Money Tree yellowing one leaf at a time
Plant: Pachira aquatica (Money Tree)
How long have you owned the plant? Over 5 years
Plant Parent
The leaf parts are turning yellow one segment at a time ☹️
The overall plant:
Light Situation:
The plant gets about 1 hour of direct sun from this West facing window
How do you determine WHEN to water? I wait for the soil to become completely dry.
Describe HOW you water: I fully soak the soil and let excess water drain away.
Other info: the plant is near a humidifier.
Fertilizer: I have never used fertilizer.
Soil Situation: I repotted the plant about 1-2 years ago. The pot is quite small though.
Darryl
Thanks for submitting your photos and care details!
Environment
You have an excellent window – it’s a great setting for good Money tree growth. Additional humidity is unnecessary but you can keep using the humidifier if you enjoy it.
Effort
The answer is simple: you must use fertilizer on a regular basis.
Your plant is situated in front of a nice window, conducive to good growth, but without fertilizer, the plant will only keep a small number of leaves. Once you start using fertilizer regularly, the available nutrients will be higher and thus, the plant can produce and keep more leaves at a time.
More about fertilizers HERE
Expectations
The natural progression of the Money tree (and every plant) is that older leaves keep dying off as new ones grow. This means the overall structure of the plant will change. At some point, you may want to prune the stems to change the shape of the plant. Fortunately, Money trees are resilient and will keep growing relatively quickly after being cut.
Here’s an example – my own Money tree, which I have had for over 10 years:
More great resources to level-up your houseplant game:
- Read my books: ‘The New Plant Parent‘ and ‘The New Plant Collector‘
- Take my online course: Essentials of Houseplant Enjoyment
- More detailed houseplant Q&As
Tired of your houseplants dying on you?
Sign up and I’ll do my best to help them live their best lives!