From my perspective, this is the most common reason my leaves start to yellow. My rhizomes, which are those potato-like structures under the soil, are designed to store vast amounts of water. They are my personal survival reservoirs. When you water me too frequently, the soil becomes perpetually wet. This suffocates my roots, preventing them from absorbing oxygen and eventually causing them to rot. Once the root system is compromised, it cannot transport water and nutrients to my stems and leaves, even though the soil is wet. The first sign of this distress is a general yellowing of my leaves, often starting with the older ones. The yellowing is a cry for help, a signal that my foundational systems are drowning.
While I am famously tolerant of low light, I still need some bright, indirect sunlight to perform photosynthesis and stay healthy. If you keep me in a pitch-black corner for months on end, my green chlorophyll will slowly break down because it cannot produce enough energy. This can cause my leaves to turn a pale, sickly yellow as my systems slowly shut down from energy starvation. Conversely, if you place me directly in a hot, south-facing window, the intense rays can literally scorch my leaves. This sunburn damages the plant cells, causing them to die and turn a crispy yellow or brown. My ideal spot is in bright, filtered light, where I can photosynthesize efficiently without being harmed.
My well-being is deeply connected to my container and the soil within it. If my pot does not have a drainage hole, any excess water you give me becomes trapped at the bottom, creating a swampy environment around my rhizomes and roots, leading back to the dreaded root rot and yellow leaves. Furthermore, the soil I live in matters greatly. Heavy, compacted soil that doesn't drain will have the same effect as a pot without a hole. Over a very long period, the nutrients in my soil can become depleted, and while I am not a heavy feeder, a severe lack of essential nutrients like nitrogen can also cause chlorosis (yellowing). Finally, if my root system has become so vast that it has taken over the entire pot, I become pot-bound. This extreme crowding stresses me out, making it difficult to uptake water and nutrients effectively, which can also manifest as yellowing leaves.
I am a tropical plant by nature, and I prefer a stable, warm environment. Sudden drafts of cold air from an open window in winter, or a blast of hot, dry air from a heating vent, can put me into a state of shock. This kind of environmental stress disrupts my internal processes and can cause my leaves to yellow and drop as a defensive reaction. Similarly, extremely low humidity can cause the tips of my leaves to turn yellow and then brown and crispy. While I can handle average home humidity, a desert-like atmosphere is far from my ideal and can cause me discomfort.
