the temperature fluctuation, then try changing the placement.
Give the plant a comfortable temperature condition. Fertilizing will help revive from yellowing due to temperature fluctuation.
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Insufficient Light Access Cause Aralia Leaves to Turn Yellow
Being a tropical species, ming aralia loves a lot of light. It does not like direct sunlight, though. Direct sunlight causes sunburn therefore leaves may turn brown or yellow.
Like other plants, ming aralia needs light to make food. So if you can not ensure enough light the plant will not be able to make food or chlorophyll.
You know that chlorophyll is the green pigment that is responsible for leaf color. Without sunlight, the amount of chlorophyll reduces, and leaves turn yellow.
On the other hand, less chlorophyll means less food production for plants. Therefore, ming aralia will shed its old leaves to save energy. The old leaves will turn yellow and ultimately fall off.
How to Fix
I think you know what to do now. If you feel that the current position of ming aralia is lacking sufficient light then change the placement,
Ming aralia loves the partial sunlight. So try to place where it gets 3-6 hours of sunlight.
High Soil pH Causes yellow leaves of Aralia
Ming Aralia loves slightly acidic soil. It prefers a pH range from 6-6.5 which is a little bit acidic.
Now, what is the problem with high soil pH? In alkaline or soil with high pH is not a good option for acid-loving plants. High alkalinity makes the soil nutrients unavailable.
Therefore, even if you fertilize the soil to meet the deficiency, it does not bring good results. Ming aralia leaves start to turn yellow because of nutrient deficiency.
How to Fix
Check your soil pH with a pH tester that is available in any garden store. If you find the soil pH too alkaline or acidic then you need to correct the pH range.
Water the pot soil with few drops of lemon juice, eventually this will lower the pH level.
You can also use aluminum sulfate and sulfur to reduce the pH level very quickly. Buy them from a nearby garden store.
Nutrient Deficiency
Ming aralia shows yellowing symptoms due to a deficiency of nutrients. Lack of iron causes chlorosis of leaves.
Iron deficiency depends on several factors like soil pH, overwatering, root rot disease, etc.
Other nutrient elements like nitrogen, manganese, and zinc are also essential plants to keep healthy leaves.
For example, without nitrogen plants can not produce chlorophyll. You know that chlorophyll is the agent that makes the plant leaves look green. Lack of chlorophyll makes the plant leaves pale and yellow.
How to fix
Soil mix available in the market is capable of supplying the essential nutrients to your ming aralia. The intake of nutrients from the soil mix depends on several factors.
So, you need to consider the other factors also before fertilizing the plant.
If you do not think of pH, diseases of root then you may over-fertilize your ming aralia. This is even worse.
Chlorosis occurs in young leaves and the vein area of leaves starts to turn yellow.
Use chelated iron or ferrous sulfate to combat iron deficiency. Normally you have to do a foliar application.
Insect Infestation
It is normal that plants get infested by insects. Some insects such as mealybug, aphid, spider mite suck the juices off the leaves.
So the ming aralia leaves can not produce the chlorophyll and turn yellow. You can identify the symptoms of insects inspecting the leaves.
How to fix
The sucking insects are soft-skinned and you can control them easily. Detergent soap or insecticidal soap can help you control these types of insects effectively.
Spraying neem oil works great to get rid of insects from the plant. Also, I found great results spraying with alcohol mix water. (Source: New York Botanical Garden)
Conclusion
There is no need to make this thing complex. Ming aralia leaves turning yellow is a very common problem you will face if you have any. You just need to keep an eye on it regularly and fulfill the care requirements.
Now you know how to identify and fix your aralia plant leaves if it is yellowing. I’m curious to know your thoughts, let me know which solution you applied for your plant.