Indoor plant dies - 8 possible reasons

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Indoor plants have become so firmly entrenched in our life that without them it is already impossible to imagine an apartment or office. Large and small, flowering and decorative deciduous, they create comfort and revitalize the interior, delighting us with their healthy appearance and frustrating wilting. They can’t talk, therefore they won’t tell what they don’t like, but you can guess a lot about the appearance of the plant, the state of its leaves, flowering or its absence. If the plant “has lost its appearance”, does not grow, does not bloom or dies before our eyes - it means that something or someone is bothering it. Your attention - 8 of the most likely reasons why indoor plants die. By eliminating the cause, it can certainly be saved.

1. You made a mistake with the choice

Often, once in a flower shop and seeing the unearthly beauty of beautiful buds or already opened flowers, the incredible color or interesting shape of decorative deciduous plants, the unlucky visitor succumbs to his desire and buys a wonderful flower. Well, if a person at the same time knows what kind of plant he acquired, what conditions for growth he needs.

But it also happens that the mysterious name on the label absolutely does not say anything to the buyer. Meanwhile, many flowers, especially with regard to flowering plants, are brought to us from Holland or other European countries, where the flower business is a whole industry. Such plants are grown in large quantities there and are often sold as living bouquets.

Instead of soil - a nutrient substrate that accelerates growth, special hormones for rapid flowering and spray on the leaves to give shine. It is not surprising if such a plant dies in a month or two, it will be transno if it survives at all.

But this does not mean that you can’t buy flowers in the store - you can, of course, but up to this point you need to learn as much about the plant as possible. And if the conditions in the apartment allow you to grow this type - good lighting, sufficient humidity, the absence of drafts - then go ahead!

The first thing that needs to be done is to transplant the plant into good soil. Although many experts do not recommend a transplant in the first two weeks after purchase, they say, you need to give time to adapt to the new conditions. But immediately, or two weeks later, a new plant will have to be transplanted.

For this, it is easiest to buy a soil substrate intended for certain species, or universal (for plants not particularly demanding on the composition of the soil). It’s better to take a plastic pot with a diameter of 1 cm larger than the one in which the plant is located. And most importantly - try to create the most suitable flower conditions for humidity, lighting and air temperature. At first, this is especially important.

2. Change the lighting

Not all plants are equally demanding of light. Some need bright but scattered light, others need partial shade, and others grow well in the shade. Errors in choosing a location for such colors appear in different ways.

Light-loving, finding themselves in a poorly lit place, stretch out, the foliage turns pale and becomes rare due to elongated internodes. In flowering plants, buds are showered or not tied at all. In plants with variegated foliage, colored elements disappear, the leaf becomes monotonously green. The whole plant has a frail, nondescript appearance. Shade-tolerant plants in bright light slow down growth, leaves turn pale, become dull, and sometimes turn yellow and fall off.

In this case, no treatment or special care is needed, just change the location taking into account the needs of the flower in the light.

3. Adjust watering

Inexperienced gardeners, most often, lose their flowers due to errors during watering. Often you have to hear the question - how often to water, how many times a week? And some growers advise - once a week or two, or every other day. This is wrong. You can not give such recommendations in absentia.

The reasons why the earth in the pot dries quickly or slowly can be very different:

humidity in the room - if the air is dry, the soil will dry faster;
air temperature - you can water less often in a cool room;
the material of the pot - in clay containers, the soil dries quickly, in ceramic, glazed - a little slower, and in plastic - even slower.

Therefore, the best advice is to water when the topsoil dries, then the midges will not start. And indoor plants that love water in large quantities, such as cyperus, are not very many.

Leaves will tell about watering errors - with excess moisture, the lower leaves turn yellow and fall, with a lack - they wither.

4. Change the pot

Another mistake that is often made by beginners is the pot for growth. Often, having bought a small palm tree, ficus, or other plant in the store, which should turn into a powerful specimen with age, inexperienced flower growers immediately buy a large pot so that the roots are free and do not need to be transplanted again.

In no case should you do this! A young growing plant, as a rule, is replanted every year, replacing the soil and gradually increasing the pot - the new one should be 1-2 cm larger in diameter than the previous one. The earthen lump in the pot must be completely braided by the roots, otherwise the soil will become acidic, the plant will stop growing and eventually die.

If you have a flower with a similar problem - transplant it into a smaller pot, and the sooner the better. When transplanting such a plant, you need not only to change the earth, but also to wash the roots well.

Many flowering plants, once in a large pot, stop blooming, directing all their forces to the growth of roots and green mass. This also needs to be remembered.

5. Adjust the humidity

Most of our houseplants come from tropical or subtropical climates. Both those and others like high humidity. In our apartments and houses, the air is quite dry, especially in the winter, when heating systems are turned on.

The excess air humidity can be judged by the dark spots on the leaves and shoots of flowers. Sometimes you can notice a gray fluffy coating at the points of attachment of leaf petioles to the trunk - this is gray rot. Not many types of plants are grown in indoor floriculture, which is contraindicated in high humidity, but they are. These are, first of all, cacti and succulents, geranium, pelargonium and violets.

