Hi everyone!
My family and I are staying in a beautiful, very bright Airbnb in Copenhagen for 2 weeks. When we arrived a week ago, many of the plants looked pretty dry and the leaves were very dusty. The hosts asked us to water them if needed.
Since I love plants, I gently wiped the leaves and watered them (they felt quite dry). Now, a week later, a lot of leaves are turning yellow. 😬
Many leaves are lighter in green color than I’m used to. I’m worried that I might have overwatered them or stressed them out somehow.
The plants are indoors near large windows, most without direct sunlight (i.e. window‐facing but shaded). In Copenhagen in July, daylight lasts around 16–17 hours, but direct sunshine is closer to 7–8 hours per day. The house is bright, but there’s no harsh afternoon sun blasting on the leaves.
I really don’t want to leave the house with dead plants, but I also don’t want to do more harm than good. We have one week left here…
Photos are attached – different plants, all showing some yellowing or damage.
Any ideas on what’s happening and what I should (or shouldn’t) do?
Thanks so much! 🌱
by No_Information2577
19 Comments
Do they have drainage? If their roots are sitting in water that could be a problem.
I can’t imagine what would cause them all to die off like that within two weeks of watering. Did you water with extremely warm or cold water? What did you wipe the leaves with?
The only other thing I can think of is those plants don’t normally live there and are brought in for guests, and weren’t in that great of a condition to begin with. That doesn’t just happen all at the same time with a bunch of different species of plants
Either a guest peed in the plants or whatever solution you used to clean the leaves wasn’t diluted enough.
They might have had damaged roots from drying out too much
Very possible those pots don’t have drainage holes that they’re in , & is making them die from root rot . It’s a shame that usually once this happens it can take some time for the plant to bounce back if it does at all . The only other thing that could be doing this kind of damage is a wide spread infestation amongst your plants . Have you inspected for pests ?
It’s excess water.
They might have had damaged roots from drying out too much
When you say you watered them, how much did you end up giving them? If you gave them a big drink without checking how much drainage the pots and soil have… You might have left the roots sitting in water which can lead to rot
Have you also moved them from their usual spots? Or has the weather taken a turn?
Either (or both) could be causing the plants stress,.
Overwatered. I don’t see drainage holes on any of them. RIP
Are you able to recall if those plants were in the listing photos?
I can’t help but wonder if those are recent additions to the decor because I feel like that’s a flippant attitude toward plants if someone has been caring for them.
Also, one watering + a few days should not lead to all plants having an issue. Should it?
Why they didn’t just go with artificial plants is beyond me. It’s an Airbnb, it’s what makes sense.
Tip any extra water out, and don’t water them again. Especially the plant in the last photo.
I am fairly certain i can actually see pests in a few of these pics. Take a close look at stems/under leaves – this reminds me of infestations i’ve had before.
If i am wrong and there are no pests – as others have said ensure roots are not sitting in water.
Why did you water them? Were there instructions to do so? Did you check with the host beforehand?
Lesson learned about watering other people’s plants
They look over watered
Maybe the plans were so tried out before, that the roots partially died and got root rot?
Not your plants. Not your problem.
My plants will turn yellow like this if I use tap water since we have very hard water and there’s too much of a mineral content going on, I assume. So if you used tap water that’s likely it.
Seeing that much yellowing after watering is most definitely the result of rot, shock or pests (although it looks more like rot damage than anything else to me). However I find it a bit odd that every single plant is yellow, regardless of species. Some are much more forgiving than others, even if you overwater a bit, and it usually does so over weeks, rather than only a few days.
From the pictures it looks like they’re not even in nursery pots, but straight in the main one. Idk how they’re usually watered but they’re probably in there for a while now and survived. Unless they potted them up before you came but looking at the substrate, I doubt it.
Is the water fine? Any chemicals? Especially because it processed rather quickly and seems to affect all plants equally.