Gardening experts have shared an unusual rusty nail houseplant hack to help revive unhappy plants. According to Balcony Garden Web, the iron present in rusty old nails will do just the trick on plants with pale, yellowing leaves, and plants that are growing slowly or dropping leaves.
Beyond aesthetics, decorating our homes with the best indoor plants lifts our mood. If one of your plants isn't loving life right now, it could be that it needs an iron boost.
The yellowing leaf of a fiddle leaf fig, which could be due to overwatering or a lack of iron
The iron oxide in rusty nails, also known as ferric oxide, is produced when iron and oxygen react in the presence of moisture in the air. This can benefit plants lacking in iron.
Balcony Garden Web explains that iron plays a key role in the various physiological and biochemical activity in plants. 'Supplementing the plants with the iron oxide in nails will also help in chloroplast structure and function,' the experts say.
This will make them greener, healthy, and more active. Iron is also an important part of vital enzymes like cytochrome, which helps to detoxify environmental pollutants and other xenobiotics (chemicals that are foreign to animal or plant life).
It also helps with chlorophyll synthesis, giving leaves their green color. So if your plant's leaves are pale or yellowing, it could be that their iron levels are low.
Rusty nail houseplant hack
Balcony Garden Web says the rusty nail houseplant hack will benefit gardenia, azalea, ixora, and any other indoor plant ideas. So, how does it work, exactly?
There are two options. First, you could create some lovely rusty nail water to pour onto the soil of your plants. For this, you'll want to submerge the nails in water for five days until it turns brown.
Or, you can simply push eight to ten rusty nails into the soil around your plant, and each time you water it, the rust from the nails will help. We'd expect the first method to work better for a short term boost, but both are worth trying to give your indoor garden ideas a boost.
Adding the rusty nails into the soil will also slightly increase its acidity, so if you have an acidity-loving plant like a fern, this might help. Will you be trying this hack?
