Indoor gardeners grow parsley for spicy vitamin greens or fragrant roots. Most often, you want to grow it for the sake of bright green leaves.
Sometimes you will find leaves turning red losing their bright color. I will explain the causes of parsley leaves turning red. Also, measures to combat and prevent this problem.
Lack of phosphorus can lead to parsley leaves turning red. Improper watering, incorrect soil pH, insect and disease infestation, and environmental stress are the reasons for phosphorus supply disruption.
Continue reading I will explain the cause and solutions for parsley leaves turning red.
7 Causes Why Do Parsley Leaves Turning Red?
Parsley needs minimum but regular care to grow within your home. If the parsley leaves turning red then it is a signal that there is something wrong and your need to take action.
Here are some of the most common causes of parsley leaves turning red.
Lack of phosphorus can make parsley leaves Red
Phosphorus is one of the fundamental nutrients for any plant. Lack of phosphorus can lead parsley to show symptoms like red leaves. Parsley thrives well in organic-rich soil.
Lack of phosphorus causes the plant to produce a pigment called anthocyanin. This pigment is responsible for the reddening of parsley plant leaves.
There may be many factors interrupting plants to absorb phosphorus from soil. Even if the phosphorus is available in the soil but plant roots are not able to uptake it. In this case, the parsley leaves can turn red.
How to fix
You should not apply phosphorus before confirming the deficiency. You need to do a soil test then consider applying phosphorus if needed. An overdose of phosphorus can cause damage to your parsley.
If you find a lack of phosphorus in the soil then you need to feed your parsley with phosphorus. Bone meal is a good source of phosphorus for the plant. It is slow releasing though but works great.
You can also consider NPK fertilizers available in the market. Here is a helpful and quick video on how you can test soil phosphorus.
Overwatering can Result in parsley leaves turning red
Overwatering disrupts the normal functioning of roots. So, it can not uptake the necessary nutrients for the normal growth of parsley.
Excessive moisture also causes parsley root rot. Because of this disease, your parsley will not be able to uptake phosphorus and other nutrients even if they are available abundantly.
How to fix
If you are confirmed that you have overwatered your parsley then you need to fix this. Do not worry this is very easy to fix.
To fix the overwatered parsley, let the plant pot dry for a few days. Then take out the plant and inspect it carefully.
Remove enough soil so that you can observe the roots. Overwatering may cause root rot. If you find any symptoms of root rot then cut off the infected part.
Then disinfect the root by sprinkling charcoal. Now change the soil and repot in a new container or use the previous one after intense cleaning with hot water.
Compacted Soil
It is normal that your container soil may get compacted over time. Compact soil decreases air permeability. Also, water can not infiltrate through it.
If your parsley does not get enough water and oxygen to its root system. the roots suffocate without receiving the necessary oxygen.
The roots will not be able to absorb the available nutrients. So, lack of nutrients will cause symptoms like leaves turning red, yellow, or brown.
How to fix
Loosen the soil no deeper than 1-1.5 cm and try not to damage the roots close to the surface.
Constant loosening of the soil in the pot destroys compactness in the top layer of the soil. As a result, the top layers of the soil become breathable.
Evaporation of moisture from the layer of soil ground decreases, moisture infiltrates into the root zone. Your parsley will be able to absorb the available nutrients.
Like other plants, parsley does not tolerate drought. If you do not supply the necessary water for functioning the normal physiological process then your parsley will show symptoms.
If there is no water the plant root will not be able to get the nutrients from the soil. Because the nutrients in the soil are only available in water-soluble form.
How to fix
This is obvious that you have to supply enough water to fix this problem. Make sure that there is no stagnant water in the pot. Stagnant water is not good for parsley. You should use settled tap water or filtered water for irrigation.
Let the soil dry a bit then water again. In summer parsley will need more frequent watering than other times. Reduce watering frequency in winter. In this season parsley remains in rest.
You May Also Enjoy: Why Is My Mint Turning Brown? (And How to Fix It)
Soil pH
Parsley prefers slightly acidic soil. The optimum pH for growing parsley ranges from pH 6.0 to 7.0, this range allows it to absorb the necessary nutrients properly.
Without nutrients, the parsley leaves will turn red.
How to fix
Different plants have their preferred pH ranges. So you have to make sure the mentioned pH for parsley.
To fix the pH of the soil you need to test it. This is very easy to do with a pH test kit.
If you find your soil too acidic (pH below 5.5) which means that you need to deoxidize (increase in pH). To do this, you can use wood fire ashes on top of the soil.
