Ok, I'm trying not to freak out over this but did I just kill my plants?? Overnight healthy plants wilted! I haven't watered them yet for fear of making things worse.
I think it's def because I tried something and I hope I can turn this around. Yesterday I was looking online for a natural pesticide because I noticed holes in my cucumber leaves, very minor, but I wanted to nip a possible pest problem in the bud.
On an online video I followed I mixed water, salt, white vinegar, and baking soda and gave my lemon balm and cucumber plants a good spray with the mixture. I sprayed some of my marigolds and my carrots too.
The cucumbers and lemon balm are the most effected. Can I save them? What can I do? I really really hope I didn't just shoot myself in the foot here 😭
Last pic is the most recent pic I have of my cucumber plant. See how ok it was and then overnight…. 😩
by existential_angst_me
34 Comments
Not sure who’s video you watched, but if you want to kill weeds, you’d use salt and vinegar as it will dry out the root and the acidity of the vinegar will kill the plant. That’s exactly what’s happening right here.
…you sprayed your plants with salt? And an alkaline substance? And an Acid? Where in the world did you get the information to do that? Because you basically made weed killer.
Its dead, Jim.
Have you ever heard the term “salting the earth”? It means spreading salt on fields to prevent crops from growing. You just salted your earth.
Sorry you got tricked into spraying your plants with a concoction that surely can kill plants. Vinegar and salt are routinely used by many to kill weeds. In fact, I’ve used it at times.
You can try flushing it out with water but be prepared to start over.
In the future, there are many products on the market you can use that won’t hurt the plants and are safe to use around humans.
That’s unfortunate. I make a similar spray FOR weed killer
In the future, if you want an effective way to a little pest control, 7 Dust will take care of your leaves with “little holes”
They are toast, but at least they weren’t too far along. Better now than when you are several months into the process.
If you cut the leaves the lemon balm might survive. They’re like mint and grow like weeds
WTF?
Salt, Vinegar and Baking soda,
I’m surprised they didn’t advise you to add some gasoline to the mix as well.
Next time use castile soap, neem or pyrethrum.
Can you post a link to the video? I’d like to see who this genius is..
Sorry, but this plant is almost certainly beyond hope.
For the future, if you are going to spray anything on your plants and you aren’t 100% sure it is safe, try it on a small area first. If after a few days it looks okay, then go ahead and spray the rest. Then you only risk killing one plant or one leaf.
You salted them to death. You can try flushing them with a shitload of water, but honestly even if they do recover they’re gonna be stunted from having to spend time and energy getting back to where they were.
Better to start over. Throw that soil out too.
Thanks everyone for all the tips and knowledge. This is my first time gardening and my 2nd attempt which I thought was going great, well…until now.
I’m beyond bummed. I’m gonna try very hard to not be discouraged by this. Also for those curious this is a very similar video to the original I found: https://pin.it/6QKadxB64
I would say I should have known better but I cannot stress how new I am at this. 😞😢
They’re dead. You could try one last ditch effort to save them and flush out the soil with a bunch of water and let it drain out…but I’d say they’re dead. I would sow more seeds either way, just in case.
The carrots and marigolds look fine. I would try that rinsing thing others suggested and see if the other plants perk up
Vinegar is a herbicide, they may not be completely dead as the roots are perfectly fine but the leaves are done for. Luckily it’s early in the season so direct sowing will allow them to catch up easily if it’s warm enough
Salt and vinegar are used to kill plants, not kill bugs.
Be very wary of anything you read on the internet and always find at least two known sources to back up the claims.
https://preview.redd.it/70lctan6ufue1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=4fd1a9adce4861e4e129a379e31e6a41897edff7
Backing soda is a base, and vinegar is an acid, so whoever came up with that recipe is an idiot. It’s just ab expensive way to make sodium acetate. Anyway, as for your problem, my guess is there was too much acid in the recipe, so you’ve basically sprayed slightly dilute vinegar on your plants. That’s not going to end well.
LOL, yes you killed your plants. Stop using dumb online shit and refer to good sources of information instead.
When I first started gardening, I watched a similar video on YT and took that advice (using vinegar and such). I was shocked when I murdered all my seedlings and woke up to a veggie graveyard the next morning 😭😭 im still kinda wary of YouTube gardeners to this day. I know a bit more about gardening now so I know a bit better when I hear really dangerous advice but it’s so hard for a newbie 😔
Im sorry it looks like you were the victim of troll advice. You may be able to save some…but it it a capital M might. Run water through them, like a lot of water to flush away the salt. A little hydrogen peroxide mixed with water (like 4tbsp per qt) this will help oxygenate the soil now that it has become water logged.
In the future avoid salt altogether. Neem oil works to keep bugs away but it will also keep away beneficial insects. That’s the double edged sword of best control. Keep away bad bugs keep away good bugs, kill bad bugs kill good bugs. I only use DE to control bettles in my garden occasionally. But I also have wasps that help me by eating a lot of my pests as well.
Salt and vinegar are a weed killer… And it makes the soil acidic…
Things don’t grow in a salted environment.
