Hi all,

I have a perplexing problem with my big cheese. I've had it for about three or four years and it's been sprouting along quite nicely. Anyway, aside from some raggedy leaves, as a result of transport, it's been fine.

However it started to get some yellowing of it's leaves and i had to remove one, stalk and all, recently.

It seems to be retaining water in its pot and I've been very careful not to water it until it dries out. At the same time the leaves are yellowing from the edges in rather than from the vein out which would surely mean it's being under watered?

It also had a bit of a knock a few months ago and lost two shoots (which werse successfully repotted and have sprouted a third!) at the top. Since then two new leaves have appeared, one a recent as a couple of weeks ago.

I'm about to repot it into a much bigger pot to give it room to grow as the roots seem very tightly bound in the pot. Does this seem like it might help the monster out?

What does everyone think is wrong? I've posted a few pics below of the problem and significant areas.. cheers!

Typically in the case of watering, over-watering will lead to yellowing of leaves and under-watering will lead to dry, brown leaf tips and margins. But a plant being root-bound can also cause the leaves to yellow. From the pictures and your description I would bet your problem is from the plant being root bound as to why the leaves are yellowing. I would replant the plant in a airy planting soil and if you haven't fertilized lately I would recommend fertilizing the plant. With those two things the plant should come back just fine.

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Operational Manager at
Earl May Nursery and Garden Center in Ames, Iowa