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I have been out of my place for more than one month but I asked a friend to give water to my plants, including my beautiful Cycas revoluta. I don't think my friend gave the plant too much water (since he came only three times in one month), but now the leaves at the bottom of my cycas are entirely yellow as you can see from the attached pic.

Now, I don't see any fungus and the soil was very dry when I came back home, so I gave the plant a bit of water. Living in London the rain can be an issue but till now the plant was great! So I am not sure what to do (not watering can be the solution), but then the leaves will stay yellow? Shall I cut them? Thank you for any advice!

enter image description here

Alina
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Kiara
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1 Answers1

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It's hard to tell from the photo, but it looks to me like the soil in your photo is rather wet. Moisture stress, either too much moisture or not enough, can definitely cause yellowing of the leaves.

Too much moisture can deprive the roots of the plant of oxygen, and also wash away nutrients - leaving the plant nutrient deprived.

Too little moisture restricts the plant's ability to uptake nutrients and causes wilting.

In this picture, the bottom leaves are the ones turning yellow which is a common symptom of nitrogen deficiency, which is commonly caused by overwatering. I suggest restricting watering and applying a fertilizer such as fish emulsion to the soil. I don't water my cycas until the soil is dry to the touch.

dothwhilst
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  • Thank you so much for your reply. Will try with the fertiliser and will see.. – Kiara Jul 20 '17 at 14:09
  • I suggest removing any leaves that are no longer yellow but brown - the one in the bottom center, for instance, looks more brown. Once it gets to that point there probably isn't a way to save that leaf so it's better to remove it. – dothwhilst Jul 20 '17 at 14:16
  • Ok, that makes sense, thank you so much again. will do that. – Kiara Jul 20 '17 at 15:03
  • Sago Palms hate too much moisture. This guy is literally in a POT. Is that soil from the garden or is that potting soil? Garden soil might have too much clay that will inhibit drainage. Are there drainage holes beneath this soil and above the concrete? If not, that is your next project. Have you fertilized this plant ever? If not you need to use a balanced fertilizer. Fish emulsion is not a balanced fertilizer. Good stuff but you still need a balanced NPK formula and if you've used the fish emulsion you have to add that into the equation. Cut those yellow and brown leaves off. – stormy Jul 20 '17 at 20:57
  • ...both yellow on its way to brown leaves do nothing at all for a plant. Once it isn't green it is just dead weight and the plant will eventually get rid of it on its own but cutting them off saves the plant the energy cost. Check the drainage for sure! Only water when the soil is dry. If that isn't potting soil that needs to be replaced with potting soil. – stormy Jul 20 '17 at 21:00
  • Thank you so much for your detailed answer. I have already followed the previous advice and put some fish emulsion and cut off that brown leaf. Will do the same with the others then. I really think that the main problem was not enough water (in the picture the soil seems wet because I had just watered it, but when I came back home it was very dry) during a very hot 15 days I was out of home. In fact, other plants got some yellows because of the same reason (never happened before). To reply to your question, I believe that the soil is garden soil not potting. – Kiara Jul 22 '17 at 13:36
  • I will try and make those drainage holes (this is a long big wooden planter so hopefully I can do that), and I will definitely buy now another fertiliser as you recommended. When you say "balanced fertilizer" what do you mean exactly? something organic from seaweed for example? Any suggestion would be much appreciated. – Kiara Jul 22 '17 at 13:36
  • I have just found this online: http://www.hydroponics-hydroponics.com/nutrients-additives-c42/plant-magic-c59/plant-magic-oldtimer-organic-grow-1-litre-p675/s2634?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=plant-magic-oldtimer-organic-grow-1-litre-size-1-litre-size-1-litre&utm_campaign=product%2Blisting%2Bads&gclid=Cj0KCQjw78vLBRCZARIsACr4cxzSbseZwzh2nRAka7kn81qqVfCn0g2V3qtEX5zk--1FYOKir_FKXgkaAjp9EALw_wcB – Kiara Jul 22 '17 at 13:36
  • A balanced fertilizer is one with a balanced NPK rating. Here is information about that: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/fertilizer-numbers-npk.htm

    What stormy was getting at was that if you aren't sure what your soil is lacking in nutrients it is best to add a balanced fertilizer so that you do not inadvertently make the imbalance worse.

    Fish emulsion is a very mild fertilizer, but it is higher in nitrogen (N) than phosphorus (P) and potassium (K).

     – dothwhilst Aug 02 '17 at 21:05