Sorry you made a mistake, but if it’s worth anything, those plants are very young and if you’re in the northern hemisphere you still have A LOT of time to establish your garden/plants. Best thing to do now would be to compost those first couple of wilted ones cause they don’t look like they are coming back. You could keep them around just incase they do stand upright again.. just get them into the sun with lots of water (in the morning). The plants in the last three photos look fine though.
As others said, definitely double check with multiple sources that what you’re using on your plants is safe for them. Simple free/clear soap is more gentle on your plants than one might think if you actively have pests crawling on them.
Another thing to consider is how and why the pests are present in the first place. Often, plants are more susceptible to disease/ pests when they are stressed so make sure they are getting normal amounts of water, sun, and nutrients for those specific plants.
Next there’s many passive options you can try such as moving them at night while they are young (and easy to move) to somewhere not as close to grass or where bugs might live.
Lastly, based on the pictures alone, it doesn’t even seem like the pests you had actually caused much damage in the first place. A little bite off a leave now and then is expected when growing organically without harsh chemicals.
It’s very important that in the future, you get your gardening advice from professional growers on youtube that make it their living growing plants. Tiktok/youtube shorts are almost always clickbaity AI “hack” slop that is not based on science and is actually based on ragebait to get people to comment how wrong it is, thus boosting engagement. It sucks but atleast there are reputable places you can get information from still. The redditors in this thread are pretty smart too so i would take their advice aswell.
All in all, i wish you good luck and not to get discouraged especially since you are so new! Annoying shit happens all the time when you garden but the experience of learning by doing is so invaluable and can be applied over a whole lifetime and beyond.
In the future, when looking for vetted advice on growing, stick with sites ending with “.edu”. Better yet, ask your county’s extension office.
Was this some instagram video with the name gardening.999 or something similar? They pop up in my feed and it’s a computerized voice that tells you ‘how to get the biggest fruit’ etc and it’s crap like this. I get so annoyed every time I see one of their posts but they are random as I don’t follow them, Instagram just thinks I might enjoy the content
Edited to add I just saw your link and it’s a different AI voice but yeah, those videos start popping up everywhere and are almost always bad advice
You’ve likely already got your answer, but yeah, they’re dead…
You might be able to flush out the vinegar with a deep watering, but it may be too late, just be sure you have good drainage on your pots.
Nothing can survive the acidity of vinegar, especially when it contacts the roots, they can’t stand it, which is why it’s commonly used as a natural weed killer.
A good pest control option for you would be a few drops of soap in a spray bottle, be sparring with it and target any insects on the plant, works best against aphids but it will kill any insect and it won’t harm your plants.
I’m sorry this happened, but just be most cautious next time on these home remedies.
Cucumbers, and other Vining plants like those grow quickly so start a few more from seed, it won’t be long and you’ll have them back.
There’s so much crap advice and BS myths out there (avoid advice that include salt and vinegar before you’re very experienced). Only take advice from proper sources and really experienced gardeners, and even then double check. Now you know why.
Don’t get discouraged. Gardening is so rewarding, but it’s a learning process of trial and error too, in which you’ll have experiences like this, sometimes you have no idea why. The plants just die.
Start over. Lots of seeds can be sown now. Go through some beginner playlists on YouTube for what you’re trying to grow. Cucumbers are not the easiest to grow for many, so maybe also look up crops that are easy to grow in your climate.
Good luck.
You watched a vid with that advice in it? Would live to see it for a laugh – can you post a link?
Restart, these are gonezos sadly. Just use dawn basic blue soap and water next time. Vinegar and baking soda are cleaning agents and toss the soil now too. It’s all contaminated.
I know this feeling, don’t trust TikTok trends. You still have time, especially with cucumber. They grow fast! You got this!!
Just use pyrethrins next time. “Organic” pest control will never work indoors.
Lemme get this straight… you put SALT. 🧂 on your plants?
You’ve heard of “salt the earth” before right, right?
Sweet summer child the internet just poisoned your seedlings 😭
Did it foam up like a volcano project? Like why would you do that? Do not spray your plants with salt, that kills the cells. Or acid, or a base, or all of that combined. Why do that? In the future, a few nips in the leaves is no big deal, plant a new cucumber plant every three weeks, and replace them as they die. Lemon balm is an herb loaded with terpenes to protect it from bugs, you might get some sucking on the chloroplasts but it should do any real harm, the toxic mix you made will. You made salt water, carbon dioxide, added more salt and it would have had either excess acid or base depending on your proportions. That was an herbicide. Most pests are not huge problems that need to be addressed with chemicals. Start with a hose spraying them off the leaves, or pick them off by hand. Then look into pesticides if you need it. Try companion planting, and avoiding monoculture. All of this will help. Also Easier and cheaper than spray with pesticides or killing your plants.
Let this stand as a reminder not to try out any of the videos you see online on a whim. So many videos exist out there simply to grab online eyeballs. I’m sorry this happened to you! That sucks!
What hateful person made that tutorial? 😭😭😭 omg I’m so sorry