The sight of a single brown spot on the tip of the leaves – the plant parents know the trauma! It is one of the most confusing and difficult yet common problems that most gardeners face all over. You may find plant forums and groups are flooded with the query. A small brown point can gradually take over the whole leaf and make it look like a roasted leaf. Eventually, it may destroy the whole plant. So, to save your indoor plant, you need to take the initiative from the very beginning and protect your green babies from getting brown.
Common Reasons for Tip Browning:
Browning tips can happen due to many reasons. From irregular and improper watering to lighting conditions. Before you jump to the solution of brown tips, you need to find out the cause. There are a few causes that happen naturally. In most cases, it gets better with time. If you just bring the plant from the nursery, then it can happen due to transport shock. You just need to keep the plant in less light so that it gets adjusted to the new atmosphere.
Brown tips are also very common in the summer season. Due to heat and lack of humidity in the air, you can feel the occurrences of brown tips in many or a few of your indoor plants. Most of the time, these problems dissolve with time. You just need to wait and watch
However, there are a few reasons, which you should prevent at the very initial stages. In those cases, the browning tips are caused by the activities done by the plant owner or caregiver. In those cases, you need to change the way the plant thrives within a short time.
Reasons Caused by External Changes:
So, here are the reasons why you can see the brown spots on the tip of the leaves of your indoor plant. So, here we will discuss the basic problems and the solutions to those trouble issues.
Irregular Watering: Watering is something you cannot miss in gardening. However, for most plant parents, it is a very difficult duty to understand the actual requirement and timing of watering. After purchasing any plant, you may find different articles and blogs on the internet stating the watering requirements like once a week or daily.
In reality, the requirement of water for indoor plants varies depending on weather, climate, humidity and heat. One cannot just generalize the watering routine of a plant. You need to understand how much the plant loves or hates humidity and when the top soil is dry. Over watering is very bad for a few plants like areca palm, and ZZ plant that often suffer from the brown tip. Just like that, under watering is equally bad for some plants like sygnoniums and spider plants.
So, before watering always check the soil with your finger. If you find it sticky; then avoid watering at that time. Depending on the season, you need to change your watering routine. In winter, the watering requirement will be less while in summer it will be more. During monsoon time; you can skip the watering if there is continuous rain in your locality.
Over Fertilization: The brown tips on the leaf can be a result of over-fertilization. Many plant parents think that they should regularly add fertilizer to the plants. In reality, most plants need little fertilizer to grow. When there is an excess amount of fertilizer, it will build up excess salt on the soil leading to the brown tips. The salt will accumulate on the top of the soil. If you find any sort of buildup, add lots of water to the pot so that the salt will drain out from the pot. To avoid it, you need to repot the plant in the fresh soil every year.
Lighting Issue: The requirement of light is different for each type of plant. There are few plants, especially the flowering plants that need full sunlight while the indoor plants love partial sunlight. If you place a shade-loving plant under full sun, then it will be damaged by the bright light. To prevent this issue, you need to place the plant in the right position from where it can get the required amount of sunlight.
