Help!! Brand New Jatropha podagrica yellow Droopy leaves

last month

I purchased a Jatropha podagrica about a week ago and ever since I brought it home every day its leaves have all turned yellow and gotten more droopy. I put it infront of a window, the brightest spot in my house unfortunately it’s winter though and the sun hasn’t been out for days. It’s in a pot that has good drainage but I haven’t watered at all bc I’ve read a lot about not watering a lot in the winter. I thought maybe it wasn’t getting enough light so I put It closer to my grow light. I even tried to help it hold up its leaves with some little wooden stakes. I don’t see any bugs around it or in the soil, no spots on the leaves. Every single leaf is droopy and all but one are yellow. PLEASE HELP ME :(

Featured Answer

hc mcdole

last month

last modified: last month

Yes, pull/pinch/cut the old leaves off when you want to. It can be totally leafless part of the year. I grew mine from seed and gave away several. Surprisingly the five I have left still have their leaves and most are blooming too.

mid December

These 3 were totally leafless July 20 until I moved them to a sunnier location. The shards are in there to stop digging squirrels and chipmunks.

By early September they were all leafed out. Do not water these heavily - they are succulent in nature.

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Comments (10)

tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
last month
A pic would help. How cold was it when you brought it home?

tj
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
last month
May just be a normal response to the season. Buddha belly does tend to drop whatever few leaves it may have in winter or with colder temps.
Bree W
Original Author
last month
Here is a picture
Bree W
Original Author
last month
It was around 35° the day I brought him home but he wasn’t outside long just the time it took me to walk to my car from the store and into my house
Bree W
Original Author
last month
This is what he looked like not even a week ago
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last month
id return it .... who knows if whatever happened.. didnt happen when it was shipped to teh seller ...

at 35 degrees.. i ought to have been protected in a bag or something ... if it wasnt.. it was a cold event ... most plants can releaf and recover.. given enough time ... and if you are going to allow it to do that.. lets not try to love it to death in the meantime.. it will recover at its on pace ...

you water a plant when it needs it.. insert finger and find out ...

it is severely stressed.. it is not hungry.. fert is not a response ...

i doubt those leaves will recover.. so light is probably not an issue ... besides.. low light would cause a problem seen in months.. not days ...

as long as the leaves are green.. the plant is feeding off them.. but at some point.. they wont be.. just snip them off ...

btw ... how cold was your car.. and how long before it got up to warmth .... that might have been part of the problem also ... perhaps depending on where you are ... e.g. my car in MI usually doesnt warm up until im home from wherever i go.. lol.. with snow on the ground in my MI

ken
iochroma
last month
It's a perfectly normal time for this plant to go dormant.

Let it. Keep it dry and in the best light you have.

If you don't want a plant that goes dormant for months every year, then get something else.

If you decide to keep it you will find it is charming in its own way. Mine flowers often, even when its leafless and dormant otherwise.
Bree W
Original Author
last month
Oh my gosh update! I just checked and it’s little flowers are opening up! I do feel a sense of relief that this is normal for it to be dormant in the winter. I have a couple other plants that lay dormant in the winter as well that usually perk back up in the spring time. You’re all so lovely thank you for your all responses!

Also since the leaves are yellow and droopy should I snip them off or will they fall off on their own?
iochroma
last month
The leaves will fall, but if you don’t like watching their slow demise, you can cut them.