Cordyline Leaves Turning Yellow

Cordyline Leaves Turning Yellow: 7 Easy Ways to Revive It!

Cordyline makes for a great garden plant as well as an indoor plant. It is usually kept for its beautiful foliage that may be green, red, or purplish/purplish red. Cordyline is also called the ‘Hawaiian Ti plant’.

Cordyline is easy to grow, but it may run into issues sometimes. Leaves may turn yellow due to various reasons, let’s look at how to fix yellowing leaves.

Why is my Cordyline going yellow?

Cordyline may turn yellow because of Overwatering or Underwatering. Cordyline also shows yellow leaves if it’s infected by Fusarium root rot. Too much sunlight can also cause yellowing of the foliage. Make sure you water the plant just enough. Keep the plant in a place where it gets abundant indirect sunlight.

Cordyline with yellow spots

Yellow spots appear on the Hawaiian Ti plant when it is affected by a fungal disease. One such disease is the Fusarium leaf spot. This disease is characterized by yellowing of the foliage.

Cordyline yellow leaves at the bottom

Fusarium root rot causes the yellowing of the younger leaves. If you see yellow leaves at the bottom of the plant then you need to look into it.

Fusarium causes both stem rot and root rot in Hawaiian Ti plants. The roots become black and appear water-soaked.

To fix: 

  • Destroy plants with Fusarium root rot as soon as you see them. You can prevent Fusarium infection by keeping the leaves dry.
  • Water the plant just enough. Make sure the soil has good drainage.

Temperature fluctuations

Rapid temperature fluctuations cause the yellowing of the leaves in the Cordyline. Do not place the plant near anything that gives out heat.

An abrupt rise in temperature causes the yellowing of the leaves. There’s no fix to this, just let the affected leaves fall off.

Too much sunlight

Too much direct sunlight can cause leaf yellowing in Cordyline plants. This often happens when the plant is suddenly moved from indoors to outdoors.

The plant’s colors come out due to sunlight. Too much direct sunlight harms the plant a lot. Make sure the plant gets abundant indirect sunlight.

If you want to move the plant outdoors, acclimate the plant slowly to the conditions.

Poor water quality

Poor water quality often causes the discoloring of Ti plant leaves. You may let tap water sit for a while to dissipate excess salts in it.

If possible use bottled/distilled water to water the plant. Rainwater works wonders on plants. Collect some when it rains in your area.

Potbound

Potbound plants may cause the yellowing of the leaves too. Are you growing your Cordyline plant in a pot? Do you think the plant is happy?

Potbound plants grow roots out of the soil, upwards. The rootlets appear on the top of the soil. Remove the plant from the pot if needed and inspect the root ball.

Does the root ball seem congested? If the roots have filled the pot entirely, they need more space. Cordyline famously needs a lot of space to thrive.

It grows best when grown in a garden. Move the plant to your garden/bigger pot if you confirm it is root-bound.

Natural Shedding

Ti plant sheds off older leaves naturally. This plant always aims to grow taller and taller. In this process, it loses the older leaves.

Older leaves become yellow before falling off the plant. This is completely natural and you don’t need to panic if it all seems like a natural shedding.

Cordyline fruticosa yellow leaves

Cordyline fruticosa leaves may turn yellow in two cases. Too much water cause yellowing of the plant’s leaf tips and edges.

If the plant gets too little water the entire leaf turns yellow and falls off the plant. To avoid this you need to water the plant only when it needs some.

Check the soil with your fingers if needed. Make sure the soil is just moist and not waterlogged. Look at the soil and see if it is draining water well.

Cordyline pink diamond yellow leaves

Too much water and too little water can cause yellowing of the foliage in the Pink Diamond variety of the Cordyline plant.

Yellowing of leaves in the ‘Pink Diamond’ variety of Cordyline is caused probably due to the above reasons.

Root rot/Stem rot may also cause yellowing of the leaves in the Cordyline plant. Such plants if diagnose positively need to be eliminated.