How To Tell If You’re Overwatering Plants In Your Home

It’s true that plants need water. But giving them too much water can prove to be bad for them. Overwatering plants is never a good thing. Unless you’re a professional gardener, you might find it difficult to tell when you’re overwatering plants.

Read on below to understand why overwatering plants is bad and the signs you need to look out for to prevent damage.

Why Is Overwatering Bad For Plants

When plants absorb a lot of water, it limits their supply of oxygen to their roots. Waterlogged soil prevents the oxygen from the air to get absorbed. The roots die and if they die, they cannot absorb the necessary nutrients the plants need to make food for themselves.

Here are some of the signs you would want to watch out for to prevent overwatering plants:

Signs That You’re Overwatering Plants

Lower Leaves Are Yellow

Lower leaves mean leaves that are closer to the soil, or essentially: located lower down the stem. When the roots start to get affected, the leaves closest to them start to suffer and wilt. Check if their color has changed from the bottom side. If you see signs of yellow color in the leaves or a slight shade of light-green color that is visibly distinguishable from a healthier leaf, you should think of reducing the amount of water being supplied to the plant.

Young Leaves Are Brown

Plants grow out new leaves from to time. That’s normal. Old leaves tend to die and plants replace them with new ones. If these new leaves turn out to be a little brown rather than dark green, you’re probably overwatering your plants. Having young leaves grow out to be dark brown is never a good sign. If you see this sign, move the plants to moderate sunlight, like near a window, and reduce the amount of water you normally give out to them.

Soil Is Green With Algae

Probably a clear indicator that you are overwatering plants. Life thrives in water. Without it, carbon-based life wouldn’t exist, which includes us. The air is full of pores from fungi that are looking for new places to grow. If you find that the soil of your indoor plant is turning green, it’s probably algae - a type of fungus.

What happens when you are overwatering plants is that these fungi start to grow on the water-logged soil. They use up the nutrients that would otherwise be available for your plant to use. Simply take a small shovel and try replacing the top parts of the soil with fresh soil.

Roots Look Rotted

This is probably not an easy sign to look out for. Roots are generally covered with soil and aren’t visible to most plant owners. However, if you have a plant that has multiple stems stemming out of the soil, you can probably take one out to assess the overall health of the roots of those plants. If the roots like they’re rotting, they’ll look old and withered. Reduce the amount of water you’re giving to these plants and try replacing the surface soil to allow the oxygen to reach these roots via fresh pores in the soil.

Understanding the health of your plants is important. Just like not giving your plants enough water can have adverse effects on them. Overwatering plants can also prove to be detrimental. Always be on the lookout for these signs to keep your green friends healthy and alive.