My plants were soaked with soapy water and are dying, how do I revive them?

Question

I planted 3 sweet peas in early April and they were doing great. At the end of May, my son got a slip and slide and he put soap on it. All the soapy water drained to where they are planted. They slowly started to turn yellow, now they are 90% yellow and starting to dry up and die. Is there anything I can do to save them?

Answer 1

That doesn’t sound good and your plants are probably already a lost case.

The only option is to get the roots of the plants back into soil with a normal ph and no soap residue.

• If they are not yet deeply rooted in the soil (and clinging onto whatever support you gave the sweet peas), you could try to dig them up, rinse the roots as much as possible and replant in fresh soil.
• In place, water a lot (and I mean a lot!), trying to wash away the soap through a steady stream of water.
• (If you are good at chemistry and have the possibility to check the ph levels of the soil, you could try to lower the ph with some diluted vinegar to counteract the soap, but that’s more of a theoretical thought than a practical solution, as you would have to make sure that the vinegar-water reaches exactly the soapy spots and that the dosage is correct, or you would just make everything worse.)

But frankly, if the plants were “soaped” two weeks ago or more, I have little hope for them. Note that each of the actions suggested above will stress the plants additionally.