Yucca plants are the best interior plants that enhance the beauty of your home as well as it has the capability to clean the air properties in your home by removing toxic particles from the air.
Therefore, you will need to take proper care of your Yucca plant in order to receive health benefits from it.
However, sometimes your Yucca plant may turn yellow, brown, or white due to different natural and artificial causes. Therefore, we are here to discuss the reasons behind your Yucca plant turning into yellow, brown, white, or other colors.
Why is my yucca plant turning yellow, brown, or white?
After reading this entire section you will come to know the reasons behind your yucca plant turning yellow, brown, white, or light green, and the solution for the aspects.
Yellow spots:
Overwatering is the most prevalent cause behind the tiny yellow dots on your Yucca plants. Additionally, if you put Yucca plants in direct sunlight for too long, they may develop tiny yellow dots. The sap-sucking bugs can also take out the moisture from your Yucca plant, causing it to become yellow.
Reasons:
Exposure to direct sunlight:
If you keep your Yucca plant in direct sunlight for too long then the leaves will burn and turn yellowish. The perfect atmosphere for Yucca plants to grow is under indirect bright sunlight but they will grow slowly.
Excessive watering:
Overwatering is one of the common reasons behind your Yucca plant having tiny yellow dots. Yucca plants are mostly drought-resistant therefore, they don’t need much water to survive.
If you notice that the topsoil of your Yucca plant is almost 50% dry then you can water the plant. Although make sure the water freely flows from the topsoil to the drainage holes.
Because if extra water stays inside the soil of your plant then it might cause root rot and will get exposed to yellow tiny dots.
Moisture sucking pests:
Sap sucking bugs like spider mites can suck out the moisture from the plant which will cause tiny yellow dots on your Yucca plant. Therefore, always look out for the infestation on your Yucca and make sure to use proper insecticide.
Solutions:
Watering:
You shouldn’t water your Yucca plant regularly, rather check out the soil if it’s dry to your finger’s depth, and then water your Yucca plant. You can water your Yucca plant twice a week.
Drainage holes:
Make sure that the pots of your Yucca plant have drainage holes. As drainage holes drain out the extra water from the pot which eventually prevents root rot or turning the plant from yellowish.
Soil mixture:
It is possible to grow Yuccas in a normal potting mix, however, the roots need a well-draining potting mix so that they are not sitting in damp dirt.
You should have a perfect ratio of the potting mixture in order to have the perfect balance of moisture.
Brown spots:
Your Yucca plants can have brown spots because of being dried up due to underwatering. In addition, lack of humidity can also cause your Yucca plant to turn brownish. Also, the damage of roots due to underwatering can be the reason for your Yucca plant to have brown spots.
Reasons:
Lack of water:
When your Yucca has turned brown and dry, it’s leading to a shortage of moisture. Despite Yuccas dislike being watered frequently and dislikes resting in pools of water, this does not indicate that they cannot live in too much dry soil for lengthy periods.
Lack of humidity:
Proper humidity is ideal for yuccas, however, they will face problems to grow in houses with low humidity. A continuous absence of moisture causes the plant to dry out significantly, resulting in brown patches.
Solutions:
Drizzle the plant:
It will be best if you mist the plant a couple of times a week. It will increase the humidity as well as it will maintain the proper level of humidity.
Quick shower:
To increase the level of humidity immediately you can give a quick shower to your Yucca plant. The brown spots will eventually vanish after the significant rise of humidity.
Changing the place:
If your bathroom or kitchenette has better lighting, consider putting your Yucca there. Because of the moisture created by bathing and cooking, the air humidity in these places is constantly greater than in other parts of your house.
White spots:
White spots usually appear in Yucca plants due to excessive moisture, inadequate sunlight, effects of temperature, nutrient issues, transplanting strain, and sunburn. However, most of the time the Yucca plant continues to have white spots due to direct exposure to bright sunlight.
Reasons:
Sunburn:
The Yucca plant will show signs of having white spots in them due to sudden exposure to direct sunlight.
Yucca plants adjust to their surroundings, but if the Yucca becomes accustomed to a particular amount of daylight and then is suddenly put into direct sunlight, it will harm the plant. You may see that the leaves are becoming burned, resulting in white patches.
Solutions:
Maintain proper atmosphere:
You will need to keep a balancing condition on your Yucca plant’s surroundings. Don’t take your plant suddenly under direct sunlight or under low sunlight.
Otherwise, it causes serious damage to your plants resulting in tiny white dots on your Yucca plant.
Proper watering:
One of the reasons that your plant turns to whitish is because of overwatering or underwatering.
Therefore, always maintain the balance of watering on your Yucca as not receiving proper moisture is one of the common reasons for the damage of plants.
Light green spots:
Yucca plants can have light green spots due to fungal diseases. The spores of fungi live on the water of the leaves which causes the plant to have light green dots. Therefore, it is recommended from the experts not to overwater your Yucca plant or else they get invaded by fungi diseases.
Reasons:
Fungi diseases:
Yucca plants might get invaded by fungi diseases whenever they get overwatered. Because the spores of the fungi live on the water of the leaves and thus it causes fungal diseases which eventually turn the plant into light green.
