Houseplants Dying? Add This From Your Toolbox to Revive Them

It's not very often that the worlds of hardware and houseplants collide in a good way. Usually, we are purchasing items from the hardware store to remove plants from our landscape. Or such is the case this time of year, we are heading to the hardware store for tools to plant new plants in our springtime gardens.

For a lot of us the days after we have planted a plant are the only days we get to see them appear to be green and growing. Alas, a lot of us were not blessed with a "green thumb". But even if you weren't blessed with a green thumb what you need to make your plants grow might already be in your toolbox.

No, I am not talking about some amazing chemical fertilizer or an organic compound that you'll need to get from some barnyard the item that you need to make your houseplants, especially your potted plants reinvigorate themselves is a nail.

No, not just any nail, it has to be a rusty nail. If you don't have any of those in your toolbox go search your scrap pile for a board that might have a nail or two in it. Then carefully remove those nails from the board.

Once you've done that, simply place one nail per pot in each potted plant you want to revive. Or, if the plant is in an open bed, place the nail near the roots without damaging the plant itself.

How can you tell if your plants need the rusty nail treatment? If they're looking droopy, have leaves turning brown or showing yellow streaks, or if you notice spots on the leaves you might want to add this unique bit of "fertilizer" to the pot.

Actually, you aren't adding fertilizer at all. Instead, you're adding iron oxide, that's the fancy name for the orange stuff you and I call rust. Your plants need iron in their diets but they don't need a lot of it. By sticking a rusty nail in the soil, they'll get exactly what they need. You should start to notice a change in your plant's disposition after just a couple of days.

So, now we know that iron can be good for our houseplants but did you know it isn't so good for some food items, at least if you plan on cooking them in a black iron pot.