A leggy money plant has long bare stretches of stem between leaves. The new leaves come in small and pale, and the marbling on variegated types fades to plain green. Most owners respond by watering more, or by adding fertiliser. Neither helps. In almost every case we see, the plant simply is not getting enough light. Here is how to tell, and how to fix it.
What leggy actually means
The length of stem between two leaves is called the internode. When a plant is short of light, it stretches: the internodes lengthen as the stem reaches for anything brighter, and the plant puts less into each leaf. Pale colour is the same story, because less light means less chlorophyll. A money plant in good light has leaves close together, each the size of your palm or larger, deep green or clearly marbled.
Money plant tolerates low light, which is why it is sold for dark corners. Tolerating is not thriving. In a dim corridor, or three metres back from a window, it survives, but it stretches. A quick test: at midday, hold your hand a foot above the leaves. If it casts a soft but clear shadow, the light is good. If you can barely see a shadow at all, the plant is living on scraps, however green the room looks to you.
Why more water makes it worse
A plant in low light uses water slowly, so the soil stays wet for longer. Add more and the roots sit in soggy mix and start to rot. Then the leaves yellow, which looks like thirst and prompts even more water. Fertiliser does not help either: without light the plant cannot use the extra food. Before watering, push a finger two inches into the soil. If it is damp, wait.
Yellow leaves plus damp soil means too much water, not too little. Check the soil before you reach for the jug.
The fix: light first, then a cut
Move the plant closer to light. Ideal is bright indirect light: within a metre or two of a window, or on a balcony out of direct afternoon sun. A shelf on a north or east-facing balcony is excellent. Full west sun in May will bleach and burn the leaves, so there is a limit. Give it three to four weeks, and the new leaves will come in larger and closer together. If the plant has lived in a dark corner for months, move it in two steps, a week apart, so the leaves are not shocked by the sudden change.
The existing bare stems will not fill in on their own. Cut them back to a few inches above the soil, just above a node, and new shoots will grow from the nodes below the cut. Put the cuttings in a glass of water; they usually root in two to three weeks. Plant them back into the same pot to make it fuller.
Fixing a leggy money plant
6 thingsIf there really is no light
Some spots are genuinely dark. If the only place for it is a wall ten feet from a small window, a money plant will always stretch. You can accept regular trimming, move it to the balcony for a fortnight every month, or swap it for a ZZ plant or snake plant, which grow slowly and stretch far less. Or add a small LED grow light on a timer for eight to ten hours a day, placed about a foot above the leaves. Any of these is better than more water.