Indoor flowers with thin leaves are especially affected by a lack of humidity. This is understandable, because the plant stores a supply of moisture in a sheet plate, and the thicker it is, the more durable the look.

Inadequate humidity can be judged by several signs:

the tips of the leaves turn yellow, then dry;
flowers, buds fall;
leaves wilt and turn yellow;
spider mite appears on some plants.

The situation should not be left to chance, otherwise the flowers will die. It is necessary to try to increase air humidity by any means. If there is a humidifier - excellent, but if not - it is necessary to spray the plants daily with soft, settled water.

In winter, it is better to group the flowers - in loose thickets, the air humidity will be slightly higher. Particularly delicate specimens can be placed on pebbles in trays with water. In this case, you need to ensure that the bottom of the pot is above the water level. If the heating battery is next to the flowers, and there is no way to change the location, try to isolate the plants from the warm air - close the battery with a shield, a coverlet or any other material.

6. How does your flower eat?

Flowers growing in pots quickly consume a supply of nutrients in the soil, and if not replenished, their deficiency will affect the appearance in a very sad way. However, excess food is no less dangerous. You can determine the problem by the color of the leaves and the general condition of the plant.

Nitrogen. With a lack of this element, the plant ceases to grow, there are no new growths, the leaves become thinner, and the leaf plates become pale, then turn yellow. With an excess of this element, on the contrary, one can observe a lush growth of greenery, and flowering may be delayed or may not occur at all.

Phosphorus. Its deficiency weakens the plant, making the flower easily vulnerable to diseases and pests. You can determine the lack of phosphorus by leaves that lose their luster, first turn dark green, then turn brown and acquire a purple hue. New leaves grow small and narrow, often affected by necrosis. With prolonged phosphorus starvation, the tops of the shoots and the edges of the leaves gradually dry and die. Excess of this element also negatively affects the development of the plant.

Potassium. It is necessary for plants to produce sugar, starch, proteins and various enzymes, without which normal growth is impossible. The same element is responsible for the ability of a flower to regulate water consumption and resist cold. With a lack of potassium, the edges of the leaves dry out and curl, and the whole plant looks scorched. Young growths do not develop at full strength and look underdeveloped. Some of the old shoots die off, and foliage may drop during flowering. Brown necrotic burns along the edges of the leaves indicate an excess of potassium in the soil.

Magnesium. Also very important for indoor plants. With a deficiency of this element, chlorosis appears in the form of spots on the leaves, inter-vein sections of the leaf grow faster than veins, as a result of which the surface of the leaf plate becomes tuberous. Necrotic spots appear on bumps.

Calcium, boron, sulfur, iron and some other elements are also important for the good growth and flowering of indoor plants. Proper, balanced nutrition increases the immunity of plants, they are less susceptible to various diseases and pests, better tolerate stress.

Today, flower shops have a huge selection of different fertilizers, and you can choose what you need for each flower. It is important when diluting drugs to adhere to the doses recommended in the instructions and remember that almost all plants have a dormant period when feeding is excluded.

7. Provide the plant with a dormant period

Some flowers do not tolerate the absence of a dormant period. If it is already in nature that the plant has a vegetation period, when it grows, blossoms and bears its fruits, and a rest period, when it rests from all these matters, there is no point in arguing with this. It is necessary to provide the plant with this same peace.

For most indoor flowers, you need very little - a little lower air temperature, a little less watering and a little more humidity, stop feeding and, it can be considered, peace is ensured. A rested plant will spring to growth and will please with another flowering.

The lack of winter dormancy weakens the plant, often falling leaves or elongation of shoots in winter. With flowering, this also causes problems.

About which plants need complete peace in the winter, and for which it is not necessary, read our material "Features of wintering indoor plants."

8. Treat diseases, fight pests

Signs of diseases and pests are easily detected with regular inspection of plants. The problem can get into the house with a new flower, therefore, when acquiring the next "tenant", it is necessary to provide him with quarantine and hold it for 3-4 weeks separately from other flowers. During this time, you can understand whether a plant is pure or not.

When the first signs of pests appear, the fight should be started immediately, since it is the harmful insects that spread fungal diseases.

Whiteflies, aphids, scale insects, spider mites, mealybugs and other insects sometimes appear on indoor plants. Some of them can be seen with the naked eye, others can be recognized by various traces on the leaves - sticky coating, cobwebs, spots and holes on the leaves. Having found these signs, you need to immediately treat the flowers with an insecticide, if possible, systemic.

For indoor flowers, it is better to use biological preparations - Fitoverm, Avertin and the like. These agents are low toxic for humans and domestic animals, but are quite effective against harmful insects.

Of the diseases for indoor plants, powdery mildew, downy mildew, dark mold and other fungal diseases are the most dangerous. When the first signs of damage appear, it is necessary to treat all the flowers with a fungicide, and if necessary, repeat the treatment.

Dear readers! Growing indoor plants can be a real passion or a little hobby - it doesn’t matter. It is important that the flowers should delight, and this is only possible if the plants are healthy. It is not difficult to achieve this - you need to know what kind of flower came to your house, what conditions and care are preferable for it, and try to create these very conditions and care for it. A little care, attention and indoor plants will certainly thank you with beautiful healthy leaves and luxurious flowers.