With its trunk thickened at the bottom and long, narrow leaves, the elephant's foot is a real eye-catcher in the living room or winter garden. It's even worse when it leaves the leaves hanging. However, worries are not always necessary.
Why does the elephant's foot let the leaves droop?
If the elephant's foot leaves the leaves drooping, the causes may be a lack of water, lack of light, drafts, temperature fluctuations or root damage. To counteract this, you should optimize its water and light supply and pay attention to the ambient temperature.
Why does the elephant's foot let the leaves droop?
The leaves of the elephant foot naturally droop, this is completely normal. However, if they look dull or are becoming noticeably brighter, then you should intervene and look for the cause. These can be quite diverse. Care errors are often behind it or the location is unfavorable.
First and foremost, you should think about lack of light and water. Even if the elephant's foot does not need a lot of water, it should be watered regularly. Ideally, you should always water it when the top layer of soil has dried out. However, it needs a lot of light. If your elephant foot is in the shade, be sure to put it in a brighter place.
If the temperatures fluctuate a lot (especially in winter) or your elephant's foot is in a draft, then the leaves can hang limply for these reasons too. The plant reacts similarly to root damage. These are often the result of waterlogging. The reasons for this are too frequent or too abundant watering, but also a lack of drainage layer in the pot.
Possible causes of drooping leaves:
- normal signs of aging
- Water shortage
- Lack of light
- Draft
- strongly fluctuating temperatures, especially in winter
- Root damage
How much leaf loss is actually normal?
Unlike deciduous plants, the elephant's foot does not drop all its leaves in autumn. Instead, it continually renews itself. So leaves keep dying while new ones grow back. The elephant's foot usually loses the leaves at the bottom and sprouts new ones at the top. As long as as many leaves emerge as are lost, everything is fine.
Tip
If you react immediately to the drooping leaves of your elephant's foot, the plant will usually recover quite quickly.
