Why are My Syngonium Leaves Not Unfurling?

Syngonium plants are good-looking plant in house plants. I personally love this plant because of its leaves. Normally they are in green color, I also have which they are in pink which even makes them prettier. They are also known as Arrowhead or goosefoot plants.

If your Syngonium plant leaves got curled and need to find out why? you are in the right place. Curling is the most common problem in house plants.

To make Syngonium plant leaves unfurl, we need to work on the cause of the problem, why did it get curled? The main causes are improper watering, roots problem, lack of nutrients, low humidity, too much light, High temperature, or over-fertilizing. we need to identify and take appropriate fixes to help plants unfurl the leaves.

Syngonium plants require enough moisture to uncurl the leaves, simply if they are not uncurling means there is no sufficient moisture. I suggest not to uncurl the leaves through the hand, let it heal and uncurl by itself.

Here are the detailed steps that I follow to uncurl my Syngonium plant in different circumstances.

1. Improper Watering (Under watering and Over watering)

For sure Overwatering or underwatering will have the most impact on the Syngonium plant. Overwatering is giving more water than is required for plants. Underwatering is giving less water to plants.

Under-Watering Syngonium plant

When we give less water to the plant, the plant enters survival mode by curling, shading the leaves to prevent water leaves (from transpiration).

Leaves will curl, turn yellow, and fall. Syngonium plant leaves curl when we give less water to the plant.

Solution:

Provide sufficient water to plant, Don’t underwater the Syngonium plant.

We recommend you should water plant at least once a week to prevent from underwatering problems as mentioned above.

Over-Watering Syngonium plant

When we overwater Syngonium plant leaves drop, Syngonium or goose plants don’t like sitting water on the base of the plant, this can damage the plant which can also cause curling of leaves.

Solution:

Provide sufficient water to plant, Don’t over-water the Syngonium plant.

Soil also matters, we should not overwater the plant-like soil should be moist and not wet.

2. Check for Pests (leaves pest)

The next thing to check for pests, once you find the pests you know how to get rid of them. This may one of the common things for the Syngonium plant to curl the leaves.

Solution:

The solution depends on the type of pest that is affected and quickly remove them from plants, if they are small use soap water to wash away, or neem oil stop spreading.

3. Roots

Syngonium plant roots have thick and strong roots. If the space is not available for them to grow and to take water. For sure this will cause plant growth and cause leaves to curl.

Solution:

Increase to the next pot size or plant it on land to get more of the plant or to save the plant. Soil also matters here, quick well-drainable soil is recommended for this plant.

4. Lack of Nutrients

Syngonium plants need nutrients to grow and to be well. If your Syngonium, plant lacks any of the nutrients leaves start to Curl.

Solution:

To protect from lacking nutrients, plant leaves start to turn a curl and also turn into greenish-yellow, So start providing required nutrients in terms of fertilizer to take care of the plant.

There is also the possibility that if you didn’t fertilize for a long time it may shorten the nutrients in the soil and possibly curl the leaves. To solve this use fertilizer.

5. Low Humidity or High Humidity

Syngonium needs high humidity to thrive, If not given enough humidity leaves eventually turn yellow and fall off.

Low humidity increases the loss of water through leaves, which makes them curl. Here Leaves curl to reduce the water evaporation through leaves.

Solution:

By giving enough water and High moisture content we can solve this.

Use the mulching method to trap the moisture in the plant.

Use the pebble trap method where it increases humidity leaves around the plant.

The artificial method is to use a humidifier if the plant is inside the house.

6. Less Exposure to light

When the Syngonium plant doesn’t receive enough light then leaves slowly start to curl. Like other plants, the Syngonium plant also needs light for photosynthesis, which is very crucial for plants.

When a plant is unable to make its own food, it will turn weak, and leaves start to curl and start to die.

Solution:

we can expose the Syngonium plant to sufficient sunlight, at least for 4 hours each day to grow well.

We can also move the plant to near the window which helps the plant to get enough sunlight.

We can also give artificial sunlight to the Syngonium plant to get enough sunlight. if it is freezing out in winters.

7. High Temperature

Very high temperature or freezing temperature causes Syngonium plants to curl.

In summer if the temperature goes high then Syngonium plants may curl to show it is affected by high temperature.

Solution:

Here we can solve this by keeping plants inside when in summer to protect them from direct sunlight.

Try a Humidifier to gain humidity for the inside plant.

8. Over Fertilizing

Over-fertilizing always does harm to plants instead of supporting growing strong and bigger.

Giving more fertilizer is like adding more chemicals to plant which leads to more build of chemicals in roots and possibly reduce the water absorption mechanism and causing leaves to curl and turn yellow.

Solution:

The best way to solve this is to apply the correct amount of fertilizer to each plant. We suggest applying only once or twice a year in spring or summer.

Give NPK based fertilizer to thrive more. Don’t add fertilizer to very small plants and newly potted plants.

Give enough water after fertilizing if fertilizer is in a solid state.

FAQ:

Q. Arrowhead Plant Leaves not opening

A. To make Arrow plant leaves not opening, we need to work on the cause of the problem, why did it get curled? The main causes are improper watering, roots problem, lack of nutrients, low humidity, too much light, High temperature, or over-fertilizing. we need to identify and take appropriate fixes to help plants open the leaves.

Q. Syngonium leaves curling

A. The main causes for curling leaves of Syngonium plants are improper watering, roots problem, lack of nutrients, low humidity, too much light, High temperature, or over-fertilizing. we need to identify and take appropriate fixes to help Syngonium plant.

Final Thoughts:

I am able to unfurl my Syngonium plant by using these techniques. Let me know your results in the comments.