This is also called liming the soil. The use of dolomite (limestone) flour is the most popular method of deoxidizing the soil.
Now if you need to increase soil acidity (decrease the pH level), water with citric acid (lemon juice) works great for indoor plant containers.
Excess light
Like other plants, parsley needs light for photosynthesis. But intensive direct sunlight, the leaves of the parsley turn red and yellow. You will observe this in the spring on old leaves.
How to Fix
In this case, you must keep the pot of parsley in a shady place. During hot sunny days water your parsley more frequently.
Make sure the soil does not get dry (not stagnant water). Also, fertilize with nutrients. Eventually, your parsley will recover.
Parsley Diseases
There are several bacterial and fungal diseases and affect your parsley and cause serious damage. Stunted growth, turning leaves red, yellow, or brown is the most common consequence.
Here are the two diseases that can cause parsley leaves to turn red. Let’s know about them and also how to fight them.
Stolbur phytoplasma
The causal agent of this viral disease is the parasite Phytoplasma. It causes chlorosis mainly along the edge of the leaves of the lower tiers.
Then the leaves from these edges begin to turn red. This will inhibit the growth of your parsley, the quality of its leaves and roots deteriorates.
Root Rot
This is a soil-borne fungal disease. It damages the root system and also the crown. The root system can not supply the fundamental nutrients then slowly the plant leaves turn red or yellow.
How to fix
Remove the infected plant parts or the whole plant if the infestation is severe. Overwatering, lack of proper care, are the reasons behind disease outbreaks.
So, the best thing is to prevent them from occurring. You can also use fungicides available in the market to combat these problems.
How to Prevent Parsley leaves from turning Yellow
To avoid the appearance of pests and leaf color change of your parsley you should take the following measures:
Follow the above-mentioned tips and ensure proper care like watering, top dressing, and ensuring good drainage of water.
Inspect the plant in a timely manner and remove damaged plants so as not to infect other plants.
If parsley grows in greenhouse conditions, it is necessary to maintain the air temperature not lower than 20 °С/68°F at night. And during the day 24-26 °С/75.2°F-78.8°F.
Keep your parsley at a well-ventilated space.
You should practice crop rotation to avoid disease and pests.
Make sure the soil and containers is disinfected before planting parsley.
Disinfect seed before planting. For this purpose, before planting, the seeds are placed for 30–40 minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate and then dried.
Choose disease-resistant parsley varieties for planting. To do foliar.
Fertilize the soil with potash and phosphorus.
Practice the timely thinning of plants; this method will reduce the likelihood of powdery mildew.
Treat your parsley with soapy water, this will destroy aphids and other pests that weaken plants;
Conclusion
Well-groomed, receiving all the necessary nutrients, parsley almost never gets sick. Leaves turning red is not a cause for panic. Carefully follow the steps and implement the solutions described in this article.
If your parsley doesn't get enough water and oxygen in its root system. Roots suffocate without obtaining the necessary oxygen. Hence, the leaves will turn red, yellow, or brown due to a lack of nutrients. Solution – Do not loosen the soil deeply; try not to damage the roots near the surface.
Autumn leaves turn fiery-red in an attempt to store up as much goodness as possible from leaves and soil before a tree settles down for the winter. The worse the quality of soil, the more effort a tree will put in to recovering nutrients from its leaves, and the redder they get.
Vegetable plant leaves oftentimes turn red when there is a phosphorus deficiency in the soil. But it can also be caused by cold weather and too much rain. Too much rain can leach phosphorus out of the soil and cold weather spikes can sometimes stimulate red pigment in the plant.
When you notice a plant with purple leaves rather than the normal green color, it is most likely due to a phosphorus deficiency. All plants need phosphorus (P) in order to create energy, sugars, and nucleic acids. Young plants are more likely to display signs of phosphorus deficiency than older plants.
A common cause of red leaves early in the season is premature senescence due to a nutrient deficiency of N, phosphorus (P), potassium (K) or magnesium (Mg). This process is exacerbated by water stress.
Red is another story, because it's made on purpose. As some leaves die, they produce chemicals called anthocyanins (also found in the skin of grapes and apples) from built up sugars. These chemicals produce a red pigment that can combine with green pigments left from chlorophyll and display different shades of red.
In new shoots the chloroplasts (which contain green chlorophyll) are not yet developed. So plants replace the green chlorophyll with red pigment (or anthocyanins) as a kind of sun block for the new growth.