Solutions:
Do not overwater the plant:
By any means do not overwater the Yucca plant. Yucca plants are drought-resistant plants which means they can live with even less amount of water.
Fungal diseases mainly occur due to the presence of excessive water in the plants. The spores from the fungi thrive on the leaves of the plants which leads to fungal infection.
Using fungicide:
If you notice that your plants have light green spots then you can use copper fungicide in order to treat them. This fungicide will keep the fungus away from the plants and also vanishes the light green spots.
Yucca plant common diseases and how to treat them:
You will know about diseases of yucca and their treatment after going through this section –
Brown discoloration:
Emerging of brown spots is one of the most prevalent diseases in Yucca plants. The brown spots usually appear on the older leaves as small clear zones.
Also, the brown spots first appear as yellow spots then after some days it gets mature and turns to brownish with a purple border. They are typically oval structured and scatter across the overall surface of the leaves.
You can treat the brown spots of Yucca plants by simply cutting the affected leaves or by using copper fungicide.
Stem deterioration:
Stem rot is one of the common problems for household Yucca owners. Bacteria induce rot, and you’ll notice a sticky, squishy secretion on the stems of the leaves, which has an awful smell.
If this problem is not treated in early periods then it might lead to the damage of the whole plant. You can treat stem rot by sterilized pots or by keeping the proper soil on the pot when you plant the cuttings.
Gray spots:
Gray spots are also one of the usual problems in many household Yucca plants. Basically, this problem is more common in older leaves and is caused by fungus.
You can treat this disease by applying fungicide to your Yucca plant or by cutting the infected leaves. Also, maintain the proper watering ratio on your Yucca plant because sometimes under watering or overwatering can cause gray spots.
Sclerotia:
It is one of the common fungal diseases and is mainly caused by funguses. It has a fan-like pattern as well as it can be a white growth on the surface of the stems near the soil.
You can treat Sclerotia by applying fungicide as well as cutting the infected part of the plants. Sclerotia can also occur due to root rot or stem rot because of the presence of extra water in the soil.
Why are the tips of my yucca plant brown?
Humidity is ideal for yuccas, and they will struggle to grow in houses with dry air. Brown leaf tips appear when there is a persistent absence of moisture. This is much more likely to occur during the wintertime when heat and a shortage of airflow result in very low humidity.
If the browning is limited to the leaf tips, you should take preventive measures as early as possible. The dry air may produce bigger brown spots across the foliage throughout the time.
Why does my yucca plant have white spots?
Yucca plants can be bearers of white spots due to exposure to direct bright sunlight. Also, there can be other reasons behind the evolution of white patches on your Yucca plant.
However, the infestation is also one of the main reasons behind white spots on your Yucca plants. White patches on your Yucca could be caused by soft and armored scale bugs.
The white markings on the Yucca plant indicate the presence of Mealy insects and Spider mites, which damage the plant. Also, those white patches could potentially be caused by downy mildew.
Therefore, it is really important to look for any sort of infestation on your Yucca plant and take proper preventive measures before it gets late.
What are the black spots on my yucca plant?
If you notice black patches on your plant, it’s possible that you do have a scaling infestation. Scales are parasitic insects that feed on the leaves, causing them to wilt and perish. Also, Yucca plant insects eat by sipping sap from the leaves.
However, the insects also release essence on the yucca leaves, creating persistent black patches on them.
Scale bugs, also known as armored and fuzzy scaled pests, are small insects that stick themselves to the branches or foliage of a plant and eat on the plant fluids during their entire lifetimes.
What does an overwatered yucca look like?
You may detect yellow foliage, root rot, or a squishy stem on your Yucca if it’s been overwatered. Initially, just reducing the amount of water used and allowing the plant and soil to dried up is enough to prevent overwatering.
When the root rot has taken hold, you’ll have to perform even more harsh measures to rescue the plant. Yuccas should only be irrigated when the topsoil is dry.
Hydrate your Yucca on a case-by-case basis, assessing the plant and the topsoil wetness before determining whether or not to hydrate the plant.
Why are my yucca leaves turning yellow and brown?
As a result of overwatering or too much humidity all around the bottom root of the Yucca, will cause the leaf of your yucca to turn yellow and brown. Yuccas are drought tolerant, but they need well-draining soil to keep their foliage from becoming brown and yellow.
Yellow and brown leaves suggest that your Yucca plant needs extra natural daylight.
Because of the difference in circumstances between the plant nursery and your house or yard, the foliage of a young Yucca plant sometimes appears yellow and brown as a symptom of distress.
Final Thoughts:
Yucca plants can have brown, yellow, white, light green, or even black patches due to various reasons but mostly because of overwatering, fungus invasion, infestation, lack of humidity, etc. However, all these problems can be treatable through proper medication and how you take care of your Yucca.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Can Yucca Plants Grow in Pots?
Can Yucca Live & Grow in Water? How Much Water Do They Need?
Why Is My Yucca Plant Drooping?