To most homeowners, gardening is a hard task that can yield zero returns, especially if their garden plants keep dying. The important part of gardening is to keep the plant healthy till it matures enough to grow on its own. But most owners don’t get to this point.
But, what if I told you that there is something you are doing wrong and if you change that activity, you are likely to succeed in growing a healthy plant? Most things you do to the plant are correct, but they are done incorrectly, which hurts the plant.
Here are the most common reasons that your garden plants keep dying:
- Underwatering
- Overwatering
- Underfeeding
- Poor soil condition
- Not maintaining your garden
- Overlooking insects
As a gardener, you can easily notice when the plants start turning yellow or stop withering. That sign that they will die if you don’t work on a solution. But, what can you do?
In this article, we will highlight the possible reasons why your plants keep dying and solutions to help you resolve this problem.
Reasons Why Garden Plants Keep Dying
Overwatering
Someone would ask, “why would it be too much water and plants need the water to survive? Shouldn’t it be too little?”
Yeah, it’s a surprise how overwatering the plants is a common problem among new garden owners. They just spot a yellow spot on a plant and open the hose to water it. Sometimes yellow leaves indicate the roots are rotting because of too much water.
Another way gardeners put too much water in plants is by watering without a schedule. For example, on one day, you can water the plant three times, and on other days four times. The right way to water plants is in the morning and the evening when the sun sets.
It is best to check the moisture in your soil. Some types of soil can hold water for a long time. Adding more water only leads to problems. Plants can store water in their stems, so they only need enough water to sustain them. Tomato plant leaves curl during the day when there is a strong sun to prevent moisture.
Solution
First thing before you water your plant, check the moisture in the soil. To check the moisture, scoop some soil from the plant and squeeze it into a ball. It has enough water if the ball holds the shape without getting any mud on your hand. If it leaves water in your hands, it has more water than required. However, it’s dry if it crumbles, and the soil needs water.
Water the plant if the soil is dry. If it has more water, let it dry and give the roots a chance to breathe. However, if there is too much rain, you can create a drainage system to move the extra water away from the plants.
Underwatering
On the other side of watering, you might not be giving your plant enough water. Nothing kills a plant easier than when it doesn’t have enough water. And unfortunately, this happens to the soil as well. If the soil is dehydrated for a long time, it will be unusable.
Water is important for plants, from hydration to processing nutrients in the soil. If your plants don’t have enough water to process their food, they’ll start dying slowly, and with time, they will wither.
Solution
As you have seen above, the best way to determine if your plants need water is to scoop the soil and feel the moisture in your hands.
Once you determine the plant needs water, create a watering schedule. The best way is to water them in the morning before the sun rises and in the evening after the sun rises. That’s because when you water during the day, the water tends to evaporate faster than it can sink into the roots. Watering in the dark ensures water sucks to the bottom and reaches the roots.
Underfeeding
Feeding the plant is necessary to be healthy. Most people fertilize their garden at the beginning of the season and forget about the plants. Follow through till the end.
If plants don’t get enough food, they’ll have stunted growth, a bad appearance, and malnourished.
Solution
Feed the plants the required nutrients as soon as possible to avoid this problem. Ensure you consult with an expert on the type of nutrient to feed the plants. Also, check your soil type and pH levels t ensure you don’t use too much fertilizer.
If you have container gardening, ensure that you feed them regularly because the nutrients wash out faster from the soil than when it is in a garden. In a container, water that comes out comes with some nutrients.
Poor Soil Condition
Plant success depends primarily on the quality of soil you are using. The soil quality deteriorates over time as you continuously plant in the garden. It gets to a point when the soil requires improvement.
You can tell when your soil is poor if it has poor drainage, low nutrients, fewer microorganisms, and creates weeds faster than normal. The quality can degrade because of poor addition of nutrients, no crop rotation, or over-farming.
Solution
There are different ways you can solve the issue with low-quality soil. However, the best way is to leave the garden unattended for a season. This way, the nutrients can regenerate on their own as the microorganisms continue to increase in the soil.
You can also decide to add fertilizer to the soil as a way of adding nutrients. This solution can work for the short term, but you will keep adding fertilizer which is an added cost.
Poor Garden Maintenance
A well-maintained garden is visible from a mile away. Most people think maintaining a garden means removing weeds from the soil. Yes, that’s just one way to maintain your garden. It works best if you have a plant in a container.
Maintaining a garden means removing all the weeds, spraying to kill pests, and ensuring the soil is set up nicely to prevent moisture from escaping. These simple tasks ensure that the plants are healthy and grow to become pest and disease-resistant.
Not to mention, the garden needs to look presentable. For instance, a tomato plant has its stems growing into a tall plant. To get ripe tomatoes from this stem, you have t ensure the stem is supported well so that it doesn’t fall when they start t grow and become heavy and is visible to the sun.
Solution
You have to maintain your garden from time to time to avoid creating bush in the garden. First, prune excess leaves or stems. Pruning ensures that there is no competition for food in the plant. Thus, the food is enough to give it the energy to reproduce.
Most gardeners prefer the leaves to outgrow and are more than the fruit itself. It results in the fruit becoming malnourished because most food goes to feed the leaves when growing.
Secondly, weed your garden. Everyone hates removing weed, but you must do it. Weeds fight for soil nutrients, depriving them of the main plant. Too many weeds can kill a plant. If you want to prevent weeds from growing, you can mulch.
Finally, pick your produce when it’s time. As much as you are busy waiting for another time to pick the produce, the extra time can make it worse for the plant.
Overlooking insects
Insects and pests often attack plants, but they don’t cause much damage on most occasions. Insects eat plants while poking holes into them. If they continue poking holes, it won’t take long before they cut through the stem and the plant falls off.
On rare occasions, insects have wiped out the entire garden, with all plants dying. But you can prevent this if you see one or two plants infested with insects.
Solution
The first thing is to identify the killing insect in your plants. Check for eggs and the type of damage they are causing. Once you identify the insects, it can be easier to determine the insecticide to use to kill them.
Sometimes, you might not find the insects, but you can notice the leaves’ damage or coloring. Insects have a unique way of attacking plants.
Start by removing the affected parts of the plant. If it has spread too far on the plant, you can cut it down to avoid spreading to other plants. Then you can choose to spray a pesticide or not. Remember, pesticides can kill even the insects you need for your plants.
If you decide to spray an insecticide, choose Organic neem oil. Neem oil is a good pesticide for your garden. It kills insects, mildew, mold, rust, scale, and mites. Also, it’s environmentally friendly and can’t affect you when you use it on your plants.
