All may not be lost! Your plants can have a second life and come back to their greenest and most abundant shape if you carefully and conscientiously follow these 8 hacks on how to revive a dead plant.
These Efficient Tips on How to Revive a Dead Plant Are Plant-Savers-Literally
Although appearances on plants can be deceiving and misleading, even if a plant looks dead, it doesn't mean that it is 100% dead. Give these professional gardening tricks on how to revive a dead plant first, instead of tossing it out firsthand.
1. Look for Signs of Life
When it comes to plants, the term "dead” is completely relative because at times it may look like your plant is ready to be thrown away, but if you take a closer look, that may not be the case. Always check if there's still some green left in the plant because this is a good sign, meaning not everything is lost.
Make sure to also check the roots. As the plant’s support system, they provide a lot of information about the state of its overall health.
2. Check if You Have Overwatered Your Plant
If you've been hydrating your plant with too much water, you'll need to change this instantly. Indeed plants need water to survive and thrive, but it’s possible to give a plant too much water. You will tell they're overwatered if they start showing brown or yellow wilted leaves with moist soil. This will affect the roots, causing them to rot.
How to revive this dead-looking plant? Simple! According to professional gardeners, you should remove the plant from direct sunlight and stop watering until the soil dries out.
3. On the Same Note, Check if You Have Underwatered
How to revive a dead plant if you notice it's underwatered? Gardening professionals recommend letting your plant soak in water for a few hours for it to get its hydration properties back to life again.
When searching for signs to see if your plant is underwatered, you'll probably notice the plant wilting, plus its leaves will start to dry out and brown at the tips, and then turn brown, die, and drop off. Follow the great advice of letting the plant soak in water so you can revive your dead-looking plant.
4. Remove Dead Leaves
If you want to know how to revive a dead plant, here goes another great tip. Plants that are deteriorating will likely have dead leaves, and you’ll need to get rid of them to get your plant revived. If you notice leaves are completely brown, let them go, because they're not coming back. On the contrary, you'll want to focus on new growth instead.
To remove them, snip the dead leaves with a pair of scissors, or gently pinch the dead leaves with your fingertips.
5. Cut Back the Stems
When strumming the leaves or stems of a plant, of course, this will help revive a dead plant, but progress takes time. Don't get scared or flushed away if you don't see immediate results in your plant's revival process.
If you want to know how to revive a dead plant, you'll want to start by trimming back the dead leaves, and then take off dead bits of the stem as well. Ideally, you want to take it back to the healthiest bits of the plant, but if the stems are dead, then leave at least two inches of them above the soil.
6. Be Cautious About the Lighting
Lighting is an important factor for the health of your houseplants, so you’ll need to make sure that your variety is getting the optimal amount. Once you know if your houseplant prefers full sun, partial sun, direct sunlight, or indirect sunlight, then you can move it to a more suitable area of your home.
This is a great tip on how to revive a dead plant: if your plant isn’t getting enough light, move it to somewhere it will enjoy optimal amounts of sunlight, without exaggerating.
7. Provide Additional Nutrients
Feeding your plant is especially important during the growing seasons of spring and summer. A malnourished plant will instantly show weak stems or discolored leaves, so to revive a dead or dying plant, you’ll need compost or fertilizer.
Simply repotting your dying plant is a great hack on how to revive a dead plant. Soil can decrease the amounts of nutrients over time, so repotting every few years is always a good idea.
8. Wait at Least a Month
Patience is key when you're a plant parent looking at how to revive a dead plant. Keep a close eye on your plant for a few weeks and then reevaluate its state. It's very important to be conscious of the fact that once you’ve taken steps to revive a dying plant, it can take up to a month before you start to see an improvement or new growth.
Don't give up on your plant too soon, it needs you! If you follow these amazing tips on how to revive a dead plant, we're sure you'll retrieve its beautiful green leaves and stems.
