Lipstick plant leaves turning yellow: causes and what to do
17 results in the diagnosis tree begin with yellowing leaves, 7 of them marked likely when the answers fit. They are ordered here for Lipstick plant (Aeschynanthus radicans), using what its sources say about soil moisture, light, soil, watering and feeding and 2 problems recorded for it.
Sources last read 14 September 2026.
Aeschynanthus radicans is a vine-like plant in the family Gesneriaceae. It is native to the humid tropics of the Malay Peninsula south to Java. Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Native range: S. Myanmar to W. & C. Malesia (wet tropical). Also sold as Basket Vine and Lipstick Vine.
What Lipstick plant’s sources say that bears on this
- Soil moisture
- Moist but well-drainedRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Light
- Partial shadeRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Soil
- Loam; pH Acid or Alkaline or NeutralRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Watering
- Water often, but make sure the potting soil drains well.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Between mid spring and late summer, water generously and feed monthly with a general liquid feed at half strength. Give little water in winter.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Feeding
- In the growing season, a dilute liquid fertilizer (an orchid one, for example) promotes leaves and flowers.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Between mid spring and late summer, water generously and give a general liquid feed at half strength each month.RHS · read 13 September 2026
How this shows up on a Lipstick plant
Buds that yellow and drop on a leafy plant
Buds appear on the lipstick plant and then fall while still closed, often within days of the plant being moved, turned or left to dry out.
A bud is the most expensive thing on the plant. Kept below the partial shade its source names, or moved while in bud, the lipstick plant abandons buds before it abandons leaves.
Telling it apart: A fallen bud under a magnifying glass. Insects or scarring point at pests; a clean bud points at a change or at water.
RHS · read 13 September 2026Yellow, limp leaves at the base
A sour smell from the compost is common on a lipstick plant, and the lowest leaves on each stem come away when pulled. The surface may look dry while everything beneath it is not.
Soil described as moist but well-drained is a drainage instruction as much as a watering one. Compost that stays saturated suffocates the fine roots that do the drinking.
Telling it apart: The soil, not the leaf. Wet compost under yellowing leaves points one way and dry compost the other, and the leaves alone will not tell you which.
RHS · read 13 September 2026Possible causes, likeliest first for a Lipstick plant
Most likely too little water
Ranked higher because Lipstick plant's recorded problems point this way.
- Moist but well-drained RHS · read 13 September 2026
Why: Soil dry two inches down, under lower leaves that are yellowing or leaves that are falling, is a lipstick plant shedding what it cannot support.
What to try:
- Water until it runs from the drainage hole, then let the pot drain.Useful: pot with drainage holes
- If the water runs straight through a shrunken rootball, stand the pot in water for twenty minutes so the compost can take it up.
What would settle it: Water it thoroughly and look again the same evening. A thirsty plant firms up fast. One that does not has a root problem rather than a water problem.
Most likely not enough light
Ranked higher because Lipstick plant's recorded problems point this way.
- Partial shade RHS · read 13 September 2026
Why: Far from a bright window, a lipstick plant builds leaves it cannot afford.
What to try:
- Move it closer to the brightest window you have, over a week or two rather than in one step.Useful: grow light
- Water less while it is in low light; a lipstick plant that is barely growing uses little.
What would settle it: Compare a new leaf with one from last year. Smaller and paler, with a longer gap below it, is the reaching pattern rather than a nutrient one.
Most likely too little water
Ranked higher because Lipstick plant's recorded problems point this way.
- Moist but well-drained RHS · read 13 September 2026
Why: Soil dry two inches down leaves the roots nothing to send up, and the leaf edges are the last tissue in line.
What to try:
- Water thoroughly, until it runs from the drainage hole.Useful: pot with drainage holes
- Check the soil with a finger every few days rather than watering on a fixed day.Useful: moisture meter
What would settle it: Water it thoroughly and watch the next new leaves. If they come in with clean edges under steadier watering, the edges were thirst.
Less likely for a Lipstick plant, still possible
- Most likely cold
- Most likely short of nutrients
- Most likely too much water
- Most likely a build-up of salts in the soil
- Light and feeding are both plausible, and this does not separate them
- Nutrients are an unlikely explanation here
- Possibly root rot, in a pot that has stopped draining
- Possibly too much direct sun
- Possibly too much direct sun, or feeding
- This may be ordinary leaf loss
- Probably too much water, but this is not settled
- Possibly dry air
- Probably too much water
- The answers do not point at one cause
Questions
- What usually causes yellowing leaves on a Lipstick plant?
- For Lipstick plant: most likely too little water, most likely not enough light and most likely too little water.
- How can I tell which one it is on my Lipstick plant?
- Where is the yellowing? The lowest leaves, working upward; New growth at the top, while older leaves stay green; Between the veins, the veins themselves still green; At the leaf tips and edges, browning as it goes; Patchy, only on the side facing the window.
- What do Lipstick plant's sources say about its soil moisture?
- RHS: Moist but well-drained.
- What does this look like on a Lipstick plant?
- Buds appear on the lipstick plant and then fall while still closed, often within days of the plant being moved, turned or left to dry out. Telling it apart: A fallen bud under a magnifying glass. Insects or scarring point at pests; a clean bud points at a change or at water.
Other plants that show yellowing leaves
African violetLower leaves collapse and yellow within days of a watering
Goldfish plantPale, undersized leaves at the tips of the stems
Barberton daisyWrinkling rather than yellowing
Bearded irisFaded, yellow-white areas on the sunny side of the plant
Bigleaf hydrangeaPale dry areas across the upper leaves only
Bird of paradiseFaded, yellow-white areas on the sunny side of the plant
Something else wrong with the Lipstick plant?
What this does not cover
This page orders a decision tree's results using a plant's sourced care. It has not seen your plant, its pot or its window, and two problems at once are common: that is the usual reason a confident answer turns out wrong. The questions in the diagnosis tool narrow it further than a list can.