Diagnose: ZZ Plant Yellow Leaves

1. Where the yellow sits, and whether it feels firm or soft
2. One or two of the lowest leaflets on the oldest stalk, still firm to the touch, turning yellow over weeks. That is the plant shedding old growth, it needs nothing done, and reacting to it with extra water is how a healthy plant becomes a sick one. Whole stalks going soft yellow from the base upward, with a pot that still feels heavy a fortnight after watering, is rotted rhizomes. Unpot it today rather than adjusting the schedule and waiting. Firm yellowing while the pot feels almost empty and the stalks have lost their round firmness is the opposite problem. That plant is thirsty, and it is the one case on this page where more water is the answer. Pale speckled or blotchy yellow that ignores where the leaflet sits on the plant is usually something feeding on it. Turn a leaflet over and look at the underside before changing anything about the watering.

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