Plants could not live on water alone. They need to be able to always have nutrientsespecially 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
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 pestssuch 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?
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.
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.
