Salt and Fertilizer Burn 🦠
At a glance
- Cause: Salt concentration too high around roots or on leaves
- Tell-tale sign: Brown tips/margins plus white crust on soil or pot rim, often after fertilizing
- Severity: Minor if corrected early; serious if roots are burned
How to identify
Salt/fertilizer burn often starts at leaf tips and margins. You may see white crust on the soil surface, pot rim, or drainage holes. Plants can wilt even when moist because salty soil makes it hard for roots to take up water.
What causes it
Fertilizers and hard-water minerals leave soluble salts behind. If pots are watered lightly without flushing, salts accumulate and can burn roots or leaf tissue.
Treatment & management
Following Integrated Pest Management:
- Stop fertilizing temporarily.
- Flush the potting mix thoroughly with clean water if the pot drains well.
- Repot into fresh mix if buildup is severe or the soil is compacted.
- Trim dead tips cosmetically only after correcting the cause.
- Resume feeding lightly during active growth, not on stressed plants.
Prevention
Water thoroughly enough that some water drains out, empty saucers, fertilize lightly, and periodically leach salts from container plants.
Affects (in this guide)
Most houseplants, especially slow growers and plants watered with hard water or fertilized frequently