How to recover a plant with excess fertilizer

Excess compost dries out the leaves

Plants could not live on water alone. They need to be able to always have nutrients, especially in the growing season, so as not to have any problems. For this reason, you might think that if food, that is, compost, helps them grow, the more we put in it, the more it will grow, right?

The truth is that no. When we use mineral and some organic products (such as guano), we must be very careful with the dose. It is common to miss him more. If it has happened to you, I'm going to tell you how to recover a plant with excess fertilizer.

Symptoms of excess compost

Excess compost is a problem for plants

Image - Wikimedia / Agronomic Planet Archives

Before treating her, it is important to make sure that we have really overdosed, or that she actually has another problem. For this reason, it is essential to know the symptoms that we will see in plants, and are next:

  • Burnt leaf edges
  • Appearance of spots on the leaves
  • Withered or misshapen leaves
  • Fall of leaves
  • Flower buds that do not open
  • The plant does not grow

Being weak, in severe cases the plant could be affected by pests, such as mealybugs, spider mites or aphids.

How to recover a burned plant with fertilizer or compost

If it is in a pot ...

If the affected plant is in a pot, it is recommended that it be removed and the root ball is placed in a container with quality water, such as rain, osmosis or distilled water, for 20 minutes. Likewise, the pot must be thoroughly cleaned, so that no trace of the product remains.

If it's on land ...

On the other hand, if the plant is in the ground, what you have to do is water it in such a way that the soil is well soaked. Thus, the excess minerals will go down. To help the roots, it does not hurt to add homemade rooting hormones, like lentils.

It is quite possible that the plant will end up losing a lot of leaves, but it is worth a try 🙂.

How to fertilize the plants correctly?

Compost is an organic compost

To prevent plants from being damaged by excess compost or fertilizerIt is very important to know when and how to pay them, since otherwise, for example, you could make the mistake of adding more quantity than they really need, or of paying them at a time when they hardly use energy.

When should they be paid?

So, taking this into account, when do you have to pay them? Well, there will be opinions for all tastes, and of course each teacher has his booklet as they say, but plants are living things and therefore they need to stay alive ... for as long as they can. And for this, the nutrients found in the soil or in the substrate are essential.

So, since no two lands or substrates are the same, their wealth (or fertility) varies. For example, in silty soils there will be a greater amount of nutrients than in sandy soils, as they are better able to retain them. On the other hand, if we talk about substrates, the blond peat is very poor in nutrients if we compare it with the mulch since the latter is composed of organic matter in the mineralization phase.

Therefore, The first thing to do to know when to pay is:

  • Find out what type of soil is (this article on types of soils can serve you).
  • See if it tends to erode or not.
  • Make sure that it has not been used previously for intensive agriculture (these soils have a brutal excess of fertilizer, taking years and years to recover).
  • Check that the plant is healthy (the diseased ones should not be paid).

With all this in mind, it can seem difficult to know when to fertilize a plant, but roughly you should know that the best time to fertilize coincides with the growing season of the plant. Does that mean you don't have to do it the rest of the year? It doesn't have to.

If the soil is very poor in nutrients it is not enough to enrich it, but using slow release fertilizers such as manure from herbivorous animals for example.

How to fertilize the plants?

Whenever this compost or fertilizer comes in a container, you must read the instructions specified in it and follow them to the letter. Now, if it is a compost without packaging, as it usually happens when buying manure in bulk, for example, a layer of about 2-3cm will be spread around the plant, and it will mix a little with the earth.

Excess compost can be avoided

I hope that these tips and tricks will be useful to you, on the one hand, to save a plant with excess fertilizer, and on the other, to prevent it from happening again.


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  1.   Layla said

    Hello Monica!
    I have a dwarf penta with excess compost, it has yellowish foliage, and since it is a fast growing, constant flowering plant, I thought it needed an extra dose of phosphorous. I have done about three substrate washes letting the water drip through the drainage holes by means of deep watering and I wanted to know if it is a good idea to continue until the water runs completely clear and then change to a larger container with new soil ... What would you recommend me about it? Greetings from CR

  2.   Virgilio said

    Hello, recently I started to germinate and sow different types of fruit and vegetable plants but, I think that I went over fertilizer: I bought him black fertilized soil and I also bought him humus and other fertilizers to mix them all, thinking that it would give a good result But, at the beginning everything grew well and that of the melon florio, but then they all began to amaze and the leaves to curl around the edge, some even fell and turned a color like yellowish, well the thing is that many have died. And I feel a bit disappointed but, at the same time, I want to see how you recover those that are still in the process, please help (I live in Panama in case the weather makes a difference in your answer, Thank you)

    1.    Monica Sanchez said

      Hello Virgilio.
      Do not abuse the compost. I recommend that you simply water the plants that remain alive and do not pay them until a couple of months have passed.
      A greeting.

  3.   Roger Cuevas. said

    Greetings Monica!
    I have a miniature rose bush. I gave it the treatment you describe on the second day of seeing the symptoms, in the following days its main stems turned brown and its leaves dried. Some young stems are still a little green, should I write it off?

    1.    Monica Sanchez said

      Hello Roger.
      No, if there is green there is still hope 🙂
      Cut off whatever is brown or black, and water with rooting hormones.
      And then yes, we will have to wait to see how he reacts.
      Luck.

  4.   Thays valdivia said

    Hello, I have a 3-year-old orchid that was perfectly healthy… after using a fertilizer on it it began to put its yellow leaves and even the root turned yellow… they tell me it was excess fertilizer…. how can i save her?

    1.    Monica Sanchez said

      Hi Thays.
      I recommend you water it abundantly with water. And wait.
      A greeting.

  5.   Richard said

    Good afternoon.
    I have achieved two small apple trees in a pot, about 20cm and they were green and beautiful.
    It occurred to me to add fertilizer to them, and maybe it happened a bit, but after a while, the leaves wilted. I have been pouring water on it and they are outside, that is, they receive daylight.

    1 / it is a good idea to leave it and continue to pour water on it.
    2 / or take them out to a new pot and try to revive them with new soil and water daily.

    regards

    1.    Monica Sanchez said

      Hi Richard.

      You are in the northern hemisphere, right? I ask you because it is now summer, and it is not a good time to transplant. Besides that they are very young, and therefore their roots are delicate.

      My advice: leave them outside, but in an area that does not directly shine on them. It can be under a shade mesh, or a large plant. And continue to water them from time to time, about 3-4 times a week depending on the weather (the warmer and drier it is, the more it will be necessary to water).

      Good luck!

  6.   Sandra said

    Hello, I have a two-meter strelitzia nicolai in a pot at home, it has developed some brown spots on one of its leaves, after watering it and adding liquid green plant fertilizer to it in December. What can it be due to? Thanks

    1.    Monica Sanchez said

      Hello Sandra.

      Did you follow the directions on the package? It could be a symptom of overdose.
      Now, it could also have happened that at some point it received more water than it needed, or that it was near the heating and those air currents dried them.

      Likewise, if it doesn't go any further, don't worry.

      Greetings.