- Hey, what's up everybody?
My name is Merle.
I'm known as Goodful's resident crazy plant lady.
(laughs) And so today,
I'm gonna be telling you all about how you can
help revive your dying plants.
If you have plants, you've probably killed plants.
They just die!
I've been there.
Becoming a green thumb just takes a lot of practice
and a lot of research.
Some of the most common signs of an unhealthy plant
are droopy or wilting leaves,
dry, brown leaf edges, yellow leaves, or leaves falling off.
Plants that are stretching, slow growth, fungus on soil,
or funky smelling soil.
Yeah.
That one's got something goin' on.
Okay, now you know the signs.
Let's try to figure out what they mean.
Before we move on to diagnose it,
it's gonna be really important that you look up your plant
and find out what its desired soil, water,
and light conditions are.
That way you know if you're meeting your plants basic needs.
There are some pretty clear ways to know
that something is up with your plant,
but they can all mean a multitude of different things.
To check to see if your plant is either suffering
from being over-watered or under-watered,
the first thing you wanna do is test the soil.
You're gonna take your index finger,
and you're gonna stick it one to two inches
directly into the plant's soil.
The soil is kind of hard and spongy.
It's almost impossible to push my finger into it.
If you were to run it underwater in the sink,
the water would probably go directly through the plant.
Either that, or it wouldn't even be able to get
into the plant and into the soil,
and it would kinda just pool up at the top.
You're gonna wanna take the entire plant and its container
and submerge it in a larger bucket filled with water.
And once it takes on a bit more of the water,
you can use a pencil or a chopstick
and make little holes in the soil,
so that way the water can get to all different parts
of the root system.
Normally, worms would do this if it were in the wild,
but we don't have any worms in here,
so you get to be the worm.
This plant is a classically over-watered plant.
All of its foliage is kind of turning pale and drooping
and dying and the soil has a really repugnant strong odor
and if you reach your finger into the soil,
it's very, very, very damp.
And I just figured out why it's so waterlogged,
it doesn't have any drainage on the bottom of it.
No drainage is no good.
See that?
That's a drainage hole.
That's good, you want that.
That way when you water the plant,
you water it all the way through,
and you know you did a good job
if the water comes through the bottom.
Be sure to check the roots.
Healthy roots should be fibrous with white tips.
If your plant is suffering from being over-watered,
stop watering it!
I know you think you're giving it love
when you're giving it water,
but they can't handle all that water sometimes.
You gotta let it dry out.
Depending on the plant,
some plants like to dry out completely between waterings,
other like to stay a little moist between waterings.
All depends on the need of your plant.
But if your plant is already wet,
it does not need more water.
If you don't have good light,
you can use something like this air garden,
which I actually at home put my succulents under
because I just don't have enough light
to sustain succulents,
but if you have an artificial light
which this does built into the top,
you can have any plant you want basically.
Because it'll create the ideal living conditions
for your plants.
If you have soft water, filter your water from your tap,
or buy distilled water.
But to be more eco-friendly,
you probably just wanna filter the water
that you have from tap.
Save plastic.
If you have salt buildup,
run your plants three to four times through with water.
Let it come through the drainage holes
and you can rinse that salt right out of there.
Some plants will get a chemical burn
if you give them too much fertilizer,
so be sure that you're diluting the fertilizer enough
with water and you're not over doing it.
Again, check your plant's needs
and see how often it needs to be fertilized.
Some people don't use fertilizer at all.
It's up to you.
Oof, pests.
Oh man, I've had some nightmare situations with pests.
With mealybugs or light infestations of aphids,
you can usually just take them off with a cotton swab
soaked in rubbing alcohol, or if you're very careful,
you can use some tape and get them off that way.
If you take away anything today,
always check your plant's soil
before you give it more water.
Also make sure there's drainage in your pot,
and research your plant.
Three of the best things you can do for yourself.
Anybody who knows a lot about plants
has killed their fair share.
They just might not tell you that.
In most cases, you will be able to revive your plant,
so good luck, don't give up, you're doing great.
I'm wishing your plant a speedy recovery.
You got this.
(light music)