What is the fastest way to add phosphorus to soil? If your plant is in desperate need of a phosphorus boost, start with a regular schedule of foliar kelp fertilizer.At the same time, add a rapid release phosphorous fertilizer to the soil, like bone meal or fish meal.
Incorporate organic matter and organic mulch into your planting sites. Garden gypsum can also improve soil compaction, especially in heavy clay soils, and help keep leaves green. Improper soil pH can cause nutrient deficiencies and yellow leaves.
It requires medium levels of nitrogen and potassium, with just a little phosphorus. Note: Do not fertilise parsley with fresh manure which contains high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus and is too harsh for the sensitive herb.
Parsley grows best in well-drained soil that is rich in organic matter. Fertilize plants in garden beds once or twice during the growing season, using a 5-10-5 commercial fertilizer at a rate of three ounces per 10 feet of row.
What Causes Purple Leaves? Purpling of leaves can have a variety of causes, but the most common one is a deficiency in phosphorus. Phosphorus is a nutrient essential for plant growth that is particularly important for rooting, flowering, and fruiting.
If there is a shortage of magnesium, there is a shortage of chlorophyll, resulting in stunted and poor plant growth and potentially purple leaves. What is this? Organic compost is a good source of magnesium. Rectify the problem by adding organic compost regularly to the soil, mixed in or even as a mulch.
Eggs shells, banana peels, grains, and mushrooms will add phosphorus to your compost pile or worm composting bin and result in a great plant fertilizer dense in this vital nutrient. Meat, dairy, eggs, fats and oils may be high in phosphorus, but should not be added to your compost.
Heavy applications of organic materials such as manure, plant residues or green manure crops to soils with high pH values not only supply phosphorus, but upon decomposition, provide acidic compounds, which increase the availability of mineral forms of phosphorus in the soil.
Primary organically approved P sources are phosphate rock (PR), manure, and compost. Phosphate rock is most effective at supplying P in soils with low pH (less than 5.5) and low calcium concentrations.
Parsley that is grown outdoors requires a thorough watering once or twice each week. The soil should be damp to a depth of around two inches. Allow the soil to mostly dry before you water in abundance again. Keep the water around the base of the plants and try to keep the leaves as dry as possible.
Parsley really love water and do not like to dry up! It might even be hard to overwater it, but still, even a water-loving plant can get overwatered. Always feel the soil before watering - it should feel damp but not wet.
Temperature, light, and water supply have an influence on the degree and the duration of fall color. Low temperatures above freezing will favor anthocyanin formation producing bright reds in maples. However, early frost will weaken the brilliant red color.
In autumn when it starts to get cold, some plants stop making chlorophyll. Instead, those plants break down chlorophyll into smaller molecules. As chlorophyll goes away, other pigments start to show their colors. This is why leaves turn yellow or red in fall.
Phosphorus deficiency tends to inhibit or prevent shoot growth. Leaves turn dark, dull, blue-green, and may become pale in severe deficiency.Reddish, reddish-violet, or violet color develops from increased anthocyanin synthesis. Symptoms appear first on older parts of the plant.
A lot of our red clay soils are low in phosphorous, so adding some phosphorous will generally help our soils." Goforth says the soil will also benefit from added organic matter like compost or manure. If the soil is compacted, you will need to till or aerate. Just make sure it's not wet when you do.
Potassium-deficient plants are easily distinguished by their tendency to wilt on dry, sunny days. The overall appearance of the plant is wilted or drooping. Deficient plants will have a stocky appearance with short internodes. Younger leaves' growth is inhibited, and they have small leaf blades.
By reducing erosion and runoff, cover crops reduce the amount of phosphorus that could potentially reach streams or rivers. Cover crops, growing during periods when other crops are not in the field, can also take up phosphorus and other nutrients that can be lost from runoff.
Under N deficiency, leaves become light green at the tip, and the color then spreads to the entire leaf. Under PK deficiencies, the symptoms are similar, and the leaf tips become yellowish brown [1]. Therefore, the color of the leaf tip can be used to effectively identify symptoms of NPK deficiencies.
The nutrient value of Epsom salts is 0-0-0, meaning they contain no traces at all of nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium. If you do choose to use Epsom salts on your plants, it's important that you are aware that Epsom salts are not a substitute for fertilizer.
