Gardening FAQ
My plant looks sick , what do I do?!
When a plant looks sick most people just give it a drink of water and wait and see if this strategy works. In most cases this doesn’t work and in some, it even makes it worse. Below is a step by step list of things you can do to try and encourage your plant to become healthy and happy again.
WATERING: Have you been giving your plant adequate water? or possibly too much water? When watering a plant it is advised to only give the plant a small amount of water through a watering can. Allow this water to sink into the media and then, apply another small amount. Repeat this process until the media is thoroughly wet and in the case of potted plants , the water is coming out of the bottom of the pot. If you stand there and drench the plant in water all in one go the water will generally just spill over the surface area and follow gravity. this is either down the sides of your pot, away from the root system and out the bottom of the pot, or in the ground, will run off and soak in unevenly in a different location. By slowly adding water it has time evenly soak into the soil around the area where the fibrous roots are and to nourish the plant properly.
FERTILISING: There are two forms of fertilisers: soluble and solid form. Soluble fertilisers are taken up by the plant within approximately 48hrs while solid or pelleted fertilisers are broken down by microbes etc and slowly fed to your plant over a period of a few months. If you choose to use a soluble fertiliser then you will need to apply this a lot more frequently then a pelleted or slow release fertiliser. Soluble fertilisers are a good way to feed potted plants. Another factor to consider is the type of plant you are feeding. for example:
VEGETABLE AND FRUIT PLANTS: the golden rule with any edible plant is “Whatever you feed the plant you will eventually feed yourself “. In other words , if you use chemicals to feed your vegetable patch , at the end of the day you will end up consuming those chemicals in some form yourself. So if your growing food it is my strong recommendation to only use certified organic fertilisers. A combination of pelleted organic fertiliser and liquids such as Liquid Seaweed and Liquid Fish emulsions work well together.
NATIVE PLANTS: Native plants require only a small amount of phosphorus (P), so check the labelling on fertiliser to make sure it is suitable.
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