Do Not Over Feeding House Plants

Do Not Over Feeding House Plants

Leaf at the expense of Flower

Pamper your plants by all means but resist the urge to over feed.

Doubling up on the plant feed or recommended concentration level will not help your plants. They wont grow bigger and better, quite the opposite.

Plant Responses to Over Feeding

  • A strong dose of fertilizer will ‘burn’ or cause browning of the tender leaf tips and margin of the leaves.
  • If the nitrogen level is too high the growth will be soft, sappy and may lead to total collapse.
  • Fertilizer salts can build up in pots as the feed is never totally used or absorbed.
  • Delicate feeder roots are then damaged by the greater concentration of undissolved minerals which can kill a plant.
  • Browned off leaf tips and distorted or stunted leaves are a result.
  • A white crust of salts on the top of pots or compost is a sign of over feeding. This crust can burn the most delicate of plants to death.
  • Unbalance feeding can cause the plant to react in a disproportionate way such as growing leggy or too leafy.
  • Feeding through winter is generally a mistake. If plants aren’t growing naturally then do not force feed them!

 

Over Watering reminder Plants can drown! Some go limp and can be revived other ‘pop their clogs’ and you get no second chance.
Roots need nurishment and air. Water helps one but can remove the other from soil.

Young plants can often get all they need from commercial compost for several months.  Seedlings need even less feed.

Do not add a slow release fertilizer then use your weekly liquid feed.

Fertilizer companies want to sell more fertilizer so  many proprietary feeds can be diluted by half and still be effective. Match the quantity of feed to the size of your plant, you wouldn’t give a toddler a 5 course banquet.
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