Nutrient Burn: How to Identify and Fix It

What nutrient burn looks like

Nutrient burn (nute burn) typically appears as yellow or brown tips on leaf fingers, progressing inward if feeding continues. Leaves may look unusually dark green — a sign of excess nitrogen.

In severe cases, leaf edges curl under and become crispy. Unlike some deficiencies, burn rarely affects the oldest leaves first; it hits the most actively growing parts of the canopy.

Watch how to spot nutrient burn

See burnt tips and overfeeding signs up close — then use the steps below to fix it on your plants.

Common causes

The most frequent cause is feeding at full strength when the manufacturer's chart assumes aggressive growth conditions. Many growers run nutrients at 50–75% of label dose with better results.

• Feeding full-strength nutrients every watering
• Salt buildup in medium from lack of flushing
• Combining multiple additive products at max dose
• Hot soil or pre-charged super soil in seedlings

Recovery steps

Stop feeding immediately and flush with plain pH-adjusted water until runoff EC drops significantly. For soil, 2–3× pot volume in water. For coco, flush until runoff is clear.

Remove severely damaged leaves — they won't recover. Resume feeding at 25–50% strength only after new growth looks healthy for 5–7 days.