Fertilizers that are high in phosphorus include mushroom compost, hair, rock phosphate, bone meal, burned cucumber skins, bat guano, fish meal, cottonseed meal, worm castings, blood meal, manure, and compost. Of course, you can use a mixture of any of these sources of phosphorus, depending on what you have available.
Epsom salt is not a complete fertilizer, so while it can boost the magnesium and sulfur count in soil, it won't add any of those other nutrients a plant needs to grow strong.
Nitrogen (N) deficiency appears as a general pale yellowish-green plant with slow growth and reduced tiller development. If the deficiency persists, plants remain pale green, have reduced growth, and the stand appears thin.
Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is an antifungal agent and can even kill some established forms of fungus. Research has shown it's effective against some kinds of black spot and powdery mildew.
Generally when a houseplant leaf turns yellow, that leaf is dying. Chlorophyll gives a leaf its green color. When the leaf loses its chlorophyll, the plant abandons it and begins to absorb leftover nutrients from the leaf. That's why once the leaf turns yellow, you generally can't make it turn back green again.
Once a plant reaches full size, parsley needs 1 to 2 inches of rain or supplemental water per week to continue growing well. Water is the crucial element for keeping parsley happy. If you let the soil go too dry, the plant withers and dies. But don't go overboard with the water or the roots will rot.
Space parsley plants 6 to 8 inches apart in an area with full sun and nutrient-rich, well-drained soil with a pH of 5.5 to 6.7. Offer partial shade if growing in warm climates. Before planting, ensure your native soil is packed with nutrients by mixing in several inches of aged compost or other rich organic matter.
Parsley needs rich, well drained soil. Prepare the garden bed well by digging it over to a depth of 30 cm removing any clods and stones to a good tilth. Dig through some well aged compost and rotted chicken or cow manure to enrich the soil.
Zinc is a micronutrient required by plants to produce chlorophyll. When there is a zinc deficiency in the soil, the result is discolored leaves and stunted growth. Chlorosis is common with a zinc deficiency, resulting in yellowing between the veins. Despite the deficiency, the veins will remain green.
Organic phosphorus fertilizers come primarily from mineral sources, like rock dust or colloidal phosphate (also called “soft phosphate”), or from bone sources, such as steamed bone meal or fish bone meal. Mineral phosphorus sources are cheaper and last longer in the soil.
Symptoms of calcium deficiency first appear on younger leaves and tissues, growth is inhibited, and plants have a bushy appearance. The youngest leaves are usually small and misshapen with brown chlorotic spots developing along the margins, which spread to eventually unite in the center of the leaves.
The purple color in leaves comes from pigments called anthocyanins. These pigments also give many red- and purple-colored fruits and flowers their color, as well as tree species that turn a reddish color in autumn.
How to tell if parsley is bad. You can tell if parsley has gone bad by color and smell. The leaves should not droop and should be a deep or bright green without any brown or yellow spots, as these are an indication that the parsley has gone bad. An off smell is also an indicator that your parsley has gone off.
Once a plant reaches full size, parsley needs 1 to 2 inches of rain or supplemental water per week to continue growing well. Water is the crucial element for keeping parsley happy. If you let the soil go too dry, the plant withers and dies. But don't go overboard with the water or the roots will rot.
Parsley. Parsley that is grown outdoors requires a thorough watering once or twice each week. The soil should be damp to a depth of around two inches. Allow the soil to mostly dry before you water in abundance again.
Your potted parsley is turning yellow because you are overwatering the plant. The excess water is drowning the roots and they are unable to provide nutrients and oxygen to the leaves. The solution is to cut the damaged roots and reduce watering to allow the parsley to recover.
These leafy herbs enjoy consistent moisture, so check soil regularly and water when the top inch becomes dry. Promote prolific leaf production by regularly feeding with a water-soluble plant food. Harvest parsley stems by cutting them at the base once they're large enough to use.
If you have ever bought a live pot of herbs from the supermarket, you will have found that you must use all the herbs in a short period, as they often do not last very long sitting on the shelf in your kitchen. There are several reasons for this: Such herbs are not intended to last more than 1-2 weeks.
If you are storing the herbs in the refrigerator, cover loosely with a plastic bag. Cilantro loves cool temperatures and should be stored in the refrigerator. Parsley can be stored at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
It can tolerate temperatures as low as 20 degrees Fahrenheit, making it winter hardy in USDA zone 9 and above. Parsley dislikes humid weather and may die if temperatures rise above 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Introduction: My name is Mr. See Jast, I am a open, jolly, gorgeous, courageous, inexpensive, friendly, homely person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
