The leaves of your parsley, which just looked so beautiful green, suddenly turn yellow.
The culprit is damage to the leaves and roots, which some gardeners refer to as the parsley disease. How can you prevent your parsley turn yellow and what can you do so that your parsley grows well and thrives?
Four Possible Causes for Yellow Parsley Leaves
Parsley is a willful plant. If something doesn’t suit it, it turns yellow, withers, and eventually dies.
The reason for this is almost always to be found in care mistakes. You can make four serious mistakes when growing parsley:
- The wrong location
- Crop rotation problems
- Too wet or too dry soil
- The soil is polluted by fungal spores and pests.
Choosing the Right Location for Parsley
Parsley does not like it too warm and sunny. It rather prefers a semi-shaded location.
The soil should be rich in humus and very loose. Above all, crop rotation plays an important role.
Pay Attention to Crop Rotation in Parsley
Parsley is highly incompatible with itself. The parsley bed must not have had any umbelliferous plants on it for three years beforehand.
In addition to parsley, this includes carrots, dill, celery, fennel, and all other umbellifers. If these plants are grown on the same bed in subsequent years, the risk of soil pests and fungi multiplying uncontrollably increases.
Water Parsley Properly
The biggest problem in the care of parsley is watering. It should not stand too dry, nor can it tolerate too much wetness or even waterlogging.
Make sure that the soil is permeable so that rainwater or watering water does not accumulate.
Always make sure to water the parsley carefully. Check with your finger to see if the top layer of soil has dried off, and only then water again.
However, do not give your parsley too much water. It is better to water parsley more often with only a little water than to give a lot of water less often.
Soil Pests and Fungal Spores As Triggers for Yellow Leaves in Parsley
Soil pests such as root aphids, nematodes, maggots, and fungal spores feel particularly at home at the roots of umbelliferous plants such as parsley.
These pests are often so small that you can’t see them with the naked eye.
If the pests have taken up residence in the garden, it usually affects the compost as well. If you use infested compost to fertilize the new parsley bed, you increase the risk that the parsley will later turn yellow.
Preplant Parsley in a Pot Or Sow it Only from August
There are two solutions to growing vigorous parsley. Sow the seasoning herb in a pot with growing soil and plant it outdoors only from August.
If you like to sow in the open ground right away, also wait until August. Then the main spreading time for pests and fungal spores is over and the parsley can develop into strong plants.
What Can I Do if My Parsley Does Not Grow?
If it happens frequently that parsley does not grow outdoors and turns yellow, you should have the garden soil tested for fungi and parasites.
Contaminated soil from the garden should never be used as potting soil for kitchen herbs on the balcony or windowsill.