How can you tell if there is an over fertilized snake plant? A snake plant with brown edges, brown tips, yellow or brown leaves is a sign you used too much fertilizer. Don’t worry though, everything will be okay! Leaching out the soil from your snake plant in the sink or shower can help.
In other words, you place the pot under running water and let the water drain out. It will help your snake plant bounce back and be fine if you do this for a minute or two to get rid of excess fertilizer/nutrients. However, that’s not all. Now you have to do it properly. We’re here to assist you with the basic fertilizer requirement.
Basic Fertilizer Requirements
It is beneficial to fertilize houseplants regularly during active growth. There are many types (granular, liquid, tablet, crystalline) and combinations of fertilizers (20-20-20, 10-5-10, etc.) available, but all houseplants require nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (K) fertilizer. In most cases, liquid houseplant fertilizer makes this task easier when watering plants.
To prevent overfertilization, it’s usually better to reduce the dosage recommended on the label. Usually, flowering plants require more fertilizer than other plants, but in small amounts. The buds should be removed prior to blooming. In addition, plants grown in low light require less fertilization than those grown in bright light.
Watch Out For Over Fertilization!
Houseplants can suffer from too much fertilizer. The overuse of fertilizer can actually decrease growth and leave plants weak and vulnerable to pests and diseases. The plant can also die as a result. How can you tell if there is an over fertilized snake plant? An overfed plant will show stunted growth, burnt or dry leaf margins, wilting, or collapse. In addition to yellowing of the leaves, over-fertilized plants may also accumulate salts on top of the soil, making it hard for them to absorb water.
The plant may need to be thoroughly rinsed out with water in order to eliminate overfertilization and excess salt buildup (three or four times) if needed. Make sure your plants have sufficient time between waterings so that the soil can drain well. Avoid overfeeding your houseplants by fertilizing only during bursts of active growth and reducing the dosage.
How To Fertilize Properly
Sometimes it is difficult to know when or how to fertilize plants since fertilizer requirements vary. It is generally recommended to fertilize houseplants monthly during spring and summer.
During the fall and winter, when plant growth slows, you should start reducing the amount of fertilizer and frequency of applications. It is important to keep the soil relatively moist when applying houseplant fertilizer. In fact, adding fertilizer while watering is a better method.
How To Fix
The symptoms listed above indicate immediate action needs to be taken. It is clear that our snake plant was overfertilized, and we should immediately remedy this. This situation might be messy, and we would rather not face it. However, action must be taken.
Here is what we will need to do:
- Examine the leaves or roots for any signs of damage
- Remove all yellow/brown leaves
- Using a spoon, remove the fertilizer from the soil’s surface if the fertilizer has settled there
- Don’t remove more than 25% of the soil, and if you must remove more, consider replacing it with fresh soil
- It will be necessary to keep the plant under running water in order to flush away excess fertilizer
Follow the procedure at least three or four times then make sure your soil looks healthy, and repot in a new pot if necessary. When repotting, mix cactus potting soil with compost. Water your plants once they are replanted. If the plant is repotted, don’t fertilize it so it won’t grow stunted. These steps will help us restore our Snake plants to life. However, after you know how can you tell if there is an over fertilized snake plant, all you need to do is take care of the growing plant properly now.