Why do the tips of the leaves of indoor plants dry?

Even with the most careful care, problems in the development of indoor plants cannot be avoided. Hardy, persistent and undemanding crops can be unpleasantly surprising in the same way as indoor exotics. Some problems signal the need for minor adjustments to the care program, others indicate subtle changes in conditions of detention, and still others require serious measures. Most often, when growing indoor pets, there is a seemingly insignificant deviation in the decorativeness of foliage – the appearance of dry tips. Let’s try to figure out why the tips of the leaves dry up and how to prevent a small problem from turning into a big trouble.

The tips of the leaves of Spathiphyllum dry out. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Homemade homemade products

Drying of the tips of the leaves does not always lead to their dropping or wilting, more often it does not affect even 1% of the leaf surface. But it invariably affects the attractiveness of the plant, spoils its appearance. And you should not ignore this phenomenon, even if it seems purely seasonal (most often winter). It may require only a slight adjustment to the conditions to fight, but if you are inattentive and miss the real cause, the plant will suffer much more, and the fight against the problem will be long.
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Step one – comprehensive diagnostics

When dry, dark tips of leaves appear on a plant, one usually immediately thinks of too dry air. Insufficient humidity is indeed the most common cause of this phenomenon, but far from the only one. And misdiagnosis, exclusion of a whole range of other possible factors from the assumptions can turn into a big disaster. After all, if you try to increase the humidity of the air when the earthen coma is waterlogged, which led to stem rot, you can achieve the opposite results.

In addition to insufficiently high humidity, the tips of the leaves can dry out:

• watering with poor-quality water, especially hard and not settled (dry ends in this case are burns from salts);
• violation of the comfortable moisture content of the substrate in the container – too intense waterlogging or prolonged drought;
• the spread of pests, the depressed state of the infected plant;
• improper feeding – lack or excess of fertilizers;
• hitting the plant with direct midday rays or too bright lighting for crops that prefer shading;
• too hot conditions, high air temperatures (especially during wintering);
• complete filling of free soil with rhizome, which has become a cramped container.

And in order to accurately diagnose the cause, it is necessary to take a responsible approach to the process of assessing the state of the plant, in which it is better to move from the opposite, by the method of exclusion:

1. Look closely at the plant, especially the shoots and undersides of the leaves, for signs of pests and other signs of impaired growth.
2. Check if the container is too tight and if roots are showing up from the drain hole.
3. Determine the moisture content of the substrate, the degree of drying between treatments. If you find it difficult to assess just by touch, buy special indicators from a flower shop that will show how dry the soil is.
4. Analyze the feeding schedule and compare it with the recommended one for a particular plant. Citrus fruits, for example, tend to dry out when iron is deficient. And in most non-flowering crops, too frequent feeding can cause serious developmental disorders, including at the initial stage manifested in drying tips.
5. Analyze the water quality. If you use running tap water, then this is the most likely reason for the drying of the leaves: it contains impurities of fluorine and chlorine, salts and other unpleasant heavy substances that lead to a violation of the characteristics of the soil and change its balance.
6. Determine the humidity of the air, its dryness and comfort for moisture-loving species.

A deviation by one point will reveal the main reason for the drying of the tips of the leaves, by 2 or more – it will indicate the need for complex measures.

The tips of the leaves of Sander’s dracaena dry out. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Kim

How to solve the problem with dry leaf tips?

General hygiene measures

Regardless of the results of the assessment of the causes, the first step is to take general hygiene measures:

1. Start by removing the risk of soil contamination, eliminating salt deposits: remove white deposits from the surface of the substrate, replace the surface layer of the soil with fresh, clean substrate.
2. Be sure to clean the leaves of the plant from dust, give him a shower and follow the “behavior” of your pet.
3. Try changing the humidity by placing a container of water or humidifiers next to it.

These measures must be taken regardless of whether it was possible to find the cause and what it was. After all, even if the plant is infected with pests, an increase in humidity will serve as a preventive measure.

But the 2nd and 3rd steps have their own exceptions:

• obvious waterlogging of the substrate, which led to decay of the shoots, during which the leaves can be cleaned, but it is better not to increase the air humidity until the soil dries out;
• if the problem manifests itself on plants with pubescent leaves that cannot be cleaned of dust by classical methods, then it is better to refuse cleaning and shower.

The second important step is also general – personalized care. Houseplants are all different, and they also need not the same care. Do not add orchids, chlorophytum and cacti with the same frequency. Each plant should receive exactly the care (and those conditions) that it needs. Check your exit strategy and make sure you adhere to this principle. If not, rebuild the care program, having studied the information about each plant.

Further measures depend directly on the cause of the drying out of the tips of the leaves.

If the tips of the leaves dry out due to dry air

The dry air problem can be solved by standard methods:

• spraying (not suitable for flowering plants and pubescent leaves);
• installation of special devices-humidifiers;
• installing pallets or trays with wet pebbles, moss, expanded clay, on which a pot with a plant is placed so that the bottom does not touch the water;
• placing plants in flower display cases.

If the tips of the leaves dry out due to water quality

If the drying of the tips of the leaves in your plant has caused the water quality, immediately make changes to the usual watering pattern:

1. check with what kind of water it is recommended to water your plant (perhaps it needs acidified or especially soft water);
2. refuse to use running water, let it settle for at least 24 hours (or better, several days) in containers, then carefully drain;
3. replace tap water with rain, thawed, boiled water.

If the tips of the leaves dry out due to improper watering

If the cause of the problem lies in the wrong watering regime and in violation of the comfortable moisture content of the substrate, the actions should be different:

1. Find out about the basic plant preferences (today, for most species, the recommendation of “poor or abundant watering” has long been replaced by more precise indications).
2. In case of waterlogging, which has already led to the process of decay and a violation of the air permeability of the soil, evaluate the quality of the drainage and drainage hole. If everything is okay with them, let the substrate dry almost completely before the next procedure and postpone watering. If the problem is a small drain hole, lack of drainage, proceed with an emergency plant transplant.
3. If there is excessive drought, water more frequently and abundantly. But do not let the water stagnate in the trays, anyway, carry out each subsequent watering after a few top centimeters of soil for moisture-loving plants have dried out and the middle layer for ordinary crops and succulents has partially dried.
4. Consider the possibility of purchasing self-watering pots, which will save you forever the hassle of customizing the frequency of treatments.

The tips of the leaves of anthurium dry out. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com erikarizkallah

If the tips of the leaves dry out due to pests

If the plant is infested with pests, start an integrated control:

1. isolate the plant from other indoor crops to prevent the spread of pests;
2. wash the leaves with soapy water;
3. increase the humidity of the air;
4. start using special insecticides (you can evaluate the range of drugs, both biological type and with a purely chemical composition, in the nearest flower shop or garden center);
5. when transplanting a plant, thoroughly process and disinfect the container;
6. strengthen preventive measures for the rest of the plants in the collection.

If leaf tips dry out due to containment breach

If the reason for the drying of the tips of the leaves was the violation of lighting, temperatures, feeding regime, then the conditions must be returned to comfortable for a particular species and variety of plants.

If there are clear signs that the plant is cramped in its capacity, carry out an emergency transplant. It is also carried out if the excess of nutrients cannot be corrected by a simple reduction in feeding.