Why is My Philodendron Leaf Not Unfurling

I love Philodendrons. I currently have three, see below, a Philodendron McColley’s Finale, Philodendron Birkin, and Philodendron Prince of Orange. They are beautiful and generally very easy to care for plants. Every once in a while, some of my Philodendrons have trouble with the leaf coming out of the cataphyll. If you found this post, you’re probably having the same issue. Keep reading to learn the causes for a Philodendron leaf not unfurling, what you can do to prevent it, and what to do when it’s already happening.

Causes For a Philodendron Leaf Not Unfurling

First, I’ll explain what’s even going on. The cataphyll, which I mentioned earlier is like a small outer leaf that is wrapped around the nicer bigger leaf that you actually want to see. The cataphyll protects the nicer leaf while it develops. If the cataphyll is damaged before the leaf has emerged, then the leaf itself may be damaged permanently as well. Under the right conditions, the nice leaf grows until it burst open the cataphyll and unfurls.

Sometimes… it gets stuck though. When your Philodendron leaf is not unfurling, it might look like the photo you see below. The new leaf is trying to emerge, but it just seems to have gotten stuck. In fact, the cataphyll seems like it’s hanging on pretty tight and it’s even much darker at the top. In fact, if you see the wrinkled leaf below, you’ll see that this isn’t the first time this has happened.

Low Humidity

Low humidity is the most likely culprit for your Philodendron leaf not unfurling. They like medium to high humidity. Philodendrons are moist tropical plants, think rainforest, so they enjoy some humidity. Most homes are not the ideal humidity for Philodendrons especially not in winter when the heater is drying the air.

How to Solve Low Humidity

You can try using a spray bottle daily to increase the humidity around your Philodendron. I’ve read that spraying and misting plants does not raise humidity for long in a household environment. If it’s just the cataphyll that needs some extra moisture, then spraying the cataphyll directly may have some positive effects. I’ve tried it before to varying degrees of success. If your leaf looks like mine above, it’s already too late for spraying though. If you want to spray you need to start just as the leaf is starting to come out of the cataphyll.

You can also add a humidifier next to your Philodendron to raise the humidity in the immediate vicinity of the plant. Humidifiers come in all shapes and sizes with different bells and whistles. I really prefer the small personal humidifiers. This type of humidifier is very easy to clean and you don’t spend a fortune on them if they do end up getting gross and you have to replace it. I have seen some disgusting humidifiers and the stuff that grows in those things just really grosses me out.

Low Soil Moisture

This one kind of goes along with the low humidity explanation. If your Philodendron is not receiving adequate moisture it can prevent the leaf from unfurling from the cataphyll. Maybe the cataphyll excretes a little bit of moisture to reduce the friction. The idea is that, while Philodendrons can be forgiving about soil moisture or lack thereof, it’s very important to have adequate soil moisture when a leaf is close to unfurling.

How to Fix Low Soil Moisture

If your soil moisture is too low, just add water, right. Pretty much. Sometimes when we water it’s either not enough or we water so fast that a lot of water ends up draining out of the bottom of the pot. One good way to combat this is to water from the bottom. This means you place your pot in a bucket of water or a sink filled with water and let the soil and roots soak up water. If your Philodendron is not properly holding moisture, then you may be due for a repot, follow this post on repotting a Philodendron Birkin.

One of my favorite and most used houseplant tools is a cheap soil moisture meter. I really use it several times a week. It takes all the guesswork out of how moist your soil is. It also makes you better at watering your plants, because you learn that this one dries out fast when you use a certain amount of water and that one still hasn’t dried out after a whole week.

Dormancy

When winter comes, the hours of daylight become shorter. Philodendrons, don’t need a ton of light, they are rainforest plants. However, if you have them in your window where it was getting eight hours of daylight and now it’s only getting three because it’s winter, then your plant will know it’s winter and go dormant. Dormancy slows down growth and that can be the cause of your Philodendron leaf not unfurling.

How to Stop or Slow Dormancy

You can’t stop winter. All you can do is add light. There are A LOT of different grow lights for plants. I don’t use grow light personally. I think it’s just fine for my plants to go dormant, it actually gives me a little break in the winter because I don’t have to water as frequently. That said, DossierBlog has a great write-up on grow lights that can help you pick out what you need if you choose to use grow lights for your Philodendron.

What to Do With a Philodendron Leaf That Won’t Unfurl

What I have been discussing so far are the reasons why the leaf isn’t unfurling and ways to prevent that from happening in the future. But what do you do once it’s already happening? First, make sure it’s actually happening. By this, I mean you want to make sure the unfurling has actually stalled before you take action. If you see a leaf that looks stuck like my photo above, then wait a day. If it still looks like that, it’s probably stuck.

What can you do if it’s stuck? You can try to help it. If you choose to do this I do not recommend trying to unwrap the cataphyll and the leaf. You’re almost certain to damage the leaf that way. I recommend cutting the cataphyll all the way through where it has already separated from the leaf, then sliding the cataphyll off the top of the leaf. Like taking a cap off a pen.

You can also do nothing. Sometimes the leaf and cataphyll get so damaged that they never unfurl. In that case, it will probably dry up and fall off like any damaged leaf.

I hope this helps you with your Philodendron. If you have questions post them in the comments.