Bring Your Dying Houseplant Back To Life With This Genius Nail Hack

It's your weekly routine: tidy the house, grocery shop, organize, and check and water your plants... but this time, you notice one of your beloved leaf babies is looking a little worse for wear. Whether it's your snake plant or your fern, if the leaves are yellow or wilting despite sticking to a rigorous water and soil plan, your fauna isn't thriving due to a deficiency. No matter how often (or little) you water your plants, sometimes there is more than meets the eye to their needs. Some species might be lacking the iron they need, but this can be solved with a few rusty nails. If you want to bring your plants back to life, there is a simple hack you can try!

Have you ever seen a nail covered in orange rust and shuddered: the word tetanus blaring bright in your mind? Well, you might not want to step on one of these metal pieces, but they still serve a purpose even after rust has rendered them useless for building purposes. The rust is actually made of ferric oxide, which can occur as the iron from your nail comes into contact with moisture-rich oxygen. Not only is this a natural process, but the creation of iron oxide is great for struggling plants that need a little nutrient boost.

It can be tricky to ascertain exactly what or how much of each nutrient your different plants need, and the soil recommended you use in conjunction with each species is there to help with this, but that doesn't mean there still won't be a lack of important supplements from time to time. Enter rusty nails: by adding these, you can benefit your potted plants and help boost your greeneries' nutrient levels.

You have options when it comes to implementing the rusty nail hack. One way to go is inserting nails directly into your preferred soil, avoiding roots and stems as you go. These can be left inside the pot and watered along with your plant, allowing the iron to seep into the dirt and roots whenever you add water.

You can also soak rusted nails in water to create a special "drink" for your fauna. To gauge how long to leave the metal in water, you'll want to monitor it until it turns brown, so it's best stored in a clear vessel. This can usually take anywhere from 5 hours to 5 days, but results vary, so color is the ideal way to determine when the water is ready. You can add it whenever you feel your leaves need a little love.

If your plant's chloroplast isn't receiving the correct amount of nutrients and vitamins, it can cause the plant to die or wilt. Iron helps your plant to produce chlorophyll, which helps maintain the chloroplast structures and, in turn, protects them from outside components that can otherwise disrupt their growth and vitality. 

It's important not to overdo the iron with your plants, though. This mixture can raise acidity levels, so take that into consideration when applying this technique to boost your buds. However, plants that do well with high acidity levels can thrive with this trick. 

And, of course, always use caution with sharp objects like nails. If you're worried about sticking nails into your garden bed where you may be stepping, use the watering method instead, and save the direct-to-soil method for potted or indoor plants. With these cautions in mind, you can give your plant babies that little extra nutrient boost they may need.