PlantFertilizer burn.
Damage to roots and leaf margins caused by excess soluble salts from fertilizer, which draw water out of root cells by osmosis.
What it means for your plants
Symptoms are brown tips and margins, a white crust on the mix and dead root tips. If drainage and roots are sound, leach with 2–3 times the pot’s volume of clean water and pause feeding for 4–6 weeks.
IN PRACTICE
A spider plant fed at full strength every watering develops brown leaf tips and a white crust around the pot rim.
Put it into practice
Brown leaf margins, dead root tips and a white crust on the mix point to soluble-salt injury. Learn how fertilizer burn happens, how to leach a pot and when to repot.
Fertilizer burn in houseplants: diagnose it, flush it, recover
