Identifying damage to plants due to excessive water and solutions to save the plants.

Identifying overwatered plants and solutions to save the plants

What is over-watering?

Overwatering simply means giving the plant water, which often causes the soil to become constantly saturated, which eventually leads to root rot and plant death. Overwatering is the number-one houseplant killer and the reason people struggle to care for their plants.

Signs that the plant is over-watered

Wet plant soil

Wet plant soil seems to be the most obvious sign that you have an overwatered plant. But this can be misleading. 

Different plants have different water needs.

We can say that knowing if the plant is overwatered does not entirely depend on the observation of soil moisture alone.

Here, whenever we water our plants, it is best practice to completely saturate the soil and allow it to dry out until the next watering.

Yellowing leaves

It is also a sign that the plant is deficient in water.

If it is caused by overwatering the plant, the plant will essentially drown as the soil becomes constantly saturated.

The roots get too much moisture for the plant, and its leaves turn yellow.

If the soil is overwatered, there is literally too much water in the cells and leaves.

This then dilutes the amount of nutrients available to the plant.

Plants need free macronutrients for strong, healthy growth.

Nitrogen, Potassium, and Phosphorus

Nitrogen promotes growth and turns foliage green.

Due to a lack of nitrogen in the soil due to overwatering, the plant turns yellow after the leaves turn yellow.

Edges turning brown.

The next stage is the foliage edges turning brown.

A severely dehydrated plant will have crispy brown leaves, and the leaves will fall off the plant easily. 

Droopy appearance.

An overwatered plant also has a droopy appearance.

A droopy appearance will also be a sign of a lack of water.

Drooping, caused by a lack of water, is when the plant essentially goes into survival mode and conserves as much energy as possible until the next watering.

Drooping of an overwatered plant, on the other hand, occurs when the plant becomes submerged in water, overwetting the stems and leaves, weakening the plant, and causing it to droop.

There are also soft stems and soft leaves, along with drooping leaves, due to excess water in the cells.

The stems of your plant should feel firm to the touch, and you should not be able to easily bend and squeeze them.

This is essentially the leaves and stems that decay from the inside.

Soft leaves are a problem with overwatering, especially succulent plants like Echeverias and Jade plants.

Succulent plants store water in their thick leaves, so when we overwater the plant, it turns yellow. The leaves of your Jade plant should be firm and straight. If you can bend them easily, this indicates that they are thirsty. Likewise, if you can squeeze them easily and water leaks out, they are overwatered and rotting slowly.

Leaf drop.

Falling leaves are a good indication that your plant is suffering from overwatering. This happens when the plant's roots push too much water into the leaves.

Then the leaves rot from the inside and are allowed to fall.

As the plant ages, its lowest leaves usually fall, and the plant pushes its energy into growth in the upper parts.

Overwatering causes leaves to drop all over the plant and is accompanied by yellowing leaves.

Build-up of fungus or mold on the soil line.

It will make the soil line of your plants visible, and see if you have any mold problems. This is essentially dead leaf tissue that has fallen to the soil surface; it rots due to the constant presence of moisture. It also smells bad. Fungus gnats love 2 inches of moist soil to infest your plant and lay their eggs.

The top of the soil should not be wet all the time.

If the top 2 inches are always wet, the soil at the bottom of the pot will be wetter than that.

You've given it too much water, and fungus gnats will invade.

A good tip is to water from the bottom to allow you to control how wet the top of the soil is.

And if your plant is showing many of these symptoms, then the final check is to look at the roots.

Remove your plants from the pot and check the roots. Healthy roots should be bright, light brown, and plump.

If some turn dark brown, they are spoiling.

Roots are dark brown (Black and mushy)

If any roots are black and mushy, they are rotten. If your plant is suffering like this, you should do some pruning to stop the problem from getting worse.

Plants are strong and usually bounce back when the problem is corrected.

How to save an over-watered plant?

Decaying roots need to be cut. Remove the soil from the roots and give them good pruning.

(Remove damaged roots.)

Another tip is to keep your plants in plastic pots with drainage holes.

Repot:

Repot the plant in a potting mix that drains freely.

Free-draining potting soil is critical for healthy roots, especially as your plant recovers from overwatering.

Be sure to remove all roots that start to rot.

Add potting soil and perlite in a 5:2 ratio for good drainage.

Then the soil does not retain excess water for a long time.

If you have damaged foliage, trim it to tidy up the plant's appearance, and then place it in a bright spot in your home to capture natural light. Therefore, the plant stores energy due to the process of photosynthesis.

Understand what the plant needs and wants.

Because all plants are different and require different levels of water in the soil,

For example, Ficus plants need less water than 'Peace Lilies'.

The easiest way to avoid overwatering your plant is to test the soil before adding water.

How to save a dying plant?

Don't give up on your plant just because it's turning brown and losing its leaves.

If the plant has live branches or a stem, you have the ability to revive a nearly dead plant.

The problem can be too much or too little sunlight, a dry climate or poor soil, over- or under-watering, over-fertilisation, or even some diseases.

First, the roots of the dying plant must be alive; there must be an opportunity to revive.

Root rot caused by over-watering or fungal infection.

Some healthy, white roots mean the plant has a chance to come back to life.

It is better if the stems of your plant show signs of green.

Working on the leaves and branches.

Therefore, first of all, cut off all the dead leaves so that the supply of nutrients from the roots is reduced and they can recover more efficiently. Cut off the dead parts of the branches until you see green. Ideally, new stems will grow from these cut stems. But this is not enough if the roots are rotten.

Working on the roots.

Gently remove the soil from the root ball. Be careful not to damage the feeder roots.

Then clean the roots and clean them with water until the old soil is free.

Cut off all rotten and wet roots.

You can clearly see if there are healthy, white roots.

What Hydrogen peroxide can do?

Hydrogen peroxide helps build the soil, which helps prevent root rot in the future.

When it is absorbed into the soil, the hydrogen peroxide breaks down and releases oxygen. This high oxygen level ensures that your roots are healthy and strong.

Dilute 10 ml of hydrogen peroxide in 200 ml of water. Dip the roots of the plant in it for about 2 minutes.

Repotting: Replanting the dying plant

Get a new pot or wash the old pot thoroughly. Make sure the pot has a drainage hole. Then fill the pot with well-draining potting soil. Place the pot in a shaded area out of direct sunlight. 

Adding 3 grams of fungicide powder per litre of water kills the fungus, and the plant recovers quickly.

It may take several weeks for your plant to fully recover.

After a few weeks, if your plant comes back to life, you will notice that new shoots have appeared and it looks healthy.

A suitable natural fungicide for fungal damage caused by heavy rain, and how to make it?

Take 50 grammes of copper sulphate (blue vitriol) and 50 grammes of quicklime each.

Blue vitriol should be soaked overnight in one litre of hot water, and the next morning another litre of water should be taken, and quicklime should be dissolved in it. Both of these should be filtered separately.

Here, a clay pot should be used to melt blue vitriol. After mixing these two mixtures and putting them in a clay pot, taking an iron knife and dipping it into the mixture, and mixing water until it does not stick like copper, you can get a proper-quality fungicide.

Then put it in a sprayer and spray it on the leaves to reduce fungal damage.

This is known as "Bordeaux" mixture (Bordo Mix) and can also be used in vegetable cultivation.