The first step in saving your overwatered plants is to determine how badly they have been affected. If your plants are showing some yellowing but have not yet started to wilt, you can save them by beginning to water them properly. If
The good news is that most plants will bounce back between 7-14 days if they're given proper care (which includes rehydration). If this isn't possible because major damage was done or little healthy root system exists then expect about 2 weeks until improvement can be seen.
When you overwater your plant, there are several ways to rescue it. Overwatering doesn't always have to mean that your plant dies. You can let the soil dry, repot your plant in soil or leca, or propagate your plant to not have to give up on your plant and let it die.
If a plant is overwatered, it will likely develop yellow or brown limp, droopy leaves as opposed to dry, crispy leaves (which are a sign of too little water). Wilting leaves combined with wet soil usually mean that root rot has set in and the roots can no longer absorb water.
To dry out soil quickly, you can apply hydrated lime to the soil, add compost and then turn the soil thoroughly to aerate it.
Just wait until the soil is dry and slightly firm, then work in repotting your plant or addressing the other issues caused by overwatering.
Look out for signs of overwatering – including a limp plant, yellowing leaves, or dropping leaves. If you see these signs, test the soil with your fingers. It should be pretty obvious if it's soggy! Stop watering and let the soil dry out.
However, Epsom salt can still help a tomato plant where the soil is too alkaline or one that has been overwatered. In this way, it helps boost absorption as well as improving photosynthesis in the existing foliage.
The potted plants die when they are overwatered because the roots will not get enough oxygen to breathe as water fills up the airspaces present between the soil particles. This will cause decaying of the root and ultimately the plant dies.
Yellow Leaves + Fading to Green + or Bright Yellow =
These symptoms together mean that your plant is overwatered. Usually lower leaves drop first, although the whole plant may be affected. The solution = repot (to remove soaked soil) and water less, or let soil dry out and water less.
Hopefully, it will begin to show signs of life within a few hours but rehydrating an overly dry container plant may take up to a month. If you aren't sure if the plant is worth saving, remove the plant gently from the pot and check the roots.
In the most extreme cases, when conditions are ideal for the fungus to spread quickly, plants can die within 10 days. If these symptoms occur in a plant, loosen the soil around the base of the plant with a hand trowel or shovel and remove the plant from the soil.
Underwatering your plants will result in limp and wilting leaves. Your plants must have enough water to pass through the cells for turgor. If there isn't enough water, the plant will not only wilt but also close its stoma to prevent evaporation.
You can either go for the bath method and bottom water, or thoroughly top water. I prefer to give plants a bath (bottom water) as step one, a day or two before I repot, then I like to thoroughly top water drench after repotting, as top watering also helps flush out excess dirt and silt from the new substrate.
– Manually Dry Out
Otherwise, manually dry out the soil by using a hair blow dryer, but of course, you will have to remove the plant from the pot so that every section of the root and the soil is dried out.
After a drought, it's much better for the soil to get a slow and steady rainfall than a heavy amount of rain in a short amount of time. When the soil is too dry, it cannot absorb water in a quick amount of time, which can lead to flooding.
When plants have too little water, leaves turn brown and wilt. This also occurs when plants have too much water. The biggest difference between the two is that too little water will result in your plant's leaves feeling dry and crispy to the touch while too much water results in soft and limp leaves.
Yellow leaves, mushy or loose bark on the plant stems and molds that appear on the top of the soil are also indicators of overwatering.