Gardening with Gary

Gardening Advice from an Expert

Spathiphyllum

Q. I just fed my Spathiphyllum a lot, actually instead of giving it 1/2 teaspoon, I gave it 1 tablespoon of 20-20-20 fertilizer. I didn't read that 1 tablespoon was for outside plants. Now some leaves are turning yellow and all the leaves are on their way down. Is there a treatment for this? Can my Spath survive, or is it hopeless?

A. What I want you to do as soon as you read this, is to take the plant and place in the kitchen sink or bath tub. Collect warm, tepid water from the tap and using a watering pitcher, drizzle water all over the top of the soil at intervals all the way around the circumference of the pot and all the way into the center of the plant. Allow to drip drain and keep adding more water.

Do not flush quickly, as you may disturb the top soil and/or roots below. After a couple minutes [you will see some rather off-color ugly water flowing out the bottom], allow the pot to sit right there for a couple hours to drain completely.

Take the plant back to where it was, place into a saucer for protection from dripping water, keep back from any sunlight, but allow it to receive low filtered light. Do not water the plant for at least a week, but do not allow to dry out badly. When the top inch or two feels dry to your finger, rewater completely, with water dripping into the saucer. Empty saucer and replace.

In two weeks, I would repeat this process unless the plant is looking fine and normal. Sorry that you added too much, but the deed is done and we can hope that this flushing procedure will save some of the tiny root hairs. Do not give up on the plant. It may flag for a while until it forms new roots, but should have a complete recovery. Do not add any more food for about 3 months, at the proper rate.