No new leaves. No fresh shoots. A plant that was once thriving suddenly seems to have stopped growing altogether.
Before you give up on it, Alwar-based gardener Krishna (@gharkibagia) suggests checking one thing first: is the stem still green?
If it is, he says the plant may still be worth tending to.
Krishna, who shares practical gardening tips on Instagram, recently demonstrated a homemade mixture that he uses on plants that look weak or have stopped putting out new growth. His recipe begins with something most Indian kitchens already have: a handful of rice.
Start with a handful of rice
Take a glass of water, add a handful of rice and let it sit for some time.
Krishna then adds half a teaspoon of baking soda and one teaspoon of vinegar. He mixes everything together and leaves it for about an hour.
Next, he strains the mixture and dilutes it with one litre of water.
According to Krishna, the resulting solution can then be sprayed on a struggling plant, preferably in the evening.
When does he recommend using it?
Krishna suggests looking at the plant before reaching for the spray.
Take a rose plant, for instance. If it has stopped producing new shoots but its stems remain green, he says this is the kind of plant on which he would try the mixture.
That distinction matters because stalled growth can have several causes. A plant may be struggling with pests, poor drainage, insufficient sunlight, watering problems or unhealthy roots. A homemade spray cannot address every one of these issues.
So rather than seeing the mixture as a guaranteed fix, it is better treated as one gardener’s method to try while also paying attention to what the plant may be telling you.
Before giving up on that plant
For home gardeners, it can be tempting to discard a plant once its leaves begin to droop and fresh growth disappears.
Krishna’s tip offers a simpler first step: take a closer look.
Check the stems. Look for pests. Feel the soil. Notice how much sunlight the plant is receiving. And if there is still healthy green growth, it may be worth giving the plant a little more care before deciding that it is beyond saving.
If you have a plant at home that has looked stuck for weeks, perhaps its green stem is your cue to investigate a little further.
