yellowing indoor plant leaves

[Bartman]

After about a year with some Wal-Mart specials on tropical plants I'm seeing leaves are getting yellowish.  Is this a case of too much/too little water, two much/too little sun, too much/too little fertlizer or something else?  This has just started.  The plant hasn't really got any bigger than when I bought it which is fine by me, but I don't want it dead!

Any ideas?

Bart

[Sean]

Try a teaspoon of Epsom Salts to a litre of water.

Cheers,
Sean

[Bartman]

I think I still have a box of that at the farm.  So what do you think the problem is?

Bart

[LeeAnne151]

Do you know what kind of plant it is?

Epsom salts will work if it is an iron or magnesium deficiency but that isn't that common on houseplants and is very easy to see. The new growth will be yellow with green veins.

If you are loosing lower leaves, it could be normal. It could be spider mights or it could be lack of water if the plant has gotten so dry it has wilted.

[Rick40]

Are you using city water? I used to use city water until I read somewhere on the net that city water causes the leaves to burn. Now I only water my indoor plant with bottled water. I also wait for the leaves to droop before I water them

  Rick

[Bartman]

I forgot about my own thread.  Here are a couple photos.  In the second photo it is not easy to tell, but the left side is quite a bit lighter in colour than the right side.  This is some kind of palm and that is all I know about it.  I expect some parts will eventually dry out and need to be removed, but it is happening far faster now than it ever has in the past.

Bart

[LeeAnne151]

Looks like an areca palm, I think they changed the latin name awhile back, I seem to recall a conversation with Regina about it. Used to be Chysalidocarpus lutescens and you should be able to find info with that one. That sort of dryness at the tips is rather common with them. They need extremely bright light for a palm and high humidity. They grow them in Florida and then truck them all over and sell them cheap and they just don't do very well as a houseplant in most situations.
Could have spider mites too.

Sorry.

[Bartman]

Hmm, I've had it for a year and it did good.  I thought it was happy.  I don't see any bugs on it unless they are too small to see.  This house is dry, no doubt there.  It was just one of those Walmart $9.99 plants so it's not a great loss if it has to go.  I will need to pick something else in that case for the space.  Thanks.

Bart