Overwatered plant recovery time is a top concern for most gardeners. While water is crucial for your plant growth, overwatering can do more harm than good, this is especially true for indoor plants that aren’t well drained.
Plant roots require enough oxygen to work properly. When you overwater plants, the roots lack oxygen which makes them suffocate, ultimately, plants rot and die.
This post will help you know how overwatering occurs and how to revive your plants.
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What Is the Recovery Time for Overwatered Plant?
The recovery time for overwatering plants is between seven days to 14 days. They can recover on their own, but this depends on the plant type and the extended damage. If root rot has affected the plant, then it might not recover on its own.
Remember to implement the strategies discussed in this post to revive your plant or help it recover quickly. But if the plant is just wilting, it can recover on its own. Plants die when provided with excess water than they require. Plants perform well when roots have enough oxygen, and excess water will only lead to suffocation.
Root rot is another reason why plants die out when overwatered. Spending too much time in moist soil often leads to root decay. It’s worth noting that damp environments create a conducive environment for fungi like Phytophthora and Pythium.
What Are Signs of Overwatered Plants?
The signs of overwatered plants include wilting, poor root health, color change, and leaf drop. These would show that you have excessively irrigated it, more than the necessary amount, then the plant is prone to diseases. However, ensure you can revive your plants before it’s too late.
– Wilting
When plants wilt, most gardeners assume that a plant is too dry. While this could be the case in some instances, a wilting plant is a likely indication your plant is drowning.
Check the soil to determine whether it’s moist. If the soil is moist and the plant is wilting, it means it’s drowning in the water that you have supplies excessively.
– Poor Root Health
A common effect of excessively watered comes in the form of root rot. However, before you get to this phase, make sure that you would diagnose your plant’s health by taking it out of its pot. Inspect the roots to see whether the plant is dying. The simple way to do it is to check the black and brown spots which are tell-a-tale signs your plant is rotting. Healthy roots should be firm and white.
Depending on the extent of the damage, rotting roots have a mushy texture, and you may detect a bad smell from the roots. If the stems have been affected, they’ll look swollen and puffy.
– Color Change
A dying plant will change its color, because there is excessive moisture stuck in the leaves, and it would be significant that they are weakening the chlorophyll that would be the ones supplying the color. As a result of the latter, they will be prone to change from green to brown, yellow, or lighter green.
It’s important to note that color change is also witnessed when plants are under watered. If you’ve been watering your plants regularly, but there’s a noticeable color change on the foliage, and the leaves will be looking less fresh and more weak.
– Leaf Drop
Too much water can also cause leaf drop. It’s frustrating for any gardener to deal with leaves dropping from the plants. Again, if you’ve been watering your plants daily, but the leaves are still dropping, it’s a sign you’re overdoing it. The roots could be rotting because they’re suffocating.
How To Fix an Overwatered Plant?
The overwatered plant will be fixed by checking the soil, and preparing a dry area. Then remove the plant from the container, and keep the dry roots, remove the rotted ones, and repot it. The recover largely depends on whether it is infected with root rot or lacks enough oxygen.
– Check the Soil
The first thing you need to do is to check whether the soil is moist or dry. The problem with overwatered plant vs underwatered plant is that they may show similar signs. Therefore, determine what you’re dealing with by first checking the soil.
If the soil is moist, stop watering the plant for the next few days, when you do so, it will come to place slowly but surely. However, this is where you have to give more time from day to day so that the excess moisture would fulfill itself, till it is ready for regular irrigation.
– Prepare a Drying Area
If the roots are wet and soggy, prepare a drying area. Use any absorbent material that will drain water from the roots. This is the place where the atmosphere isn’t as humid, and the room or the location is quite dry and sees some sunlight. When you place it as such, the plant will try to recover itself.
– Remove the Plant from the Container
However, when you check that the plant isn’t coming together, then you should be ready to revive it and move it to a new pot, where it is not contaminated. Hence, remove the plant from its potting mix and expose the roots. Be gentle to ensure you don’t damage the roots when removing the plant.
– Leave the Roots to Dry
Place the plants on the drying surface and allow them to dry overnight. This will help the reduction of the moisture quite faster, and the roots will reach to their healthy state back again, when they are out of the soil that was harmful, and now they have been moved and placed to dry, and to recover.
– Check for Root Rot
After the roots dry, check for signs of root rot. Root rot spreads easily, so you must determine areas with rot and trim them out, you can also check it from the smell that it would spread. Keep in mind that healthy roots should be firm and white. Moreover, the mushy ones should be th ones that you must cut and get rid of.
Use sharp scissors to cut off dark-colored or mushy roots, what you must do is to sterilize the tools first, and after you are done, because this fungus may spread to different plants.
– Re-pot the Plant
Repot your plant with fresh soil. Depending on the plant type, be careful to ensure you use the right potting mix. To improve drainage by creating drainage holes. Add pebbles or small stones to the container before putting the soil. This will ensure water doesn’t stand in the container, which helps to prevent overwatering.
So, if you’re wondering, “Should I repot an overwatered plant?” Yes! It’s crucial to repot an overly watered plant since it helps to avoid root rot complications. Repotting also helps to provide the plant with a conducive environment to thrive.
Make sure that the new soil is a will draining one, because you do not want your newly established plant to face the same stress over again.
How To Save Overwatered Plant Without Repotting?
To save an overwatered plant without repotting, you can improve the drainage, and give consistent watering schedule, and lastly, treat the plant with fungicidal solution. If you don’t want to repot the plant, you can save it or revive it by implementing the following measures.
– Improve Drainage
Improve plant drainage by ensuring that the roots get plenty of oxygen. Create some space around the roots by adding some pebbles or small stones to the container. You should also cut off dead roots from the plant.
– Watering Schedule
Water the plants when the soil is dry, this means that before you water your plants, always check that the soil is dry. This is a sign that your plants need water. Which means that you must leave some time when the soil feels ready to be irrigated again.
– Treat with a Fungicide
Fungicide for overwatered plant can also help speed up the recovery process. Treat the plants with a fungicide and monitor your plants’ health.
If your plants survive, then you should see good signs within a week or so.
Conclusion
You now know more about excessive irrigated plant recovery time and why you need to avoid adding too much water your garden plants. Here’s a quick recap to ensure your plants stay healthy:
- Plants die because of watering too much since the roots lack enough oxygen, which leads to suffocation. Root rot can also make your plants die after some time.
- Watch out for signs of weakening to help your plants recover in time. These signs include wilting, color change, leaf drop, and poor root health.
- Whether you want to repot it, or not, would depend highly on the level that the plant has been damaged. This shows that in some cases, you must do so, for the right recovery.
Generally, overwatered plants can recover, and it’s important to act fast to ensure they don’t die out. Use the solutions outlined in this post to help your plants recover.
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