What’s Root Rot?
This is a disease in plants that can happen because of soil fungi, poor drainage, or overwatering. Like a lot of plant diseases, it’s difficult to treat. The best way that you can avoid it is through prevention.
What Are Some Signs a Plant Has It?
It’s often difficult to detect before there is a lot of damage. Below are some of the signs:
- Mushy stems
- Slow growth
- Distorted, yellow, wilting leaves
- Soil smells rotten
- Roots look reddish-brown
Once you are seeing symptoms of it and you identify them, it’s best to remove your plant completely and get a new plant. A lot of times, the plant can’t come back from it.
Fixing & Preventing Root Rot
So that you are able to fix root rot and prevent it in your plants, you have to make sure that their roots are staying healthy. You want to avoid overwatering the plants, make sure that they have good drainage change the soil, and choose plants that are healthy. Here are some tips for avoiding root rot.
Avoid Overwatering Your Plants
Your plants need to be watered regularly that will meet their unique watering needs. You should look and see if the soil’s thoroughly wet due to shade, cooler weather or rain before watering.
Make Sure the Soil Drainage is Good
The soil for your plants can’t hold water or be overly heavy. For plants in containers, you should use potting soil and the plants need drainage holes. Any saucers that you put below your houseplants need to be regularly emptied. You also should make sure that you are putting your plants in the right size containers. This is going to avoid having too much moisture in your soil.
Replace Your Used Soil
If you are replacing a plant that has root rot with a healthy plant, use new soil if you’re putting it in the same spot.
Select Plants That Have Good Root Systems
Make sure that you are inspecting your plants before purchasing them to ensure they have healthy roots. You can carefully slide a plant’s root ball from the grow pot so that you can inspect its roots. The soil shouldn’t be smelling rotten. The plant’s roots should be white or green if it’s healthy.
At the garden center, gardeners should inspect plants to ensure the roots are healthy. The root ball of a plant can be carefully slid out of its grow pot in order to inspect the roots. Soil should not smell rotten and the roots will be green or white on a healthy plant.
Are you interested in having your plants cared for? We offer plant health care services. Contact us to find out more about this service.
